Description

From New York Times bestselling author and Mountain Goats singer/songwriter John Darnielle comes an epic, gripping novel about murder, truth, and the dangers of storytelling.

Gage Chandler is descended from kings. That’s what his mother always told him. 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 his 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.

‘ R iveting … Darnielle flays the conventions of true crime to reveal the macabre and ordinary brutality behind sensationalised stories of violence … This masterwork of suspense is as careful with its sharp takes as it is with the bread crumbs it slowly drops on the way to its stunning end. It operates perfectly on many levels, resulting in a must-read for true crime addicts and experimental fiction fans alike.’
–Publishers Weekly, starred review

‘A visceral and bravura subversion of the true-crime genre, Devil House is an empathetic forensic examination of those left behind after the blood has been mopped, body parts collected, and vultures have gorged their fill. A sense of dread permeates Darnielle’s latest opus, leaving you wondering how much we can ever truly know about the dark secrets communities carry in their collective consciousness.’
-Chris Flynn, author of The Mammoth

Ages 16-17