The Devil's Playground

A Novel

By: Craig Russell

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.