The Devil's Playground -- Craig Russell, Hardcover

A riveting 1920s Hollywood thriller about the making of the most terrifying silent film ever made, and a deadly search for the single copy rumored still to exist, from the internationally acclaimed author of The Devil Aspect.

"A masterful thriller." --Lincoln Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"A guaranteed one-sitting read." --Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector and Hunting Time
"The most sheerly entertaining novel I've raced through in at least a year." --A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

1927: Mary Rourke--a Hollywood studio fixer--is called urgently to the palatial home of Norma Carlton, one of the most recognizable stars in American silent film. Norma has been working on the secret film everyone is openly talking about... a terrifying horror picture called The Devil's Playground that is rumored to have unleashed a curse on everyone involved in the production. Mary finds Norma's cold, dead body, and she wonders for just a moment if these dark rumors could be true.

1967: Paul Conway, a journalist and self-professed film aficionado, is on the trail of a tantalizing rumor. He has heard that a single copy of The Devil's Playground--a Holy Grail for film buffs--may exist. He knows his Hollywood history and he knows the film endured myriad tragedies and ended up lost to time.

The Devil's Playground is Craig Russell's tour de force, a richly researched and constructed thriller that weaves through the Golden Age of Hollywood and reveals a blossoming industry built on secrets, invented identities, and a desperate pursuit of image. As Mary Rourke charges headlong through the egos, distractions, and traps that threaten to take her down with the doomed production, she discovers a truth far more sinister than she--or we--could have imagined.

Author: Craig Russell
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Published: 06/20/2023
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.55h x 6.39w x 1.31d
ISBN: 9780385549011

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 04/01/2023 pg. 85
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2023
Shelf Awareness 06/23/2023

About the Author
CRAIG RUSSELL is an award-winning Scottish author whose books have been translated into twenty-five languages. His previous works include The Devil Aspect, the Fabel series of thrillers and the Lennox series of noir mysteries. He is the only two-time winner of the McIlvanney Prize (2015 and 2021) as well as the winner of the 2008 Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library prize. He lives in Perthshire, Scotland, with his wife.