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Evil Eye
Alexandria, Egypt -- 1919
The exorcism was almost complete. The priests had overcome the old man's fierce resistance, and as if lancing a boil, had drawn the evil power from his body. But before they could finish the ceremony of purification, something happened -- something that would change the world.
New York City -- Today
The Forrester family was rich, powerful and nasty -- the kind of people who would steal the pennies from a dead man's eyes. Arrogant and contemptuous, they ruined lives as easily as they bought and sold companies. Yet they were suddenly faced with a problem: Tony Filestra. Although he was merely a pawn in their corporate empire, Filestra had an ally more ruthless than even the Forresters -- an aged grandmother with a thirst for revenge and the incredible power of the ... the Evil Eye.
The exorcism was almost complete. The priests had overcome the old man's fierce resistance, and as if lancing a boil, had drawn the evil power from his body. But before they could finish the ceremony of purification, something happened -- something that would change the world.
New York City -- Today
The Forrester family was rich, powerful and nasty -- the kind of people who would steal the pennies from a dead man's eyes. Arrogant and contemptuous, they ruined lives as easily as they bought and sold companies. Yet they were suddenly faced with a problem: Tony Filestra. Although he was merely a pawn in their corporate empire, Filestra had an ally more ruthless than even the Forresters -- an aged grandmother with a thirst for revenge and the incredible power of the ... the Evil Eye.
359 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 22, 2024
Another Ehren Ehly novel I absolutely enjoyed. You can sum it up with Ken Follett meets 80s paperback horror. The Forresters start having issues with the wrong enemy, an elderly woman who has the evil eye. Where did she get it from? What are the consequences for the Forresters who are into construction business in New York? Does anyone survive who encountered the evil eye? This is the definite novel on the topic. Classic family in decline meets some unknown evil. Great story telling, fast paced, nasty details and an uncanny atmosphere. Family business with a terrific edge! Highly recommended!
December 24, 2022
You never quite know what you are getting into with 80s horror novels, but this was a great surprise and one of the better gems I have found in the genre. First off, great cover art on this 1989 Leisure edition! Evil Eye has a wide range of characters but centers on the Forrester family: two brothers (John and Joseph) who run a rather nasty and ruthless real estate/development company in NYC and their respective wives. This starts off with a rather bizarre prologue where an exorcism ceremony in Alexandria, Egypt circa 1919 goes wrong and a young, hunchback girl is given the evil eye. This girl eventually finds her way to NYC and is now the grandmother of a 20 something Tony; the two live together in a run-down tenement in Harlem.
One day old evil eye granny is parked in her rags outside of John Forrester's Upper West Side townhome. It seems she makes the rent by just sitting on various stoops and people give her money, especially if they know her rep! John sees her and tells the doorman to get rid of her. Big mistake! When Tony eventually finds his grandma outside of John's house and goes to take her home, he gives a little lip to John, John decides to make his live miserable, basically getting him fired from his job as a messenger and blackballing him to boot. Of course, this happened under the watchful eye of granny who promptly gives the evil eye to him as well...
In a way, this is a body horror story and Ehly serves up some doozies here. It also has a strong class component, however, as it pits poor John and his grandma against the powerful and connected Forrester family. Toss in a Japanese connection via a Kyoto land developer who has eyes on the Forrester firm, the only son of the Forrester clan who lives in Hong Kong as an opium addict up to no good, a few pimps and high class call girls among other characters and you get a rather tasty meal!
What makes this novel so special has to do with the superb pacing (relentless!), the wry, dark humor which animates the text, and the absolutely wicked way in which the Forrester family get taken down. Evil Eye is not really scary per se, although some of the body horror is pretty cringeworthy, but it really packs a punch. Ehly, an Egyptian-American, must have drawn upon some Egyptian lore for the evil eye idea; I have never seen it presented as such before at least. Highly recommended for vintage horror fans!! 4.5 evil eye stars, rounding up!
One day old evil eye granny is parked in her rags outside of John Forrester's Upper West Side townhome. It seems she makes the rent by just sitting on various stoops and people give her money, especially if they know her rep! John sees her and tells the doorman to get rid of her. Big mistake! When Tony eventually finds his grandma outside of John's house and goes to take her home, he gives a little lip to John, John decides to make his live miserable, basically getting him fired from his job as a messenger and blackballing him to boot. Of course, this happened under the watchful eye of granny who promptly gives the evil eye to him as well...
In a way, this is a body horror story and Ehly serves up some doozies here. It also has a strong class component, however, as it pits poor John and his grandma against the powerful and connected Forrester family. Toss in a Japanese connection via a Kyoto land developer who has eyes on the Forrester firm, the only son of the Forrester clan who lives in Hong Kong as an opium addict up to no good, a few pimps and high class call girls among other characters and you get a rather tasty meal!
What makes this novel so special has to do with the superb pacing (relentless!), the wry, dark humor which animates the text, and the absolutely wicked way in which the Forrester family get taken down. Evil Eye is not really scary per se, although some of the body horror is pretty cringeworthy, but it really packs a punch. Ehly, an Egyptian-American, must have drawn upon some Egyptian lore for the evil eye idea; I have never seen it presented as such before at least. Highly recommended for vintage horror fans!! 4.5 evil eye stars, rounding up!
August 31, 2024
My upbringing in New Orleans was not considered... typical... for most Americans. One of the commonplace scenes in my childhood was my Sicilian mother's little daily rituals. For example, whenever she would be driving my sister and me to school or wherever, some speed demon would inevitably come right up on her rear bumper, then zoom around her, giving her the stink-eye or the bird. This would inevitably lead to an invective response in her jambalaya of Calabrese-Sicilian-American.
"Scecco! Fungule!" and she would reach over to us kids and urge us to "Tocca della bocces e fa' li gorni!" She would then demonstrate by briefly rubbing her crotch, then making a hand gesture with outstretched pointer and pinky, while she aimed exactly three pretend spitballs at the quickly disappearing tail lights ahead. "Ptoo! Ptoo! Ptoo!"
This kind of thing was a sure-fire way to make any girl I wanted to date scared to death of me and my family. But despite living in the late 20th Century in New Orleans in North America, my mother unwittingly was carrying on an ancient tradition against "the evil eye"!
This ritual involved 1) touching of your privates ("tocca della bocces"--literally "touch your balls") 2) making the gesture of the horns ("gorni") and 3) cursing the evil eye with spitting (without saliva) in a way as to say, "Take that, bad luck!"
"But, Ma! I don't have any bocces! " my sister would lament.
"That's all right, 'tocca della' anyway," Mom would say, and all three of us would then be jamming our horned fingers in the air like at a Black Sabbath or Ronnie James Dio concert, making "ptoo!" sounds, and having a generally good time. And heaven help any macho driver if my grandmother, aunt, and cousin were also in the car--they'd receive a veritable creeping barrage of magic spells.
Why am I telling you this? Because, this novel I am reviewing today is all about the power of the "evil eye," and I wish to stress that the main inspiration is not some fictional plot point or a quaint but extinct superstition of a bygone age from remote corners of the globe. The fear of the "Evil Eye" is deeply imbedded in the zeitgeist of many world cultures, so much so that descendants to this day have brought the rituals and amulets of protection to the New World of Modernity. So it was fun to read an Eighties paperback from hell that made me remember what my mother told me about warding off bad luck, because this story makes you paranoid about just what could happen if someone looks at you funny.
Tony is a young man struggling to support himself and his grandmother in the malevolent Big Apple. To make matters worse, he's been blacklisted for daring to defend his grandmother against a snobby real estate mogul, who has retaliated by using his influence to keep Tony from getting a job. But little does Tony know that his grandmother is quite the bad ass, with the power of the evil eye, and she has a plan for revenge.
This is really a fun read of the more gritty and urban variety of paperback horrors. There are lots of cartoonishly corrupt rich people cussing up a storm, drinking too much booze, sleeping around on their wives or husbands, and engaging in all manner of cutthroat financial conniving, giving the reader lots of pleasure at seeing these despicable characters get their comeuppance in all sorts of gruesome ways.
It certainly made me remember to protect myself using the old ways--I got enough bad luck as it is without some old geezer melting my face off! The funny thing is that the only character in the novel who knew to make the sign of the horns when confronted with the evil eye was a prostitute--from New Orleans! In the story, it doesn't do her any good, but still...
If you are a fan of paperback horror pulps, you'll definitely enjoy this one. The cover alone is worth seeking this out. And after reading this, the next time someone gives you a mean glance, you too may become an expert at picking out the evil eye, and find yourself in the future instinctively making the sign of the horns and trying to "tocca della" anything you got.
Can't hurt, can it?
SCORE: 4 enucleated eyeballs out of 5
SUGGESTED MUSICAL PAIRING: "Black Magic Woman" by Santana and "The Evil Eye" by Joe Jackson
"Scecco! Fungule!" and she would reach over to us kids and urge us to "Tocca della bocces e fa' li gorni!" She would then demonstrate by briefly rubbing her crotch, then making a hand gesture with outstretched pointer and pinky, while she aimed exactly three pretend spitballs at the quickly disappearing tail lights ahead. "Ptoo! Ptoo! Ptoo!"
This kind of thing was a sure-fire way to make any girl I wanted to date scared to death of me and my family. But despite living in the late 20th Century in New Orleans in North America, my mother unwittingly was carrying on an ancient tradition against "the evil eye"!
This ritual involved 1) touching of your privates ("tocca della bocces"--literally "touch your balls") 2) making the gesture of the horns ("gorni") and 3) cursing the evil eye with spitting (without saliva) in a way as to say, "Take that, bad luck!"
"But, Ma! I don't have any bocces! " my sister would lament.
"That's all right, 'tocca della' anyway," Mom would say, and all three of us would then be jamming our horned fingers in the air like at a Black Sabbath or Ronnie James Dio concert, making "ptoo!" sounds, and having a generally good time. And heaven help any macho driver if my grandmother, aunt, and cousin were also in the car--they'd receive a veritable creeping barrage of magic spells.
Why am I telling you this? Because, this novel I am reviewing today is all about the power of the "evil eye," and I wish to stress that the main inspiration is not some fictional plot point or a quaint but extinct superstition of a bygone age from remote corners of the globe. The fear of the "Evil Eye" is deeply imbedded in the zeitgeist of many world cultures, so much so that descendants to this day have brought the rituals and amulets of protection to the New World of Modernity. So it was fun to read an Eighties paperback from hell that made me remember what my mother told me about warding off bad luck, because this story makes you paranoid about just what could happen if someone looks at you funny.
Tony is a young man struggling to support himself and his grandmother in the malevolent Big Apple. To make matters worse, he's been blacklisted for daring to defend his grandmother against a snobby real estate mogul, who has retaliated by using his influence to keep Tony from getting a job. But little does Tony know that his grandmother is quite the bad ass, with the power of the evil eye, and she has a plan for revenge.
This is really a fun read of the more gritty and urban variety of paperback horrors. There are lots of cartoonishly corrupt rich people cussing up a storm, drinking too much booze, sleeping around on their wives or husbands, and engaging in all manner of cutthroat financial conniving, giving the reader lots of pleasure at seeing these despicable characters get their comeuppance in all sorts of gruesome ways.
It certainly made me remember to protect myself using the old ways--I got enough bad luck as it is without some old geezer melting my face off! The funny thing is that the only character in the novel who knew to make the sign of the horns when confronted with the evil eye was a prostitute--from New Orleans! In the story, it doesn't do her any good, but still...
If you are a fan of paperback horror pulps, you'll definitely enjoy this one. The cover alone is worth seeking this out. And after reading this, the next time someone gives you a mean glance, you too may become an expert at picking out the evil eye, and find yourself in the future instinctively making the sign of the horns and trying to "tocca della" anything you got.
Can't hurt, can it?
SCORE: 4 enucleated eyeballs out of 5
SUGGESTED MUSICAL PAIRING: "Black Magic Woman" by Santana and "The Evil Eye" by Joe Jackson
October 7, 2022
"Looks like a plague hit New York, man. An' if you catch that old woman's evil eye, you might as well be dead, because she'll get you in the end, one way or another."
Who knew that some terse words and a loaf of bread is all it takes to extract a curse from a dying man? Well, in an unnamed Egyptian city in 1919 – that’s how a mysterious presence was forcibly removed from some poor soul thanks to the dedicated chanting of a crazed priest. Absorbed into said loaf of bread, the intention was to divvy the evil bounty among a handful of clearly delusional servants who would promptly die following consumption. It looked like a win-win for the church and city at large; evil curse thing goes away, and, as a bonus – there’s a few less mouths to feed.
Fast forward some 60-ish years (the timing isn’t really a thing with this story), and what seems to be a random one-eyed hunchback homeless person putting a curse on equally random upper class people is anything but! No! This random weird looking angry lady is in fact from said unnamed Egyptian city! And is now scaring the crap at passers by on the streets of upper-class New York. Turns out old hunchback stole the cursed bread and ate it all – the greedy b!tch! Rather than die, she became cursed with the evil eye, and is rather well known in the criminal underworld…somehow…plot, like timing, isn’t much of focus here…
The centre of attention revolves around a prominent family business ran by the Forrester brothers; ruthless real estate moguls who double as shady incestuous businessmen and the many curses bestowed upon them by the scary hunchback lady. There’s a link to characters which plays out over time but you need to suspend your belief; think Bold and the Beautiful Halloween Special and you’ve got a good starting point.
Throw in a handful of mobsters, a pizza delivery guy, and a Chinese women held hostage by some very bad men and you’ve got a soupy mix of strange bundled into some awesome sauce of b-grade horror.
Who knew that some terse words and a loaf of bread is all it takes to extract a curse from a dying man? Well, in an unnamed Egyptian city in 1919 – that’s how a mysterious presence was forcibly removed from some poor soul thanks to the dedicated chanting of a crazed priest. Absorbed into said loaf of bread, the intention was to divvy the evil bounty among a handful of clearly delusional servants who would promptly die following consumption. It looked like a win-win for the church and city at large; evil curse thing goes away, and, as a bonus – there’s a few less mouths to feed.
Fast forward some 60-ish years (the timing isn’t really a thing with this story), and what seems to be a random one-eyed hunchback homeless person putting a curse on equally random upper class people is anything but! No! This random weird looking angry lady is in fact from said unnamed Egyptian city! And is now scaring the crap at passers by on the streets of upper-class New York. Turns out old hunchback stole the cursed bread and ate it all – the greedy b!tch! Rather than die, she became cursed with the evil eye, and is rather well known in the criminal underworld…somehow…plot, like timing, isn’t much of focus here…
The centre of attention revolves around a prominent family business ran by the Forrester brothers; ruthless real estate moguls who double as shady incestuous businessmen and the many curses bestowed upon them by the scary hunchback lady. There’s a link to characters which plays out over time but you need to suspend your belief; think Bold and the Beautiful Halloween Special and you’ve got a good starting point.
Throw in a handful of mobsters, a pizza delivery guy, and a Chinese women held hostage by some very bad men and you’ve got a soupy mix of strange bundled into some awesome sauce of b-grade horror.
August 21, 2009
A fast-paced read, Evil Eye is by no means a literary masterpiece. It is, however, quite entertaining, filled with a delightful creepiness and an engaging storyline of revenge and retribution delivered in a way that most horror fiction fans will appreciate.
October 3, 2017
Ah, the 80's horror novels. How I miss them.
September 6, 2023
After taking some time to think about this one, I think I'll stick by my four stars. I initially thought three stars would make more sense, but I genuinely had a lot of fun reading this novel. Sure, it's a bit longer than it needs to be. Sure, the crime family subplots could have been slimmed down (which is the same critique I had of Jaws...makes me wonder if this is just a Carrie problem). And sure, the writing really needed a proofreader for some easy spellcheck cleanup. BUT. It was fun.
This novel contains a very large cast of characters and switches perspectives between and within chapters often. At times, this did feel choppy, but I love this style of storytelling, so I can forgive it, especially since that large cast gets smaller and smaller the closer we get to the climax. Simply put, a LOT of people die horrible deaths. All because of Grandma Filestra and her Evil Eye.
Grandma Filestra is an Egyptian immigrant to New York who, when she was a child in Egypt, interrupted the process of an exorcism by eating the loaf of bread an evil spirit was passed into. This made her contract the Evil Eye, which she now wields as a method of exacting vengeance against people who treat her or her family poorly. Everyone in her neighborhood who knows what's what knows that if they see her asking for money on the sidewalk, you give it to her ... or else.
At the outset of the novel, her grandson Tony Filestra appears to be the central character of the novel with his "Byronic" flair, bopping around the city on his bicycle trying to make deliveries so he can pay the rent for him and his grandmother. However, he takes more of a backseat to the horrors that unfold surrounding the wealthy Forrester family who rubbed his grandmother the wrong way. He more so is a spectator who struggles to understand and care for Grandma Filestra while at the same time trying to make ends meet when the Forrester family, out of petty spite, decides to use their clout to make it difficult for him to find a job anywhere in the city.
Then they fall victim to Grandma Filestra's glare. The Evil Eye doesn't stop at one Forrester--no, it spreads like a virus throughout their whole family. Watching their slow torture unfold is all at once stomach churning and glee-inducing because there isn't a single redeemable character in the lot. It's very '80s.
The novel isn't a masterpiece, but the way Ehly was able to juggle so many different characters and narrative layers while also keeping the overarching plot suspenseful is quite the feat. Actually, now that I think about it, she wove in the exact right amount of characters to add to the suspense--switching perspectives at the exact right time to keep us guessing as to the fate of others.
While I'm not sure that there is some big "Ah-ha!" to arrive at in terms of the point of this novel, it still contains perspectives we don't see often in mainstream horror, and from an own voices author to boot. Of course, I also recommend this for anyone who just wants some trashy paperback horror fun.
For fans of: Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia, and The Tribe by Bari Wood
This novel contains a very large cast of characters and switches perspectives between and within chapters often. At times, this did feel choppy, but I love this style of storytelling, so I can forgive it, especially since that large cast gets smaller and smaller the closer we get to the climax. Simply put, a LOT of people die horrible deaths. All because of Grandma Filestra and her Evil Eye.
Grandma Filestra is an Egyptian immigrant to New York who, when she was a child in Egypt, interrupted the process of an exorcism by eating the loaf of bread an evil spirit was passed into. This made her contract the Evil Eye, which she now wields as a method of exacting vengeance against people who treat her or her family poorly. Everyone in her neighborhood who knows what's what knows that if they see her asking for money on the sidewalk, you give it to her ... or else.
At the outset of the novel, her grandson Tony Filestra appears to be the central character of the novel with his "Byronic" flair, bopping around the city on his bicycle trying to make deliveries so he can pay the rent for him and his grandmother. However, he takes more of a backseat to the horrors that unfold surrounding the wealthy Forrester family who rubbed his grandmother the wrong way. He more so is a spectator who struggles to understand and care for Grandma Filestra while at the same time trying to make ends meet when the Forrester family, out of petty spite, decides to use their clout to make it difficult for him to find a job anywhere in the city.
Then they fall victim to Grandma Filestra's glare. The Evil Eye doesn't stop at one Forrester--no, it spreads like a virus throughout their whole family. Watching their slow torture unfold is all at once stomach churning and glee-inducing because there isn't a single redeemable character in the lot. It's very '80s.
The novel isn't a masterpiece, but the way Ehly was able to juggle so many different characters and narrative layers while also keeping the overarching plot suspenseful is quite the feat. Actually, now that I think about it, she wove in the exact right amount of characters to add to the suspense--switching perspectives at the exact right time to keep us guessing as to the fate of others.
While I'm not sure that there is some big "Ah-ha!" to arrive at in terms of the point of this novel, it still contains perspectives we don't see often in mainstream horror, and from an own voices author to boot. Of course, I also recommend this for anyone who just wants some trashy paperback horror fun.
For fans of: Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia, and The Tribe by Bari Wood
April 9, 2019
Mafia guys, evil business men, evil Chinese business men, witches, flesh eating rash disease thing, a pizza delivery guy....seriously, what doesn't this book have!? It's not winning any awards, but it is a fun 80s horror novel.
July 19, 2023
Very fun and very 80s.
July 6, 2025
2.5 stars - disappointed
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews