No one ever expects their own brother to burn the house down.
Every so often, a book comes along that you know will linger long after you’ve closed the cover. “Evil Among Us” by Alex L. Konicke is one of those rare, unforgettable reads.
Alex is a local Seattle-area author whom I crossed paths with years ago through the CrossFit and gym community. Even back then, I remember hearing about the unimaginable tragedy his family endured — the events of January 14, 2016, when his brother, during a period of severe addiction and a long history of untreated mental illness, set their family home on fire and killed their mother. It was one of those stories that stays with you, even from a distance.
So when Alex released this memoir nearly ten years later, I knew I wanted to support him — and finally understand the whole story behind those fragments. I read the book in two days.
What makes “Evil Among Us” so gripping isn’t just the tragedy itself, but the way Alex tells it. He brings readers into his childhood and family history, including signs of his brother Zach’s mental illness and addictive tendencies that appeared long before adulthood. The way Alex traces these early patterns adds a whole new layer of complexity to the story — especially for anyone who has ever asked the familiar question: Which came first?
Is addiction fueling the mental illness?
Or is addiction a desperate attempt to soothe an already unraveling mind?
It’s the classic chicken-or-the-egg question — one that feels especially relevant in Seattle, and in so many cities across the U.S., where the collision of untreated mental illness and addiction plays out in plain sight on our streets every day. We pass people who are suffering, but we rarely know the story underneath the symptoms. Alex’s memoir invites us to look past the surface and into the human complexity we so often overlook.
Another striking aspect of the book is the way it exposes the cracks in our system. Alex shares moments — including taking his brother to the ER — where the medical community failed to intervene, leaving the family without meaningful support or direction. For anyone who has tried navigating a loved one’s mental health crisis, these scenes are devastating. They make you wonder how different things might be if our systems were built to catch people before they fall through the gaps.
Without giving spoilers, Alex shows how these institutional failures compounded the tragedy — and how families are often left carrying the weight of consequences they never had the power to prevent.
The memoir also explores the ripple effects of trauma: Alex’s own emotional fallout, his father’s struggle (and eventual recovery) from alcohol in the aftermath, and the long, nonlinear path toward rebuilding a life after devastation. These threads make the book just as much about resilience and recovery as it is about loss.
What lingers most is how “Evil Among Us” balances devastation with humanity. Alex doesn’t avoid the darkest truths, but he also illuminates what survival looks like when there is no clear path forward. Healing in these pages is messy, complicated, and deeply honest — and sharing the story becomes an act of courage all its own.
“Evil Among Us” is raw, heartbreaking, and necessary. It offers an intimate look into the complexities of mental illness, addiction, early warning signs, system failures, and the long road of forgiveness. It’s a memoir that will stay with me for a long time.
If you’re drawn to stories that explore humanity at its most fragile — and the resilience that rises from the ashes — this is one to add to your list.
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