The Devil's Playground
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Kirsten Potter
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By:
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Craig Russell
About this listen
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.
"An excellent, engrossing historical horror novel."—New York Times Book Review
"Rich and riveting...a masterful thriller." —Lincoln Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Addictive." —A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
"Totally engaging." —Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan series
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.
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Critic reviews
"[An] excellent, engrossing historical horror novel, one that explores the symbiosis of power and evil in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Russell, the author of the brilliant The Devil Aspect, is a steady guide, ferrying readers between Hollywood’s promises and its terrible reality. His precise, gorgeous prose shines." —New York Times Book Review
"I’ll read anything Craig Russell writes. Indeed I’ve read everything he’s written. His are secret-ingredient thrillers: robustly mainstream novels – readers of Preston & Child, Dean Koontz, and Steve Berry, form an orderly line – charged with a special dark energy, like some elusive taste in a spiked cocktail. It’s addictive. The Devil’s Playground, set partly in a richly evoked 1920s Hollywood, plays like Chinatown meets The Ring, and it’s the most sheerly entertaining novel I’ve raced through in at least a year. In an age when far too many same-old-same-old books are clogging the charts, The Devil’s Playground – fresh, forceful, elegant but wild – deserves to crash the bestseller party." —A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
"A blend of murder, noir, and horror set against a fascinating time-trip through Hollywood. The Devil’s Playground is totally engaging."—Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan series
"Craig Russell is a master of his craft... The Devil’s Playground may represent his pinnacle... Russell’s storytelling is seamless... Russell’s taut dialogue and visual storytelling feel like watching a movie... A tightly plotted, propulsive story filled with multilayered characters. Your only complaint may be that the book has to end. But, oh, what a perfect gothic ending it is."—Washington Independent Review of Books
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Disappointed
- By DesignerBee on 09-11-08
By: Tess Gerritsen
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Dead Bad Things
- A Thomas Usher Novel
- By: Gary McMahon
- Narrated by: Jay Villiers
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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He sought to flee his tragic past, but when Thomas Usher hears a clockwork voice on the phone, and sees ever-more disturbing visions in a derelict warehouse, Usher realises that he has to return home - for the sake of his own sanity. Meanwhile, a deadly figure from Usher's past threatens to undermine the very fabric of reality. Gary McMahon’s short fiction has appeared in numerous acclaimed magazines and anthologies in the UK and US and has been reprinted in yearly “Best of” collections.
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Great story, great reader
- By Anonymous User on 12-09-20
By: Gary McMahon
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Duel of the Damned
- Shadow King Series, Book 1
- By: Ian Fortey, Ron Ripley, Scare Street
- Narrated by: Thom Bowers
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In back alleys and hellholes across the world, ravaged souls and scarred warriors whisper of the Iron Tournament. A savage game of death, pitting living fighters against caged spirits, all for the amusement of a mysterious audience.
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Love Ron Ripley!
- By Laura Martin on 01-05-23
By: Ian Fortey, and others
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American Elsewhere
- By: Robert Jackson Bennett
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 22 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different....
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You are entering the twighlight zone
- By Lisa on 07-29-13
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Hellboy: An Assortment of Horrors
- By: Various
- Narrated by: Seth Podowitz
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen of the biggest names in weird literature come together to pay tribute to Hellboy and the characters of Mike Mignola’s award-winning line of books! Assembled by Joe Golem and Baltimore co-writer Christopher Golden, this anthology boasts 15 original stories by the best in horror, fantasy, and science fiction, including Seanan McGuire (October Daye series), Chelsea Cain (Heartsick), Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger series), and more! The new writer of Hellboy and the BPRD, iZombie co-creator Chris Roberson, pitches in as well!
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An assortment of good times.
- By Chris E. on 02-28-20
By: Various
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Inherit the Bones
- A Detective Gemma Monroe Mystery, Book 1
- By: Emily Littlejohn
- Narrated by: Harper Landry
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Secrets and lies can’t stay buried forever in Cedar Valley. In the summer, hikers and campers pack the small Colorado town’s meadows and fields. And in the winter, skiers and snowboarders take over the mountains. Season by season, year after year, time passes, and the lies, like the aspens and evergreens that surround the town, take root and spread deep. Now, someone has uncovered the lies, and it is his murder that continues a chain of events that began almost 40 years ago.
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intriguing
- By Anonymous User on 06-26-19
By: Emily Littlejohn
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When a Stranger Comes to Town
- By: Michael Koryta
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay, Janina Edwards, Fajer Al-Kaisi, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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It's been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories—a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there's something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers.
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The narrators are outstanding here.
- By Jennifer Baratta She/Her on 05-16-21
By: Michael Koryta
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The Night Before
- By: Lisa Jackson
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Caitlyn Montgomery Bandeaux wakes one morning drenched in blood, her head pounding mercilessly. Worst of all, she can't remember what happened the night before - when her estranged husband was murdered. Now the police want answers. Tormented, Caitlyn turns to her sister for support and is warned not to talk to the handsome new psychologist in town. But she soon realizes he's the only person she's comfortable confiding in.
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Couldn't believe it...
- By Deborah on 10-14-11
By: Lisa Jackson
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The Recognitions
- By: William Gaddis
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 47 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Wyatt Gwyon's desire to forge is not driven by larceny but from love. Exactingly faithful to the spirit and letter of the Flemish masters, he produces uncannily accurate "originals" - pictures the painters themselves might have envied. In an age of counterfeit emotion and taste, the real and fake have become indistinguishable; yet Gwyon's forgeries reflect a truth that others cannot touch - cannot even recognize.
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Breathtaking, Dizzying, Stimulating, Funny
- By andrew on 11-17-10
By: William Gaddis
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If Walls Could Talk
- Haunted Home Renovation, Book 1
- By: Juliet Blackwell
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Melanie Turner has made quite a name for herself remodeling historic houses in the San Francisco Bay Area. But now her reputation may be on the line. At her newest project, a run-down Pacific Heights mansion, Mel is visited by the ghost of a colleague who recently met a bad end with power tools. Mel hopes that by nailing the killer, she can rid herself of the ghostly presence of the murdered man - and not end up a construction casualty herself....
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A Nice Change
- By Carole T. on 06-15-15
By: Juliet Blackwell
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Double Threat
- By: F. Paul Wilson
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Stephanie Willing, Rupert Degas
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the southwestern desert, a mysterious cult prays for the return of the Visitors. Only one creature can derail that grand and glorious event: An evil entity, known as the Duad, can keep the Visitors from arriving and prevent the transfiguration to come. Daley, who lives nearby, has a far more serious problem: an alien consciousness that has taken up residence in her head.
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So ready to see what's ahead next!
- By Stacy on 10-09-21
By: F. Paul Wilson
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Red Harvest
- By: Dashiell Hammett
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty--even if that meant taking on an entire town. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain. From the author of The Maltese Falcon.
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Great story, great narration, terrible reccording
- By yep on 08-21-14
By: Dashiell Hammett
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Call Down the Hawk (The Dreamer Trilogy, Book 1)
- By: Maggie Stiefvater
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality. Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it. Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer...and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed....
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Unlistenable
- By Nathan Parker on 11-24-19
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Excellent, challenging, not a “beach read”
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All children mythologize their birth... So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's beloved collection of stories, long famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. The enigmatic Winter has always kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she summons a biographer to tell the truth about her extraordinary life: Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth remains an ever-present pain.
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Simply Amazing Story--2 missing chapters
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Heart Wrenching
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Excellent, challenging, not a “beach read”
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Dark Story...Odd Narrator
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Strangely compelling
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The Shawshank Redemption
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A mesmerizing tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is one of Stephen King’s most beloved and iconic stories, and it helped make Castle Rock a place readers and listeners would return to over and over again. Suspenseful, mysterious, and heart-wrenching, this iconic King novella, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, is about a fiercely compelling convict named Andy Dufresne who is seeking his ultimate revenge.
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Bad Sound Quality
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By: Stephen King
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Boys in the Valley
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Absolutely deserves five stars
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Satanism
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Out There Screaming
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The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.
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Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows. To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened.
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An Interesting Hitcockian-style Thriller
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For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder. Peter Straub's classic best seller is a work of "superb horror" ( Washington Post Book World) that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time - and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.
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Great Story! The Best of Peter Straub
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Socially awkward Chloe Cooper divides her time between dog walking, bartending, caring for her ailing mother, and at a safe distance, watching people and inventing the stories of their lives. Like Chloe’s new neighbors: glamorous influencer Jemma Spengler and Jemma’s husband, Adam, a renowned surgeon. They’re attractive, wealthy, and in a house of open windows, so exposed.
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Fantastic!
- By Lulu Dx on 10-03-24
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Devolution
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As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier’s eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined...until now. The journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing - and too earth-shattering in its implications - to be forgotten. In this audiobook, Max Brooks brings Kate’s extraordinary account to light for the first time, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own extensive investigations into the massacre and the legendary beasts behind it.
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Disappointing. Not good.
- By Mr Dangerous on 06-16-20
By: Max Brooks
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The Seventh Veil of Salome
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1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times. So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled, and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.
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Well-told story, fantastic narration
- By A. Hernandez on 09-01-24
What listeners say about The Devil's Playground
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Saralyn Lyons
- 06-25-23
Nearly perfection
Russell is masterful at crafting stories that sound and feel appropriate for their settings—Hyde and The Devil Aspect work especially well because of their Victorian setting and gothic inspiration. Unfortunately the hard boiled detective, the noir style, isn’t quite pulled off in The Devil’s Playground. Russell’s prose stands out in the story’s many flashbacks to turn of the century time periods, but the gangster, “toots” slinging dialog of the main storyline falls flat for me.
No regrets buying and reading this book—it is wildly engaging and entertaining despite its more eye-rolling character exchanges, but if you cringe easily, maybe give it a pass and opt for L.A. Confidential or The Black Dahlia instead.
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- Amy Hutcheson
- 06-06-24
Some of the best narration I’ve heard
The Devil’s Playground is great story to begin with, but what really makes it worthwhile is Kirsten Potter’s narration. You feel like you’re right in the middle of the era of silent movies and Hollywood.
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- Janet A. Flemer
- 07-02-23
Did not disappoint
This was a blast. Old Hollywood history plus swampy ritual magic are a reliable recipe for a story, plus a creepy carnival? Hell yes.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-07-24
Popcorn reading
To start the performance is fantastic, the subtile ways the narrator shifts tone depending on who the protagonist is talking to in particular deserves mention. Also the French pronunciation during the Cajun sections of the story is believable and the accent work is great. That said it does bother me how committed they are to saying golem wrong. You’d think a word you were going to say that many times might merit a check.
The story suffers from a considerable amount of bloat and a few too many twists for my liking and for reasons unknown our protagonist becomes a complete idiot at the end of the novel leading to a scene where they are explaining a secret to her and I legitimately thought someone was joking because that secret had been revealed to her in the last chapter but until these guys show up and LITERALLY SPELL IT OUT FOR HER she remains oblivious. That’s fine in a vacuum but like we’ve spent the entire book with this lady who’s supposed to be like this crack fixer and now she apparently can’t add?
That said this was a fun and spooky trip through silent Hollywood that only occasionally feels the need to show off that the author did some cursory research into the period and for the most part I enjoyed the ride.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-27-23
1920 female private eye detective...
great writing but how realistic is a female private eye in the 1920s? she wouldnt be allowed in any location where business was held. I'm so used to this type of weirdness in media I try not to have it affect the product. I really like the female antagonist but I'm not sure how productive she would be.
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- Stefan Filipovits
- 07-04-23
Hollywood Noir-or
I was wary of reading anything else by Craig Russell after the instantly predictable slog that was “The Devil Aspect”, yet when I saw that his newest novel would be a horror/noir (noiror?) set in golden age Hollywood, I became cautiously optimistic. While “The Devil Aspect” had a paint by numbers plot and a twist ending a child could see coming, Craig Russell has an undeniable ability to conjure up an authentic feeling to the settings of his stories. He’s an author who’s not afraid to do his homework and painstakingly establishes the world his characters inhabit. While in “The Devil Aspect” it was a foreboding asylum in pre-WW2 Europe, in “The Devil’s Playground” it’s the seductive and dangerous world of 1920’s Hollywood.
We open in the 1960’s with a film scholar interviewing the last surviving cast member of a legendary (and seemingly cursed) silent horror film. The scholar is tracking down the last remaining copy of “the greatest horror film, sound or silent, of all time”. A “cursed” film that’s left its stars dead, crew members maimed or injured, and if rumors are to be believed might contain a clue to a string of shadowy unsolved murders. The plot then whisks the reader back to golden age Hollywood and introduces us to our ostensible main character, a studio fixer and resourceful, if unwilling gumshoe; Mary Rourke. Mary is an intoxicating mix of Eddie Mannix, Katherine Hepburn, and Harry D’Amour. As she investigates the murder of a silent film star for her studio bosses, she becomes tangled in a web of Hollywood corruption, homicide, and seemingly supernatural occurrences. She inhabits a Hollywood that’s gilded on the outside and rotten underneath and as a student of film history myself it was genuinely thrilling to experience her as a character and old Hollywood as a setting.
While the story is engrossing and even addicting at times, readers should prepare themselves for multiple timelines in “The Devil’s Playground”. And while there are times where these timelines threaten to overload the story and befuddle the reader, on the whole, Russell does a laudable job keeping the plot focused, his characters rounded, and his mystery enthralling. So, if you’re looking to add some horror to your summer reading list or want some dangerous mystery in your literary diet then definitely check out “The Devil’s Playground” by Craig Russell. It is one of those books that grabs a reader by the throat from word one and never lets go.
If you enjoyed “The Devil’s Playground” by Craig Russell as much as I did and are looking for similar titles then check out “Cold Heart Canyon” by Clive Barker, “Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness” by William J. Mann, “The Black Dahlia” and “Perfidia” by James Ellroy, “Something More Than Night” by Kim Newman, or even “Falling Angel” and “Angel’s Inferno” by William Hjortsberg.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Todd Gage
- 07-09-23
Not his best
I’m a huge fan of this authors prior novels but I was disappointed in this one. Story seemed to drag along and just never captured my interest. Narration was great though. I wouldn’t say novel was terrible just not very interesting.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-22-23
Excellent!
Craig Russell has done it again! Along with The Devil Aspect and Hyde, The Devil's Playground is another winner!
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- Diane
- 06-28-23
Noir with a hint of the supernatural
Once again Russell manages to adroitly walk the line between realism and the suggestion of the supernatural, no small accomplishment. Really enjoyed this book even if the hard-bitten female detective character seemed a bit implausible for the period. Lots of interesting detail about the birth of the Hollywood film industry. Thumbs up.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-03-23
Awesome
Loved the story and the performance. My favorite story as of yet! Craig did good
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