The Devil's Playground

by Craig Russell

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. This is the breakout from Craig Russell, author of The Devil Aspect.

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—would imagine. This is Craig Russell’s strongest novel to date, and one that will resonate with American readers.

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Historical, Suspense

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2023

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Award-winning, best-selling and critically-acclaimed author. His novels have been published in twenty-five languages around the world. The movie rights to the Devil Aspect have been bought by Columbia Pictures. Biblical, his science-fiction novel, has been acquired by Imaginarium Studios/Sonar Entertainment, four Jan Fabel novels have been made into movies (in one of which Craig Russell makes a cameo appearance as a detective) for ARD, the German national broadcaster, and the Lennox series has been optioned for TV development.

Craig Russell:
• won the 2015 Crime Book of the Year (McIlvanney Prize) for 'The Ghosts of Altona', and is currently longlisted for the 2017 McIlvanney Prize for 'The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid', the latest in the Lennox series;
• was a finalist for the 2013 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger;
• was a finalist for the 2012 Crime Book of the Year (McIlvanney Prize);
• won the 2008 CWA Dagger in the Library for the Fabel series;
• was a finalist for the 2007 CWA Duncan Lawrie Golden Dagger;
• was a finalist for the 2007 SNCF Prix Polar in France;
• is the only non-German to be awarded the highly prestigious Polizeistern by the Polizei
Hamburg.

Official website: http://www.craigrussell.com
Facebook Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/craigrussell...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecraigrussell

Also writes under the pseudonym Christopher Galt

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

The award winning Craig Russell immerses the reader in an atmospheric historical thriller with elements of the gothic, set in the turbulent 1920s silent golden era of Hollywood, on the cusp of the entry of talking movies. It is inhabited with the famous beautiful people, with their carefully resurrected pasts, as fictional as the movies they create. It's a time of prohibition and speakeasys, of grandiose homes, drugs, overflowing drinks, parties, and debauchery. When the stars did get in trouble, PR and fixers like Mary Roarke for Carbine International Pictures, smooth things over, just as she does with the apparent suicide at home of the film legend that is Norma Carleton. She was the star of the 'cursed' The Devil's Playground, billed as the most spectacular horror movie of all time, but one which keeps getting hit by tragic mishap after mishap.

Mary discovers after she has covered up the suicide, that Norma was murdered, and her boss, Harry Carbine, who has bet the entire house on the success of the horror movie, asks her to investigate, despite her inexperience. It takes Mary a little time to find her feet, acquiring help from LAPD's Jake Kendrick, but what becomes transparently clear quickly is that this is a dangerous inquiry that could get her killed. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, there are threads that go back to 1897 and the Dahlman and Darke Magic Lantern show in Kansas, and in 1907, in the verdant malevolent swamps of Louisiana, there are deaths as rumours of witches, voodoo and zombies abound. In 1967 film historian Paul Conway hunts for the rumoured only copy left of The Devil's Playground, a quest that take him to the desert and Sudden Lake.

Russell weaves a vibrant and scintillating story, of horror, creating a marvellously wide cast of distinct characters, a determined Mary who does not know the meaning of giving up, the missing girls and some larger than life characters, criminals and villains that make up a Hollywood community that had lost any sense of perspective or morality. The level of period detail is a delight that evokes an unforgettable era in this beautifully plotted thriller, packed with surprising twists, that I am sure will appeal to a wide variety of readers as well as fans of the author. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary!!! A wonderful stand alone mystery novel by Craig Russell in which he delves into legends and mysteries from the Golden Era, the Silent Movie era of Hollywood. This is a wonderfully crafted work that takes us back and forth in time from 1967 to 1927, and then even further back to 1897 and 1907 to introduce us to character and a plot that is intricate and spellbinding. It all begins with the death of Hollywood star Norma Carlton and is mostly seen through the eyes of Carbine Studio fixer, Mary Rourke who is tasked by the studio owner to figure out who killed Norma. Norma was part of the alleged cursed production of the epic silent movie The Devil's Playground of which there is alleged to be only a single copy remaining. In 1967 Dr. Paul Conway is on a mission to find that elusive copy which takes him to Sudden Lake, California to a former hotel which may very well hold the secret to the lost film. We also are introduced to an alleged voodoo queen in the Louisiana swamp back in 1907 and even further back the author takes us to introduce many aspects of the plot, all of which add to the mystery of Norma's death, the cursed movie production, and missing young girls who flocked to Hollywood in the early days of film to become the next big star. Just a well done plot and a well written book. Meticulous research on many aspects of Hollywood including the now defunct Hollywood Studio Club, the goat-gland guru John Romulus Brinkley, and much, much more. Yes, this is a novel, but it transports you back in time and with such realism that you feel that these events actually happened. Mystery, suspense, horror, thriller?? You pick your genre, for me it is just one heck of a great book!!!!!! An enthusiastic 5*****, and a hope that the author will return to those yesteryears of Hollywood with an array of scandals that could launch a series of books dealing with the Golden Age of Movies!

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful and surprising gem of a book! I came for the combination of a ‘lost film’ plot and elements of horror – a recipe guaranteed to snag my interest – but I stayed for the incredibly well-researched portrait of old Hollywood, the brilliantly world-weary heroine, and the fascinating detective story. In the framing narrative, set in 1967, a man arrives at a middle-of-nowhere desert hotel in search of a legendary silent horror film, The Devil’s Playground. For most of the book, though, we’re with studio ‘fixer’ Mary Rourke in 1927 as she experiences the Devil’s Playground curse first-hand, starting with the death of leading lady Norma Carlton. This is an elaborately plotted historical mystery, rich in fascinating detail; the horror stuff is fun, but – surprisingly – far from my favourite thing about the story. One of those books I enjoyed so much that I immediately bought another of the author’s novels (The Devil Aspect) and am so looking forward to getting stuck in.

I received an advance review copy of The Devil’s Playground from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been reading Craig Russell’s books for years. I was initially drawn to his books featuring Jan Fabel of the Hamburg Murder Squad and then a short series set on the gangster-ridden streets of Glasgow in the 1950s. These two series were equally strong but very different in terms of setting, timeframe and tone. But lately he’s stepped away from crime fiction novels to produce a group of books that are a complete departure from what’s gone before. The Devil Aspect is a Gothic horror story set in Czechoslovakia in 1935 and Hyde is a dark thriller set in Victorian Edinburgh. In truth, I loved the former but was a little less taken with the latter. So what to make of his latest tale, a mystery/thriller set in 1920s Hollywood?

The Devil’s Playground is reputed to be the greatest horror film ever made, a film that was also said to have cast a curse on everyone involved in its making. Finished in 1927, it was one of the last big films made in the silent movie era. But alas all copies of the film are reported to have been lost, hidden or destroyed. Forty years later, Paul Conway, a film historian and journalist, is hired to track down what might just be the only copy of the film in existence. Such is its value, he’s been offered a huge sum if he can complete this task.

We follow Conway’s quest as he potentially closes in on his quarry and we are also taken back in time to the making of the film. There are satanic rituals, black magic and ancient fears and beliefs in play as the filming takes place. There’s also an interesting cast of characters, notably Mary Rourke who is the ‘fixer’ employed by the studio making the film. In essence, her job is to troubleshoot issues arising and to tidy up uncomfortable or potentially ruinous acts carried out by anyone involved in the making of the film. She’s to be kept very busy here.

Does Conway find a copy of the film? Is there good reason to believe that this truly is the classic horror movie it’s claimed to be? We have to wait some time to get answers to these questions, but I have to say that it’s a pretty satisfying journey. I don’t have too much to criticise here either, except to say that it’s perhaps all a little too drawn out and as the story comes to a close there are a few more twists and surprises than I think the story really needs. But overall I found it to be another truly gripping tale from this very talented writer.

My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

“She tells him a tale of a great movie, of a curse hanging over it, of a great movie actress, of a real-life drama, even greater than the one that played out on the screen. Of a time and a place where deception came naturally. She tells him a tale of Hollywood.”

This story unfolds in 3 timelines, 2 in Hollywood and one in Louisiana. In 1927, a silent horror film is under production. When its star is discovered dead in her home, that is only the beginning of the tragic events that begin to plague the production of The Devil’s Playground. The movie came to be known as both the subject of a curse, and as the greatest horror movie ever made. Its legend was enhanced by the fact that all copies of the film were supposedly destroyed. In 1967, a film historian believes that he is on the trail of a single preserved copy.

This book is written in a noir fashion and has aspects of both a thriller and a horror novel. I loved the writing, with its snappy dialog and acid descriptions. The Hollywood fixer, Mary Rourke, was a spunky gal right out of a 1930s or 40s movie. Think Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday. The book also had a very twisty plot, it will make a terrific movie. I am also attracted to the gritty underbelly of old Hollywood, so I really enjoyed this.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘The Devil’s Playground’ is my first time reading a Craig Russell novel, but it won’t be the last! This one is an atmospheric gothic novel which has flashbacks to 1893 bayou Louisiana and 1897 Kansas, as well as skips forward in time to 1967, but the action primarily takes place in 1927 Hollywood.

I have copied the book blurb:

”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. This is the breakout from Craig Russell, author of The Devil Aspect.

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—would imagine. This is Craig Russell’s strongest novel to date, and one that will resonate with American readers.”

The book blurb is very accurate! There isn’t much graphic violence but there are a lot of mysterious horrors nonetheless (even if much of it is indirectly suggested)! If it wasn’t for the murders, sensitive readers, the book would be a pleasure to read because of the writing! In any case, the writing is exceptional, near literary quality, rich with atmosphere. In addition, it accurately captures the more historical gothic rumors which titillated urban Americans of the era which were particularly commercialized in gothic silent movies in pre-Hays Code Hollywood. This is a fun beach read!

[Tom Mathews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely my favorite horror read of the year. Russell seamlessly blends horror, mystery, pulp noir and the history of Hollywood filmmaking as he spins his tale about the creation and downfall of 'the greatest horror movie ever made' and the search for its rumored sole remaining copy. His intermingling of real and imagined characters and events makes it easy to forget that you are reading a novel, at least that's what I hoped it was.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I gave it to the halfway point to really grab me, but it just never did and I decided not to invest anymore time into it.

First off, I found the author's writing style a bit precious and dense. He obviously had his thesaurus close to hand while he was writing this, because he never used the clear and simple word when he could find the more obscure and - I assume he felt - important-sounding big or complex word instead. I am pretty well-read and am a business-writer so I have a fairly wide vocabulary, but even I had to look up multiple words while reading this. More than one of the words I looked up once I had the definition seemed completely unnecessary to get the message across and felt used solely to hammer home how smart the author is. It was a bit annoying and did not endear the author to this reader.

I felt like there was a decent plot in here . . . somewhere under all the density and excessive descriptions of everything, but it was just too much work to get to it under and around all the padding.

To be completely fair to this book, it may be unfortunate that I read it immediately after finishing The Garden on Sunset by Martin Turnbull, which chronicles the same era, and includes many of the same real people in a fictional story. That book was excellent and really brought the golden era of film to life with relatable characters, easy-reading dialogue and a much smoother flow than The Devil's Playground offered. The comparison really made the - for me - short-comings of this book more unfortunate than might have been the case had I not read the two books one right after the other. As it is, The Devil's Playground suffered mightily in comparison.

The characters in the book are interesting and I was engaged with some of them, main character Mary Rourke in particular. Ultimately, I feel this book could have benefitted from a more firm editor and the removal of a lot of the fluff, fancy words and excessive description to make the actual plot points easier to find and follow. This was a miss for me.

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doubleday, are you fucking kidding me? Why are you publishing this? One villain is a woman of color, described in the most despicable stereotypical language; the other is disfigured . Women are "broken," and "icy" and "glacial," particularly queer ones. The author apparently also has a thing for penis length, as readers are exposed to a number of references about it. This book is racist, misogynist, and appalling. Oh, and it gets a ton of info on early film history wrong, too.

Readers, want a book about silent film and the occult that doesn't include all of thus utter garbage? I recommend Silvia Moreno'Garcia's Silver Nitrate, which is brilliant.

[Alix · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I love how this book is set during the Golden Age of Hollywood, specifically in the 1920s during prohibition. The details are on point and I felt really immersed in the setting. We get an inside look of how the movie studios worked back then and how the police were often on their payroll. Our main character, Mary, a Hollywood fixer for Carbine Studios is a fantastic character. She’s intelligent, extremely competent and great at her job. Of course, she bites off more than she can chew when she gets involved in the murder of a famous actress.

In terms of the murder there are a lot of players involved. However, I found the backstory of the mystery to be particularly underwhelming. For such an elaborate plan, I wanted more depth, but everything was very surface level. The perpetrator is cartoonishly evil and given very broad and uninteresting motivations. I also struggled a bit with the pacing of the book. It starts off very slow and didn’t really pick up for me until the second half. Overall, I loved the setting and complexity of the mystery, but I felt it needed more depth.

[WhatThat · Rating 1 out of 5]

These twisty mysteries only work if they come together in the end. If they don't they're a waste of time.
This wasted my time.

Spoilers:
Why did the Louisiana witch of incredible wealth just set up house in the swamp? Because if she didn't there'd be no story.
Why did a bunch of men do whatever the witch wanted, but other men didn't? Because if they didn't there'd be no story.
Why did the witch, supposedly haven convinced everyone of her death by suicide, make one female fixer believe she died by murder thus starting an investigation? Because if she didn't there would be no story.
Why, when the fixer finally figured it ALL out, did she repeatedly send film scholars out into the desert to a woman she knew was a murderer--but never told any of them was a murderer--despite the fact that none of them came back? Because if she didn't there would be no framing device or cool final scene.
God, what a waste of a book. I hate it.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The action mainly takes place during Golden Era Hollywood and it was great fun to google the silent stars, directors, and power players with whom I was unfamiliar. I even googled familiar names. Moving from backwater bayous in Louisiana and empty plains of Kansas to the glittering, illusory, and soul sucking world of Hollywood this novel entertains, confounds, and bewitches. Having read Russell’s other stand alone works, I hope this becomes his break out novel.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great romp.

[Lucia Nieto Navarro · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2023/06/22/...

The Devil’s Playground is the third novel I’ve read by Craig Russell, and my favorite of his work so far! In this historical horror-thriller, two parallel narratives unfold in tandem with one set in 1967 and the other in 1927. In the former timeline, we follow journalist and film buff Paul Conway on his quest to track down the last known existing copy of The Devil’s Playground, purported to be the most terrifying silent film ever made. His hunt leads him to Sudden Lake, a ghost town in the middle of the Mohave Desert where a luxury hotel used to stand. After the water in the lake dried up, so did tourism and the cashflow, leading its destitute owner to kill himself and his family in a horrific murder-suicide. Now all that’s left at the site is a shell of a thriving town that could have once rivaled Hollywood, and it is here where Paul hopes to learn the whereabouts of the legendary lost film.

The second timeline whisks us further back into the past, to the golden age of classic Hollywood cinema. Mary Rourke is what is known in the industry as a fixer, someone who works for a film studio cleaning up the messes of their biggest stars. Whenever a possible scandal arises, it’s up to Mary to show up first and do damage control, taking care of anything that needs sweeping under the rug. This latest situation she’s dealing with, however, is a right fiasco. Norma Carlton, one of the most famous actresses of her time and leading lady of the still in-production movie The Devil’s Playground, has been found dead of an apparent suicide in her mansion. Filming has already been plagued with issues, leading to whispers that the entire project might be cursed. After finding signs on Norma’s body that suggest she may have been murdered, Mary has to wonder if there may be some truth to these rumors, especially when even more misfortunes start to pile up on set.

As you can see, the mystery of the lost film is merely the tip of the iceberg. This book offers so much more and had a bit of everything I love, including a good old-fashioned murder mystery, a fascinating historical setting, just a light dab of the parnormal, and gothic vibes that are practically oozing off the page. In addition to the two main narratives following Paul and Mary, there is a third thread flashing back to around the turn of the 20th century Louisiana, where Voodoo and necromancy come into play as a woman and her daughter living in the bayou get caught up in a frenzied witch hunt.

Unike Hyde, the author’s previous novel which I thought was a real snoozefest, The Devil’s Playground strikes a good balance between atmosphere and action. I found myself swept up in the puzzle that was Norma Carlton’s death, and Mary Rourke was the perfect amateur detective to lead the investigation. Despite the book’s horror tag, the murder mystery was where I found the most enjoyment. There’s also something so apropos about the setting, where nothing is as it seems. Hollywood, where make-believe comes to life and anyone can become anything they wish to be, was even more duplicitous during the silent film era before the talkies changed the landscape of the movie industry. Pretty much everyone is keeping a secret or wearing a fabricated identity; the mystery practically writes itself as Mary dives headfirst into this roiling whirlpool of unreality and falsehoods.

The plot does feel very busy, but eventually all the pieces come together relatively neatly considering all the moving parts of this story which span decades and multiple locales. While some of the revelations were telegraphed early, they didn’t manage to spoil the bigger surprises, and I can always appreciate a good standalone horror.

I also had a pleasure of reviewing the audiobook which featured narrator Kirsten Potter, whose other performances I’ve enjoyed in the past include The Sun Down Motel and The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James. She’s definitely no stranger to reading paranormal horror and thrillers, keeping the characters engaging and the tensions high. If you are a fan of these genres, I highly recommend treating yourself to The Devil’s Playground.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sounded really interesting to me when I read the synopsis. Eldritch horrors, 1920s Hollywood, murder & mayhem.... These are a few of my favorite things. I'll confess, I'd never heard of the author, Craig Russell, but I'm glad I took a chance on him.

The book was clever, humorous, and spooky from the out. The characters were larger than life, believable and human in the best and worst ways. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from open to close. If you want an exciting mystery with a little built-in horror and an ending you won't see coming. Read this book.

Thank you to Craig Russell, Netgalley, and Doubleday Publishing for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book it had vibes of Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell but so much better. A missing horror film is only the beginning. This is true gothic bordering on horror with touches of the supernatural. This book kept me reading late into the night. Dark, delicious and at times terrifying. I loved It!!!!!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[Ghoul Von Horror · Rating 2 out of 5]

TW: Language, death by suicide, cheating, drinking, toxic family relationships, abusive parent, violence, blood, gory scenes, rape, racism, death of spouse, death of child, sexual assault

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
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.
Release Date: June 8th, 2023
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 368
Rating: ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Putting Lon Chaney into this book 🖤
2. Writing was so interesting
3. Loved the characters
4. Loved all the old silent movie references

What I Didn't Like:
1. Too many characters
2. A lot of back and forth

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer I write my review as I read}}

Ahhh the mention of Todd Browning's London After Midnight with Lon Chaney.

I loved the silent movie plot of this book! That there is something on the film that's like The Wizard of Oz with the hanging body in the background.

Okay I am obsessed with how much Lon Chaney was mentioned in this book. I loved that the author even touched upon how Lon Chaney Jr took over Lon Chaney's name after his death with The Wolfman.

Its been mentioned many times that Mary doesn't understand why she's been pushed to be do this detective job when she doesn't know what she is doing. I keep wondering if Sam is trying to get her distracted and off the path of upper management being responsible.

Someone said horse feathers... I've only ever heard my mother say that.

Oh and then jake wants Mary to go to the boarding house almost like he doesn't want to be identified.

Ohhhhhhh so Anna is going to run into the boy that's at the carnivale. The boy that ran away in 1897. So many 7s.

There is ALOT of suicide mentions and people commiting death in that way.

I found myself getting confused at times. There is just too many characters and timelines that you kind of forget where you are and who the characters are. If you're going to have multiple timelines then perhaps limit how many characters you introduce to readers. By the big reveal I found myself to remember who that person was plus they are using fake names too so you have to remember their real name to fake name.

Well yeah, Sam was apart of it all. Don't worry he commits suicide here because that's the only way people die in this book.

I am annoyed that Mary learned nothing from this whole thing and just sets up a storefront offering to still cover up crimes of the stars. She kept the business going with the help of her friend then married a rich person.

Final Thoughts:
I was confused by the synopsis. It said the two timelines were 1927 and 1967, but we barely spend any time in 1967 instead mostly in 1907/1927. I'm not mad that there was another timeline just didn't expect it.

I think if you're not a fan of silent movies or aren't familiar with actors of that era you'll be bored and lost.

This book felt 100 pages too long.

Was never fully explained how "Norma" was able to get so in control.

Still confused why Henry would want Mary to investigate the death of Norma or why the doctor that in on it would tell Mary that it was murder not suicide. So confusing.

Also also zero sense why a woman who wants to get back at men would become an actress to get back at men when men own Hollywoodland.

Okay and why no reference to it being Hollywoodland? They call it Hollywood which I found that odd. It was Hollywoodland till 1949.

IG | Blog

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5ish stars?

This was convoluted AF.

And, I think marketing this as horror is a mistake. Sure there’s a seasoning of horror throughout, but this is a historical mystery.

And I think I could have been fine with that. It’s a great historical mystery! Honestly it is! Entertaining. The setting of old Hollywood and dark cults and secrets in back alleys is a whole vibe. The characters are good. There’s a couple twists that got me pretty good. It reminds me a lot of that video game LA Noire, which I adored.

But I was in the mood for horror, so it is in that regard that this was a little disappointing.

I am also not a good listener. I’m getting better as I go on but the truth is if I (personally- I do not imply this is true of everyone or even anyone else) really want to absorb a story, a lot of the time I need to eye read it. So while the narration is well done and I would recommend the audio book in a general sense, there were so many moving parts, so many characters and scene changes, that I think in order to really have a good time with this and work at solving the mystery I should have eye read it.

So anyway.

The only real issue I have with this book is I wish it had been told from a different POV? And maybe set up a little differently? I thought this was going to be about a dude hunting down a cursed film on a potentially dangerous and horrifying mission to recover it. But it’s largely about one woman working to uncover the mystery behind the death of the film’s leading actress.

And the thing is, I didn’t really understand what stakes Mary Rourke had in the game. She could have walked away at any moment and that could have just been the end. So I wish it had been told from the POV of someone with like an actual compelling reason to know to really keep me invested in the story. (Or alternately, I wish I had bought it under the assumption I was coming for the mystery, in which case it wouldn’t really have mattered.)

Overall a well crafted, well told, mystery for sure.

[Leslee · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like:

* Lost films
* Secret curses
* Old Hollywood
* Plucky dames solving crimes
* James Ellroy
* Cults

This book is for you. Hit all the sweet spots, and well written to boot. I think it lost some steam towards the end but still a great read that kept me hooked to the last page. Highly recommend!

[Robert Intriago · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good and innovative mystery. The story takes place over three periods of time and the focus of the plot is a silent movie and its participants. The dialogue is excellent and the main character, Mary O’Rourke, is a smart mouth movie studio fixer turned investigator. The switching between time periods can be confusing at times but the author does a very good job of bringing them together at the end.

[Ella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I swear to god, Craig, if someone is into 20s Hollywood enough to pick up a mediocre horror novel about 20s Hollywood, they know that Rudolf Valentino and Natacha Rambova were married.

This book reads like mediocre historical AU fanfic where the author is more excited about their Wikipedia deep dive factoids than actually crafting a coherent narrative.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is supposed to be a historical horror novel, but it’s more of a mystery novel than horror. I didn’t think the author did a good job of making you feel like it was set in the 1920s, and the horror aspects were kind of boring. A real disappointment.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mystery was thoughtful and the historical setting was glamorous and well-researched but the main villain and their motivations had just a BIT too much men-writing-women for me to really enjoy the payoff.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hollywood fixer Mary Rourke is a wonderful protagonist; smart, tenacious, intuitive, and a little mysterious. It's 1927, and her studio, Carbine International Pictures, is in a hurry to finish and release its latest blockbuster before any of those rumors about talking pictures and a shaky national economy come true. "The Devil's Playground" is an immense effort, staring the luminous Norma Carlton, who, Mary has just discovered, is dead. Suicide? Heart condition? Murder? The picture will be completed, but it will be destroyed in a huge fire, and all copies will disappear except for the one that is rumored to exist, somewhere.

Craig Russell shows us a vibrant late-'20s Los Angeles, assured in details and confident in ambiance. Also wonderfully strange is a film professor's 1968 trip to an abandoned hotel in the middle of the Mojave where a copy of the film may be hidden. "As a mystery, there's not a false note in The Devil's Playground," with Mary and her crooked cop poking their noses into sensitive places as the story becomes increasingly sticky and strange.

As a horror story, the tale didn't gel. There were plenty of devotees of the psychic and weird in silent Hollywood, but these didn't come off as creepy enough. Diversions into the bayous of Louisiana and the Nebraska prairie seemed just that, and let's to get back to Mary. There's a huge denouement, fantastic and horrible, which makes a good case why "The Devil's Playground" should never be seen.

This is a gripping read, and I would love to meet Mary Rourke fix another early Hollywood mess.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In current day a man goes to the desert in search of the cursed manuscript for “the devils playground“ he has found one of the last people alive who had something to do with the movie and although at first she is evasive he believes he is on to something. Then the POV goes back to win the movie was being shot at first glance it looks like the main actress has killed herself Mary Rourke who is a Hollywood fixer and helps clean up negative happenings thanks she was way too selfish for that and believes she was murdered and although she will try to keep it on the down low it seems everyone she talks to already knows about it. When she learns the head of the movie wants her to investigate the murder she knows she is no investigator but she also knows no one else has a Contacts she does and takes on the flight. Before it’s over however there will be another dead body and possibly even hers although at first it seems like she is uncovering nothing she must be uncovering something because there are people out to her trying to silence what she doesn’t even know she knows yet. This is an epic tale of a book and wanna thoroughly enjoyed I absolutely love historical fiction and historical True Crime so I knew I would love a book that was historical crime fiction and I certainly did! I will be definitely looking forward to more books from this author as I found this one phenomenal. What a great book! I received this book from NetGalley I am double day books but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Kristy Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is told in third person in multiple timelines from the swamps of 1893 Louisiana to 1927 Hollywood and an old hotel in the desert of 1967. I usually enjoy a book with dual timelines, but this one was weighted a little heavier on the central timeline than the others and one timeline just felt pointless. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it had just been dual timelines with equal time spent on both.

I loved the character of Mary Rourke. She clearly thrived in her life as a Hollywood Studio Fixer and while she balked a bit at investigating a possible murder, she jumped in feet first and followed every lead to the inevitable conclusion. Her interactions with the various Hollywood types were a highlight to the story. I did find some of her conversations with her boss to be a little repetitive hanging the pace a bit.

I also enjoyed the story of Hippolyta Cormier and her daughter, Anastasie. Their mysterious origins in rural Louisiana had me transfixed. I was a little mystified by Boy and the connection and wished for more details and interactions in this part of the story. I wanted more of this storyline. I think giving these characters more depth and detail would have had a powerful impact on the conclusion. Instead, I felt like story and character depth was sacrificed for the shock value of the climactic twists.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the Hollywood murder mystery, but found the occult and supernatural aspects to be lacking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

[Shelby Bauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️

All the potential in the world only to wind up with a convoluted plot and unnecessary unidentifiable characters.

Set between 4 (FOUR) timelines, we follow the murder of Norma Carlton. Mary Rourke is a publicist in 1920s Hollywood that’s job is basically to fix any screw ups by the talent so they don’t tarnish the company they represent. Rourke is called to the home of Norma Carlton where she is found glamorously made up, and also strangled. Norma is hollywoods beauty & the star actress in the upcoming silent horror film, The Devils Playground. With Norma’s death just tipping off the series of awful events surrounding the movie, it has now been labeled cursed. Rourke is essentially sent on a wild goose chase to find out the truth behind Norma’s death & if the Devils Playground is truly cursed.


I needed a notebook to help me sort through this book. The amount of characters that were utterly forgettable, & useless was overwhelming. I’d say 70% of the time I had no idea which character I was supposed to be following. The plot could have been so straight forward and done well, but it gets so twisted and distracted by unnecessary side plots. It was if Russell had multiple ideas and couldn’t filter out what was needed and what was not. Cannot say I recommend this to anyone. I was bored and confused.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't get it. Too many unanswered questions? What happened to the missing girls? What happened in the swamp that was so horrifying? How did Paul Conway find Norma Carlton in the desert? Why did Mary keep sending folks to Morma or did Mary not know what was going on at Sudden Lake? Why all the murders, seems like way too many people were involved in the fake death.
An overly convoluted plot that doesn't make much sense. I liked The Devil Aspect, but this one is a dud. For me, Craig Russell is 1 for 2.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. More horror, less police procedural/mystery, please. I expected an In the Mouth of Madness type story where this whole "cursed" film thing is actually central to the story and wreaks general havoc on everyone who sees it. This...is not that. But if you like having to keep track of tons of characters in all their separate storylines over multiple timelines with endless amounts of description, then have at it, I guess.