PRETTY EVIL tells the tale of four buddies--Sunnie Clark, a real estate agent; Franklin "Coach" Brass, a pro-football player; Rice Jordan, an author; and Geffen Cage, an entrepreneur--who find themselves in the throes of evil.

Coach, Rice and Geffen all aspire to become real estate investors, but to get the property of their dreams, they must first become approved for a substantial loan.  Geffen puts his neck on the line to get a loan; but it comes with a condition, the trio must find their dream property within thirty days.  This is where Sunnie comes in.  Sunnie is a real estate broker, and she knows of a property that might suit the guys' needs, but the property makes her feel uneasy.  As they are touring the property, Sunnie swears she sees a woman, but no one else experiences the vision.  Sunnie is certain the property is a horrible choice, but the men decide it is perfect.

Sunnie is not far off the mark.  You see, the home is "owned" by Vixx, a demoness who owned a popular "other-worldly" brothel.  Vixx fell for a man, and as punishment she was sent to the cellar of the mansion with the orders that she must keep all invaders out of the mansion.  If she fails, she loses her mansion forever.  Vixx has a fool-proof plan.  She will recreate the ideal woman for each man.  Once each man is wrapped around her finger, she'll bring them to their doom.

As Halloween nears, I find myself craving scary stories.  I thought PRETTY EVIL would be a perfect match to my needs, but I think it fell short.  The story is a fresh blend of horror and comedy, but I couldn't get past a couple of the characters.  Geffen is this proper business man who repeated preaches that "punctuality is a sign of intelligence."  This same man then goes on to use slang terms such as "ain't" and "brotha".  Part of my problem lies in the fact that I hate slang terminology, especially the hip-hop/rap lingo that I hear all the time.  To me, "brotha", "shoulda", "slow up", and "playas" cries out for grammatical correction.  I'm afraid the language annoys me instead of drawing me into the story.

PRETTY EVIL isn't a bad novel.  The plot is entertaining and keeps you hooked, Vixx's character provides plenty of laughs, and I craved a restaurant with a "river" running through it.  Had the language been different, I know I would have loved PRETTY EVIL.  That's its biggest drawback, in this reader's opinion.