FBI agent Robert (Bob) Hilland was a huge skeptic. He was such a skeptic that when John Edward was featured on radio programs, he couldn’t change the station fast enough. A so-called psychic? Yeah, right. He didn’t believe in that ‘nonsense’ and was convinced that John Edward was a fake, a fraud. That is, until the John Smith case. John Smith had a couple of wives missing, and Bob knew that he’d killed them. He somehow convinced himself to set up a meeting with the psychic, knowing it would be a waste of time. In the meeting with another non-skeptic agent alongside him, he did everything he could to prove that John Edward was a fake. He even brought items that had zero to do with the case to prove he was a fraud.

But then John started talking.

He knew things about Robert’s life that nobody could’ve known. He also knew things about the John Smith case without being told anything beforehand. Those extra items Bob brought to try to make John look like a fool? Let’s just say that it took only a few seconds before John was moving them, saying, I’m paraphrasing, “I don’t know what these are, but they have nothing to do with this case.” This meeting was the start of a reluctant – at first – partnership between the two men. The reluctancy flew out the window not too long after. Bob was now convinced that John Edward was the real deal. And, I, the reader/listener, found myself saying, “How in the hell-???” out loud more than once throughout the book. I knew John Edward was good, but damn. Parts of it seriously gave me chills. He agreed to help Bob with the condition that he never revealed that John was part of any of it. His father was a cop, and made it very clear that he was to never ’embarrass’ him by talking to or helping law enforcement. He was also ordered to drop his last name – McGhee – because Dear Old Dad didn’t want to be associated with any of the psychic mumbo jumbo. Not his exact words, but close.

This partnership became a friendship that is obviously still going on to this day, more than a couple of decades later. It started with the John Smith case and went on to a missing child, 9/11, Whitey Bulger, the Michael Vick dog-fighting case, war zones, the president of the United States, as well as a lot of other cases. Every single time John was accurate in what he relayed to Bob. Because of this, Bob learned to trust him fully. Unfortunately, Bob’s wife Alex didn’t feel the same. She thought John was a crackpot, and this was mentioned many times in the book.

Parts of this are hard to read or listen to, especially the case about a little boy named Noah, who disappeared from his home one night. As a parent, that one killed me. My heart broke along with theirs. The Michael Vick case was very disturbing for obvious reasons, but I never knew he confessed. I guess in the back of my mind I’d always hoped that he wasn’t as horrible of a human being as being portrayed. He most definitely was. And, having watched 9/11 happen in real time on TV, I can’t describe what I felt while hearing Bob and John tell their stories. It’s something I’ll never be able to let go of, as with most Americans who were around that day.

Also, if you read or listen to this, I suggest skipping ahead a little when a goat’s eyeball is mentioned. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.

I’ve said many times that my ADHD has prevented me from fully concentrating on audiobooks because my mind tends to wander. Strangely, I didn’t find it wandering at all while I listened to Chasing Evil. I was that engrossed in the story. Like I mention above, that could’ve been because I’m very familiar with both men who are telling the story. Parts were like they were sitting next to each other having a conversation. I could see and hear them in my head very clearly. I usually take forever to finish an audiobook, but with this one, I could’ve easily kept that ear bud in my ear nonstop until the end. If only life didn’t get in the way. 🙂 I still finished it fairly quickly. It’s the review I’ve had problems with.

Not all the cases Bob and John worked on together were solved. One in particular will probably haunt Robert Hilland for the rest of his life. Even with those cases, the information relayed to him by John was never not accurate.

Whether you’re a skeptic or not, I can’t imagine anybody hearing this story and not at least wondering if there just might be more than a little truth to what John Edward brings to the world. I’ll be ordering a hardcover soon, something I rarely do. The only thing I missed out on by doing the audio version would be seeing the photos.

I highly recommend this to folks like me who are big fans of true crime shows and books. If you are, no doubt you’ve seen Robert Hilland a few times. If you’re a fan of John Edward, even better. I recently watched them on Howie Mandel’s podcast, Howie Does Stuff. Nothing against him, but Howie was all over the place for the first ten minutes or so. I have ADHD. I get it. Even so, there was a lot of talking before John Edward and Robert Hilland really had a chance to say much to promote the book. Once it actually gets going, it’s pretty interesting.

Also note that the FBI, though not endorsing the book, had to approve it before it was published. According to Bob Hilland, that took nine months.

I know that true crime isn’t exactly the norm on On Top Down Under. I admit I’ve stepped outside of my little romance reading box a few times over the past few months. Sometimes I just need something different. As my blog partner so eloquently said recently, I will be back to my regularly-scheduled smut reading soon enough. 🙂

A very easy 5 stars.