The King's Evil - Will Heinrich

Joseph Malderoyce begins painting at a very young age, but when he encounters Mondrian's artwork, he realises he would never match his skill and ultimately gives up. After receiving a large inheritance from his family, he leaves his job at a law firm and moves to a small town in the far north. Living a solitary life in his house near the forest, one morning he finds a badly beaten child sleeping on his porch. Abel, who is clearly alone and helpless, dives into Joseph's life and quickly becomes his closest friend. As their relationship grows, Abel, who possesses a cunning intelligence, starts to behave strangely. Eventually, Joseph must face the problem he has unknowingly nurtured within his home. This meticulously crafted, thought-provoking, and irresistibly unsettling novel delves into the darker aspects of the human soul. The King's Evil is one of those books where events unfold not only between characters but also secretly between the reader and the characters.