There Is No Devil by Sophie Lark

🛑 Please Do Not Read If You Would Like to Avoid Spoilers 🛑

Ratings:

⭐️: 3.5/5

🌶: 4.5/5

Tropes:

- Serial Killer

- Dark Romance

- Artist (Both Main Characters)

- Kinky

Review:

Well, that’s a wrap ladies and gentlemen on the Sinners Duet by Sophie Lark ✌🏾. It has been an amazing time having the opportunity to enter the minds of two characters, Mara Eldritch and Cole Blackwell. As the second book we get to understand both characters background more thoroughly and why they are so broken. We already knew Mara’s mother was a b***h that degraded her daughter for no reason at all. Also, the men she frequently had relationships with abused Mara as well. But, finally we can see such from the perspective of Mara who suffered more than I bargained for. If anything, her mother was mentally abusive blaming Mara for her failed relationships and her pathetic excuse of a life. Also, lying to Mara about who her father was and even going as far as assisting her husband, Robert, in abusing Mara. She has no issue with such by even offering Mara at points to her husbands in order for them to stay. She was terrible and now seeing the way she was treated I understand why Mara physically abused her own self. Now as for Cole his background was kind of surprising because he was abused, but I thought it would have gone as far as Mara’s abuse. It did not, but he was treated

horribly by his father and abused physically by his uncle Ruben who he resembled. At one point I thought it was going to come out that Ruben was Cole’s father and I say that because based on Mara’s and Cole’s description he favored him a lot in features. I now understand why he is the way he is as well because he blames himself for his mother’s death. When she thought he killed the rabbit she believed he was like his sociopath of a father, so she decided to take her life. In a way he is like his father and worse, but at the time he was just a kid and didn’t commit such an act against his pet. In actuality she did that based on an assumption and lie, but I wanted to know who killed the rabbit though.

As for the book in general I enjoyed it, but I needed more which is why I gave the book a 3.5. The book didn’t become interesting about 75% into it which was very disappointing because it didn’t make my toes curl like the last book. To add on, some questions weren’t answered such as what happened to Joanna and Mara’s relationship after she learned Shaw killed Erin? Who was Mara’s father? Also, who were all the people Cole killed? In total he killed fifteen people and six of those people we knew who they were. His first kill was Ruben, his uncle that abused him, with his second being a man that tried to rob him along with his friends. His third was his teacher, Professor Oswald, that plagiarized his piece and took credit for such reaffirming his name in the art world. He murdered Sonia’s, Cole’s assistant, ex-husband and Mara’s ex-stepfather, Robert. Also, from the first book he murdered Carl Danvers, the critic, who he killed and used his bones to create a sculpture. I wanted to know who the other people were that he killed because in some way everyone that he killed f****d with him or Mara somehow. That doesn’t make it right because if someone steals or bashes your work you prove them wrong. In all Cole’s character was off and odd, but I still enjoyed him.

Like the first book even though the book features two serial killers, Cole and Shaw, you forget at points that it what it is about. It wasn’t much going on like I said which is why this book kind of missed the mark. The main time we were able to read about a serial killer is when Shaw killed someone. Now here we are discussing Alastor Shaw a well know serial killer that the media calls the Beast of Bay due to the mutilation of his victims. He was a psychopath and I hated everything about him. He was obsessed with Cole prior to his relationship with Mara which kind of surprised me when reading about their past history. The fact that he killed all those women and was never suspected was like the identical story of serial killer Ted Bundy 😱. Due to good looks, he was able to blend in with society and not be suspected much like Shaw. That is what happens in real life unfortunately and we still suffer from it today. But, when he was killed I was happy Mara did such though I hated how he was killed because the book was built up around his character. It was really Cole

preparing Mara to kill Shaw, but once it came, I was like is that all? He deserved to be butchered, tortured, and everything in the book. When it was revealed that he killed Erin while he was taunting Mara, I really thought someone else did it based on her murder. To add on, I wanted it to be such in order to add a twist, but it wasn’t and there was no twist at all during the book. It was kind of smart on Cole and Mara’s part to frame Shaw at the end for the Oswald and Danvers murders. All in all, Shaw was able to commit such crimes because societal norms on beauty which poses people with good looks as non-threatening and of the people in authority 🙄.

When I say that I mean Officer Hawks and I have never been more annoyed about a character in my life than I was with him. I understand he was trying to catch the serial killer after the name the Best of the Bay. He wasn’t doing a very good job and his attention on Cole basically allowed Shaw to commit more crimes. Not to mention his stupidity and actions almost caused Mara to be killed at the end by Shaw. At least after Shaw’s death it was revealed he was the killer and the people that didn’t believe Mara now look stupid. Just because she had scars on her skin due to her past trauma, she suffered which caused her to cut herself it gave those in charge a reason not believe her. That is complete and utter

bull***t 🤬. The thing I liked is that Sophie as an author took societal issues and put it into this book even though the story is terrifying.

The aspect I loved about this book is the art message. As Cole said, “My art is the one area where I don’t manipulate. My work will live or die on its own merit.” Through art I know many artists tell a story which is beautiful and leaves a legacy behind. I can barely draw a straight line or a perfect circle, but I like to witness art in different forms. To add on, it allows me to view another’s life and thoughts like this book. Every piece Mara created, or Cole told a story and was amazing and descriptive. Even allowing Mara to tell a story of her abuse through her painting during her show. I can definitely tell Lark did her research thoroughly 👍🏾.

Like I said the book was good, but not great or excellent. I absolutely disliked the way it ended because out of nowhere Mara becomes a serial killer herself, I guess 🤷🏾‍♀️. She killed Shaw and then right after she has sex with Cole near Shaw’s body though throughout the whole book, she was scared about committing such an act. Not to mention she killed her mother and some random Italian man. Her character did a 180, but there wasn’t much build up.

I can say if you are looking for hot s*x scenes that makes your mouth drop and water this is

the book 🤣. I do recommend reading this book and the first book in the duet, There Are No Saints. I might not have been the biggest fan of the book, but Sophie Lark is a great author that deserves credit for her work and a chance.

"There Is No Devil" Amazon Link