The Devil’s Playground, Craig Russell

Krystyna Green, publishing director of Constable, writes:

This Friday’s Read is truly exceptional and comes from CWA Dagger and double McIlvanney award winning author Craig Russell.  The third in his Gothic trilogy is titled The Devil’s Playground, and in this he moves from twentieth century Europe at the brink of World War II (The Devil Aspect) via nineteenth century Edinburgh (Hyde) and arrives in Hollywood at the time when the silent movie industry was at the height of its popularity and success. 

The Devil’s Playground is a dark, riveting thriller, centring on ‘the greatest horror movie ever made’, the curse said to surround it, and a deadly search, decades later, for the single copy rumoured still to exist.  I won’t give away any more here, but this is an adventure that’s epic in scope, completely immersive and unputdownable. We have a cast of truly memorable characters and locations – from the glamour and sleaze of the Hollywood Hills to the beauty and barrenness of the Mojave Desert and the otherworldliness of the Louisiana swamps where voodoo and magic are part of the tapestry of the strange and sinister landscape.

Already, pre-publication, Jeffery Deaver has described this as ‘breathtaking… imagination on steroids’, while Kathy Reichs has called it  ‘totally engaging’ – and you can see why.  This really is Craig’s tour de force and I really cannot recommend it enough.