Reading this book makes one realize that despite various governments using different modes of operation while governing their states, the impact felt by citizens across the world is almost the same. Another example from later in the novel is when. The Evil Within Us is about social, political, and economic structures across the globe. The cop sequences back in the city, however, leave something to be desired with occasionally stilted dialogue and a rushed feel to them, leading to a strange disconnect from the mayhem where the quality of filmmaking feels distinctly lower. When Simon states that maybe the beast is within us, he is referring to all of mankind as shown moments later. The four animatronics, known as Freddy, Foxy, Chica and Bonnie are stuck in the Parts and Service room when Freddy becomes possessed by his evil spirit.

The cast aren’t tasked with any particularly heady drama, but their performances are sound and the group dynamic believable – as is the central relationship (and the biggest dramatic arc) between Brie and Steve. Besides the main narrative of the bunch of friends slaughtering each other, Lee also introduces a city cop on the trail of John and the infected drugs (following another brutal party disaster) and a further subplot involving a secretive group who appear to be developing and testing the nasty compound at the centre of things. Every reader will find at least one story that will greatly resonate with them. The anthology contains twenty-three stories about the human conditionwith topics ranging from mental health to jealousy to betrayal to murder and everything in between. For all its surface simplicity, Jason William Lee’s The Evil in Us has plenty going on with which to keep your attention. Just as often, though, it is the demons inside us who ply their schemes goading us to behave unkindly or to betray a commitment because, after all, our needs should come first. The Evil Inside Us is the third volume of The Australian Pen, written by authors born or are living in Australia.

Evil inside us