Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Smaller Evil

By: Stephanie Kuehn
Narrated by: Ryan Gesell, Mark Bramhall
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Sometimes the greater good requires the smaller evil.

Seventeen-year-old Arman Dukoff can't remember life without anxiety and chronic illness when he arrives at an expensive self-help retreat in the remote hills of Big Sur. He's taken a huge risk - and $2,000 from his meth-head stepfather - for a chance to "evolve", as Beau, the retreat leader, says.

Beau is complicated. A father figure? A cult leader? A con man? Arman's not sure, but more than anyone he's ever met, Beau makes Arman feel something other than what he usually feels - worthless.

The retreat compound is secluded in coastal California mountains among towering redwoods, and when the iron gates close behind him, Arman believes for a moment that he can get better. But the program is a blur of jargon, bizarre rituals, and incomprehensible encounters with a beautiful girl. Arman is certain he's failing everything. But Beau disagrees; he thinks Arman has a bright future - though he never says at what.

And then, in an instant Arman can't believe or totally recall, Beau is gone. Suicide? Or murder? Arman was the only witness, and now the compound is getting tense. And maybe dangerous.

As the mysteries and paradoxes multiply and the hints become accusations, Arman must rely on the person he's always trusted the least: himself.

©2016 Stephanie Kuehn (P)2016 Listening Library
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

When I Am Through with You cover art
The Salt Line cover art
The Cemetery Boys cover art
The Faerie Guardian cover art
Veiled cover art
The Door, Part 1 cover art
The Wilds Box Set: Books 1-4 cover art
Darkhouse cover art
Altered cover art
The Killing Jar cover art
Kiss Me Deadly cover art
Dream Casters: Light cover art
Realms of Ghosts and Magic cover art
The Book of Ivy cover art
The Woodlands cover art
Girl Underwater cover art

Critic reviews

"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)

“[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)

"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)

What listeners say about The Smaller Evil

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.