The Smaller Evil
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The Smaller Evil
Narrated by:
Ryan Gesell, Mark Bramhall
Buy Now for ₹659.55
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Narrated by:
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Ryan Gesell
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Mark Bramhall
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Written by:
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Stephanie Kuehn
“Suspenseful and enigmatic.”—Laura Ruby, Michael L. Printz Award winning author of Bone Gap
“Readers interested in a Gillian Flynn-style take on cults and self-help retreats will be intrigued.”—School Library Journal, starred review
Stealing from his drug-dealing step-father and running away from home are worth the risk for seventeen-year-old Arman Dukoff. Because running away means running to Beau, the charismatic self-help guru who sees something in Arman he’s never seen in himself. Arman doesn’t think twice about accepting Beau’s offer to spend a week at his retreat compound in the coastal hills of Big Sur. Arman doesn’t think twice about a lot of things—like how he’ll fit in with the compound’s wealthy guests or what it means to “shed the toxic influences of Western society in order to reach an enlightened state of personal agency.”
Or as Beau puts it, to evolve.
When the compound’s gates close, Beau’s program is anything but a straight path to self-improvement. Caught in a whirlwind of dubious morality, bizarre rituals, and incomprehensible encounters with a beautiful girl and a beguiling knife, Arman finds evolution feels less like change and more like the failure he’s always known. But when he’s pushed to test just how deep the knife will cut, failure is the least of his worries. There’s nothing safe about enlightenment.
But maybe that’s the point. Like Beau says—sometimes the greater good requires the smaller evil.
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Critic Reviews
Advance praise for The Smaller Evil
"Suspenseful and enigmatic, bristling with Stephanie Kuehn's vivid prose and sharp-eyed characterizations, The Smaller Evil kept me guessing till the very last page. I immediately flipped back to the first page to read it again, and so will you." —Laura Ruby, Michael L. Printz Award winning author of Bone Gap.
*"Fans of the hairpin plot twists and turns of psychological thrillers will be drawn to Kuehn’s latest offering . . . Kuehn’s specialty in depicting mental illness and her sharp, quick writing are on display . . . Readers interested in a Gillian Flynn–style take on cults and self-help retreats will also be intrigued."--SLJ, starred review
"[A] sophisticated psychological mystery centered on the concept of the double effect—that the “greater good outweighs the smaller evil” . . . The book’s philosophical undertones and uncertain ending are transfixing."--Publishers Weekly
"Kuehn effectively builds a confounding, cult-like atmosphere inthe compound and a convincing conspiracy swirling around Arman’s experiences . . . the eerie atmosphere of the compound, Kuehn’s skillful hand at characterization, and the twisty scheme will likely hook readers."--Booklist
"The Smaller Evil, with an engaging main character, precise, vivid writing and a continuous rushing train of tensions, is a captivating thriller." —2015 PEN/Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship Judges
Praise for Delicate Monsters:
"Intelligent, compulsively readable literary fiction with a dark twist." -Booklist, starred
“[A] tough, punishing novel about the damages we inflict on others and the shaky defenses we build to mask trauma and guilt.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“As she did in Charm & Strange and Complicit, Kuehn unflinchingly explores the darkest places of the human psyche, leaving many lingering questions about nature-versus-nurture and the relentlessness of mental illness.” —The Horn Book Magazine
Praise for Complicit:
"Kuehn writes with the fleetness of a trained thriller author...Explosive." -Booklist, starred
Accolades for Charm & Strange
William C. Morris Award Medalist
"Suspenseful and enigmatic, bristling with Stephanie Kuehn's vivid prose and sharp-eyed characterizations, The Smaller Evil kept me guessing till the very last page. I immediately flipped back to the first page to read it again, and so will you." —Laura Ruby, Michael L. Printz Award winning author of Bone Gap.
*"Fans of the hairpin plot twists and turns of psychological thrillers will be drawn to Kuehn’s latest offering . . . Kuehn’s specialty in depicting mental illness and her sharp, quick writing are on display . . . Readers interested in a Gillian Flynn–style take on cults and self-help retreats will also be intrigued."--SLJ, starred review
"[A] sophisticated psychological mystery centered on the concept of the double effect—that the “greater good outweighs the smaller evil” . . . The book’s philosophical undertones and uncertain ending are transfixing."--Publishers Weekly
"Kuehn effectively builds a confounding, cult-like atmosphere inthe compound and a convincing conspiracy swirling around Arman’s experiences . . . the eerie atmosphere of the compound, Kuehn’s skillful hand at characterization, and the twisty scheme will likely hook readers."--Booklist
"The Smaller Evil, with an engaging main character, precise, vivid writing and a continuous rushing train of tensions, is a captivating thriller." —2015 PEN/Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship Judges
Praise for Delicate Monsters:
"Intelligent, compulsively readable literary fiction with a dark twist." -Booklist, starred
“[A] tough, punishing novel about the damages we inflict on others and the shaky defenses we build to mask trauma and guilt.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“As she did in Charm & Strange and Complicit, Kuehn unflinchingly explores the darkest places of the human psyche, leaving many lingering questions about nature-versus-nurture and the relentlessness of mental illness.” —The Horn Book Magazine
Praise for Complicit:
"Kuehn writes with the fleetness of a trained thriller author...Explosive." -Booklist, starred
Accolades for Charm & Strange
William C. Morris Award Medalist
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