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Devil House

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About this listen

Gage Chandler is descended from kings. That’s what his mother always told him when he was a child.

Years later, he is a true crime writer with one grisly success – and a movie adaptation – to his name, along with a series of subsequent less notable efforts. But now he is being offered the chance for the big break: to move into the house where a pair of briefly notorious murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected teens during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.

Chandler finds himself in Milpitas, California, a small town whose name rings a bell – his closest childhood friend lived there once upon a time. He begins his research with diligence and enthusiasm, but soon the story leads him into a puzzle he never expected – back into his own work and what it means, back to the very core of what he does and who he is.

Devil House is John Darnielle’s most ambitious work yet, a book that blurs the line between fact and fiction, that combines daring formal experimentation with a spellbinding tale of crime, writing, memory, and artistic obsession.

©2022 John Darnielle. Published by arrangement with Scribe Publications Australia Published by arrangement with MCD, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 120 Broadway, New York NY 10271 USA. (P)2022 Macmillan Audio Crime Fiction Suspense Thriller & Suspense World Literature Crime Fiction

Critic reviews

"It’s never quite the book you think it is. It’s better." (Dwight Garner, The New York Times)

"Devil House has all the gross-out hallmarks of horror and true crime while also questioning the moral implications of the genres." (Los Angeles Times)
All stars
Most relevant
I was recommend Devil House and it looked intriguing so I gave it a listen. And while the author’s narration is very good the story itself is… odd.
It starts out well but soon loses itself and I found it difficult to keep up with what was supposed to be happening. Yes, the characters are compelling and I felt for them in their various situations, yet even at the end I did not know what the novel had really been about. Maybe I’m just stupid?
Again, not saying it’s bad, just very strange.

Strange

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Have just finished it and expect it’ll keep rattling around in me for a long time. The sort of games he plays with your expectations (not just plot ones) are really gratifying. He seems to have read a lot of the true crime stuff he is playing with, and is satirical about it at times but thoughtful and respectful. It’s an amazingly humane book, which will lead to its readers seeing things from others perspective. And a great, unusual read/listen!

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