THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND
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.
UK publication June 8, 2023
US publication June 20, 2023
“Addictive… the most sheerly entertaining novel I’ve raced through in at least a year… fresh, forceful, elegant but wild”
“Craig Russell walks a razor’s edge between gothic suspense and horror… a masterful thriller”
“Superb! The Devil’s Playground is imagination on steroids… breathtaking!”
HYDE
A dark, twisting and thoroughly Gothic thriller—a tale of dualities and duplicities in Victorian Edinburgh. And of the man behind the legend…
2021
“A wildly entertaining story that grabs you on page one and drags you into its dark world kicking and screaming. Russell has created a truly frightening story, one that gets under your skin slowly, then goes deep, like the tip of a butcher knife. I read the novel one snowy night by the fire, unable to sleep until I finished, then unable to sleep once I had.”
“Evocative prose enhances a suspenseful and sophisticated plot. This is the rare riff on an influential novel that sticks the landing.”
“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.”
“Gloriously diabolical. A terrifying thrill ride through the hidden chasms of the human soul.”
“I absolutely adored it. Intense, harrowing and hugely entertaining… Spectacular”
“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”
“An engaging Gothic thriller full of atmosphere and surprises”
THE DEVIL ASPECT
“A wildly entertaining story that grabs you on page one and drags you into its dark world kicking and screaming.”
“A truly frightening story, one that gets under your skin slowly, then goes deep, like the tip of a butcher knife.”
A chilling, classic gothic thriller, set in a remote castle asylum in Czechoslovakia, immediately before the Second World War. Rights in ten languages bought before publication; US rights bought by Jason Kaufman, Dan Brown’s editor at Doubleday US; film rights sold to Sony/Columbia Pictures.
The Devil Aspect
US Edition
The Devil Aspect
UK Edition
“A wildly entertaining story that grabs you on page one and drags you into its dark world kicking and screaming. Russell has created a truly frightening story, one that gets under your skin slowly, then goes deep, like the tip of a butcher knife. I read the novel one snowy night by the fire, unable to sleep until I finished, then unable to sleep once I had.”
“A tour de force: a clever and visceral thriller with a one-two-three knockout of an ending that left me dazed.
The brooding backdrop of a Czechoslovakia on the brink of World War II just adds another layer of atmosphere to an already nightmarish read.”
“A blood-pumping, nerve-shredding thriller–elegant, edgy, ingenious. Craig Russell conjures not one but two unforgettable settings: Prague between the wars, pulsing with menace, and a Gothic mental asylum, as exciting a house of horrors as I’ve ever visited. You’ll enter both with dread. You’ll dwell in them with relish.”
“Deep, dark, and twisty, The Devil Aspect will keep you up all night reading… With all the lights on. Russell has created a gripping masterpiece of a thriller!”
“Steeped in the chilling folklore of Eastern Europe and echoing the dread of a barbaric war to come, The Devil Aspect snatches the reader by the lapels for a thrilling, twisting trip through the darkest corridors of the human mind.”
“In 1935 Prague, vicious murders are linked to a medieval castle housing an insane asylum outside the city in this well-crafted gothic crime tale…. A seasoned writer, Russell keeps the police case moving at a good clip…but nothing to match the ending, which offers more twists than a Chubby Checker album. A smart, atmospheric, and entertaining read but not for the Jung and easily Freudened.”
“Scalpel-sharp dissection of the nature of evil. A splendidly Gothic story. It is breathtaking.”
Lennox Novels
Order of books shown from most recent to first published – click on books for descriptions
LENNOX
– view all Lennox books and descriptions
Lennox series – set in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1950s
Fabel Novels
Order of books shown from most recent to first published – click on books for descriptions
Fabel Books
– view all Jan Fabel books and descriptions
The Jan Fabel series is set in Hamburg, Germany – click here to view film adaptations
Order of the books
Standalone Novels
THE DEVIL ASPECT
Biblical / The Third Testament
Order of Lennox Series
Book 1 – Lennox
Book 2 – The Long Glasgow Kiss
Book 3 – The Deep Dark Sleep
Book 4 – Dead Men And Broken Hearts
Book 5 – The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid
Order of Jan Fabel Series
Book 1 – Blood Eagle
Book 2 – Brother Grimm
Book 3 – Eternal
Book 4 – The Carnival Master
Book 5 – The Valkyrie Song
Book 6 – A Fear Of Dark Water
Book 7 – The Ghosts of Altona