The Devil's Staircase

By: Helen Fitzgerald

Narrated by: Federay Holmes

Bronny, a young Australian, finds herself down and out in London. She's a sweet girl who has spent her teenage years in a fearful, cautious bubble. She's never taken drugs, had sex or killed anyone. Within six weeks she's done all three.

A group of backpackers break into an abandoned London townhouse seeking a rent-free life of debauchery. They don't realise someone's already there: A terrified woman bound and gagged in the basement.

The Devil's Staircase combines a chick-lit voice and a dark crime noir environment. Not for the faint-hearted, The Devil's Staircase is funny, sexy and disturbing - it will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

©2012 Helen Fitzgerald (P)2014 Audible Studios

I was riveted

How am I just now hearing about Helen FirzGerald? I was looking at Chris Ewan’s Wikipedia page, and at the bottom were two authors listed under “Related Articles.” One was for Adrian McKinty, and the other was for Helen FirzGerald. My personal analog algorithm requires that I check out anything in the proximity of Adrian McKinty, so I had to see about Helen FitzGerald.

I listened to the sample of “The Devil’s Staircase” and decided I might like it. I LOVED it. Federay Holmes’s narration is great, and Helen FitzGerald’s writing grabbed my attention and never let it go.

I’m unfamiliar with English squatter culture, so went down a rabbit hole reading about that on the side. Hostels and squats: how exotic, I thought. Now, how terrifying.

I have a list of things I’ve realize I don’t like reading about: abduction, confinement, kidnapping, torture, violence. Sure, those things turn up in Ian Fleming, but they show up in Dick Francis novels, too. I don’t stop reading a novel because of those sections, but I kind of turn off. Helen FitzGerald’s kidnap passages are the most horrific and vivid I’ve ever read. And I couldn’t stop listening. I was riveted.

I loved how she triggered my sense of unease with her breezy depictions of carefree fun and young, clueless poverty. It conjured my own memories of moving to the Big City when I was young with no support, no plans. “Is this writer being irresponsible?” I thought. No, oh no she’s not.

Audible only has two of her other novels available, so I’ll be buying the rest in paperback.

Terrible Ending

The ending makes no sense i have no idea what the authors intent is or what they are implying happens to her.