A review by bent
Who Fears the Devil?: The Complete Silver John by Manly Wade Wellman

2.0

This is probably more 2.5 stars really, but that's not an option, so I rounded down considering how highly rated the book already is. I thought some of the stories were engaging enough, but there was a certain sameness after awhile. If there's an evil character, they are usually pretty obvious right off - if male, ugly, if female, slutty. Dressed like city folk, they are either vain, greedy or evil. Most women are blonde, especially the pure ones. And a pure heart always wins out over evil. Silver, a Christian hymn, the good book always drive off evil. Nothing bad, just a little repetitive. I do have to wonder if the novels that Wellman wrote featuring Silver John would be more interesting, since the format of the short story limits what he can do, but I don't know that I care enough to find out. I would recommend reading this until you start to tire of the formula, and then stop.