Eva Pasco

5-Stars: Goodreads

May 4, 2026

A Raw Deal!

Courtesy of an Icelandic spell recited by teen protagonists, Lara and Erik, the reader is transported to a most gruesome village of the damned deadlocked in the late 1700s.

Vis a vis, Einar, a mad Icelandic warrior-turned-priest from that era who is on the losing end of a bargain made with the devil, author J.S. Frankel spares not the rod in doling out nongratuitous visceral imagery of an olfactory nature.

In the land of the dead/undead where Einar rules and sustains an abomination of life by siphoning the energy from a thousand inhabitants’ souls. The most shocking of all revelations provides a means of escape for “visitors,” Lara and Erik—if not the others who’d pledged to remain on unhallowed ground forever in a raw deal they never saw coming.

Stomach churning aside from the stench and the relentless bloody beatings by Einar’s enforcers, the author shines light on universal truths regarding hate and violence applicable to any society.

A highly recommended story where the devil’s own words are used against him.