I approached this book with a little suspicion because I generally do not like horror stories; they simply don't appeal to me. Stephen King's The Outsider, for instance begins as a relatively straightforward crime story but by the end has become a supernatural horror story, which was where I lost interest, so I feared that the same might be the case with The Devil's Playground; fortunately that wasn't the case. He now realizes that the building is too big for a house. A hotel? Out here in the middle of nowhere? Whatever it is, nothing could look more out of place in this setting. Yes. I’m from Carbine International,” she clarifies for him: Huston is on loan to the studio from First National Pictures.

In 1927, a Hollywood fixer is called yet again to take care of a situation that will look bad for a film studio. Mary Rourke arrives at the home of gorgeous star Norma Carlton to find that she’s committed suicide. Norma had been filming a horror movie, The Devil’s Playground, that’s now rumored to be cursed. When the situation turns out not to be exactly as it appeared, Mary is given a new assignment as a secret investigator. It leads her down a lot of dark alleys and gets quite complicated — and dangerous. 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—would imagine. This is Craig Russell’s strongest novel to date, and one that will resonate with American readers.” She stops and turns to him. He sees her features clearly for the first time, and a thrill of recognition runs through him. There remains a faded magnificence to her. Her hair is bright white against the dark tan of her face, but he realizes that, were she to dye it, she could pass for a woman twenty years her junior. What fascinates him most is that hers is a face he knows so well—not aged, as it is now, but in bygone, camera-­captured flawless youth. Looking at her now, he can see the fundaments of the beauty that had distinguished her younger self. It is, he thinks, like looking at some classical monument—like the Acropolis, or the Sphinx of Giza—where hints of the original, long-­distant splendor shine through the ravages of time. There is a rumor—again, a legend, almost—that a single copy, just one print, of The Devil’s Playground survived. Every piece of research I have done suggests that only one person could possibly know where that print is—the only person to have survived all the mishaps, on-set accidents, and mysterious deaths and disappearances that have given the movie the reputation of a cursed production. There’s only you. The only one left living.” Don’t worry, Prentice,” she says. “This is Hollywood. Things are never what you think they are. You can call it in,” she tells Nolan, and waits while he makes the call.Stephen King meets Robert Louis Stevenson... an imaginative gothic tale guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine the next time you walk a dark Edinburgh night' David Hewson The story is a thrilling ride through the murky depths of madness and horror, written with all Craig’s trademark skill and style. Definitely five stars from me’ James Oswald

This is a tremendous work of historical noir… The mastery of silent film history was also exceptional… Expertly written and plotted, this excellent novel is a deeply satisfying amalgam of mystery and horror.” I’ve been reading Craig Russell’s books for years. I was initially drawn to his books featuring Jan Fabel of the Hamburg Murder Squad and then a short series set on the gangster-ridden streets of Glasgow in the 1950s. These two series were equally strong but very different in terms of setting, timeframe and tone. But lately he’s stepped away from crime fiction novels to produce a group of books that are a complete departure from what’s gone before. The Devil Aspect is a Gothic horror story set in Czechoslovakia in 1935 and Hyde is a dark thriller set in Victorian Edinburgh. In truth, I loved the former but was a little less taken with the latter. So what to make of his latest tale, a mystery/thriller set in 1920s Hollywood?

Conway remembers someone once saying there was a special beauty to the desert. But he can’t recall who said it, or even if it had been a real person or just a character in a movie. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s gotten the two universes confused. Maybe they hadn’t even been talking about a real desert, but a set: a cinematographer’s idea of a desert. Whoever said it, Conway doesn’t see any unique beauty. For him, the desert is empty of beauty. Empty of anything. Dead space. She sits and watches him for a moment, and he is aware of the dog’s eyes on him as well. After a while she says:

I know it’s an old chestnut,” says Wilson, “but it’s the path of least resistance. I’ll revise her records at the clinic to match the story, do an autopsy tonight, sign the cert, and we can have her casketed tomorrow. Otherwise, you may need to sweeten the county medical examiner’s disposition. And that takes a lot of sugar, from what I’ve heard.”

By Richard Powers

The book opens — and, more critically, closes — in 1967 in the Mojave Desert with film historian Paul Conway. An anonymous client has paid him handsomely to find the only remaining copy of “The Devil’s Playground,” a 1920s silent film reputed to be the scariest horror movie ever made. I know all that,” she says, impatiently. “But when the studio burned down, the master and all other prints were lost. I really can’t see how I can help you.” 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.

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. One of the most creative twist endings I have experienced in ages... The Devil's Playground might just be the best mystery of the year."A masterwork. . .This is a terrific blend of historical fiction, with its depiction of classic Hollywood, and chilling supernatural elements. We go along for the ride.” I told her today that Veronica had found out about us,” Huston continues, “and that we had to break it off. She took it badly.”