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The Devil's Playground de Craig Russell

The Devil's Playground

Autor Craig Russell
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 20 iun 2023

Hollywood, 1927. O epocă a tăcerii pe ecran și a scandalurilor asurzitoare în culise. Moartea suspectă a actriței Norma Carlton declanșează o vânătoare de adevăr într-o industrie construită pe minciuni. Observăm cum The Devil's Playground nu este doar titlul unui film blestemat, ci o metaforă brutală pentru însăși cetatea filmului. Patru decenii mai târziu, în 1967, un istoric de film pornește pe urmele singurei copii supraviețuitoare a peliculei, ajungând într-un hotel izolat din deșertul Mojave unde timpul pare să fi stat în loc. Tensiunea este palpabilă, alimentată de secrete care refuză să rămână îngropate.

Ne-a atras atenția modul în care Craig Russell stăpânește atmosfera gotică, transformând decorurile strălucitoare în spații claustrofobice. Cititorul care a apreciat intriga istorică și atmosfera de început de secol din The Long Silence de Gerard O'Donovan va găsi aici aceeași fascinație pentru scandalurile epocii — dar într-un context mult mai întunecat și cu o structură narativă duală care amplifică misterul. Stilul este tăios, precis, lipsit de artificii inutile, reflectând cinismul personajelor sale.

Această lucrare continuă explorarea temelor predilecte ale lui Russell: dualitatea umană și răul care pândește sub suprafața civilizată. Dacă în Hyde autorul reinterpreta clasicul lui Stevenson în Edinburgh-ul victorian, aici mută groaza în soarele orbitor al Californiei. The Devil's Playground confirmă măiestria unui autor care știe că cele mai mari orori sunt cele care rămân nespuse, ascunse în spatele cortinei de argint.

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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780385549011
ISBN-10: 0385549016
Pagini: 368
Dimensiuni: 166 x 242 x 37 mm
Greutate: 0.57 kg
Editura: RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN'S BOOKS

De ce să citești această carte

Pentru pasionații de romane polițiste cu o puternică amprentă istorică și atmosferă noir. Veți câștiga o incursiune fascinantă în culisele întunecate ale Hollywood-ului mut, acolo unde granița dintre realitate și ficțiunea horror se estompează periculos. Este o recomandare certă pentru cei care caută un mister sofisticat, premiat, ce combină rigoarea cercetării istorice cu ritmul alert al unui thriller modern.

Despre autor

Craig Russell (născut în 1956) este un autor britanic de romane polițiste, recunoscut internațional pentru profunzimea și atmosfera lucrărilor sale. Fost ofițer de poliție, Russell aduce o notă de autenticitate procedurală fiecărei povești. Cariera sa este marcată de distincții prestigioase, fiind laureat al premiului CWA Dagger in the Library și al premiului McIlvanney pentru cel mai bun roman polițist al anului cu volumul Hyde. Este singurul cetățean străin căruia poliția din Hamburg i-a acordat „Polizeistern” (Steaua Poliției). Opera sa, tradusă în 25 de limbi, pendulează între noir-ul clasic, precum seria Lennox, și thriller-ul cu nuanțe gotice, explorând constant psihologia crimei.

Notă biografică

CRAIG RUSSELL is an award-winning Scottish author whose books have been translated into twenty-five languages. His previous works include The Devil Aspect, the Fabel series of thrillers and the Lennox series of noir mysteries. He is the only two-time winner of the McIlvanney Prize (2015 and 2021) as well as the winner of the 2008 Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library prize. He lives in Perthshire, Scotland, with his wife.

Descriere scurtă

"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"--

Descriere

Descriere de la o altă ediție sau format:
'Amazing. I'd give someone else's right arm to write so beautifully' Sarah Pinborough

'Superb! The Devil's Playground is imagination on steroids... breathtaking!' Jeffery Deaver

'A terrifying tale of the true power in Hollywood... (Russell's) precise, gorgeous prose shines' New York Times

'A masterpiece. Captivatingly authentic, steeped in Hollywood lore' Chris Brookmyre

'Addictive. . . the most sheerly entertaining novel I've raced through in at least a year. . . fresh, forceful, elegant but wild' A.J. Finn

'The Devil's Playground is definitely on the shortlist for best mystery of the year' Bookpage.com

'When it comes to Gothic crime, Craig Russell is peerless. Absolutely stunning' M W Craven

FROM CWA DAGGER AND DOUBLE McILVANNEY AWARD WINNER CRAIG RUSSELL COMES ANOTHER DARK, GRIPPING MASTERPIECE . . .

A dark, riveting thriller set in 1920s Hollywood about "the greatest horror movie ever made", the curse said to surround it, and a deadly search, decades later, for the single copy rumoured still to exist.

1927: Hollywood studio fixer Mary Rourke is called to the palatial home of "the most desirable woman in the world", silent movie actress Norma Carlton, star of The Devil's Playground. When Rourke finds Carlton dead, she wonders if the dark rumours she's heard are true: that The Devil's Playground really is a cursed production. But nothing in Hollywood is ever what it seems, and cynical fixer Rourke, more used to covering up the truth for studio bosses, finds herself seeking it out.

1967: Paul Conway, film historian and fervid silent movie aficionado, is on the trail of a tantalizing rumour: that a single copy of The Devil's Playground-a Holy Grail for film buffs that was supposedly cursed and lost to time-may exist. His search takes him deep into the Mojave Desert, to an isolated hotel that hasn't changed in forty years but harbours only one occupant-and a shocking secret.

Separated by decades, both Rourke and Conway begin to suspect that the real Devil's Playground is in fact Hollywood itself.

Praise for The Devil's Playground

'Horrifying, mesmerising, beautifully imagined. The Devil's Playground is Craig Russell at his unrivalled best' Chris Whittaker

'The Devil's Playground has a depth of period detail and atmosphere that lifts it above the ordinary. It's elegant, absorbing and thrilling' Michael Malone

'Totally engaging' Kathy Reichs, New York Times bestselling author of the Temperance Brennan series

'Brilliantly written, with repeated surprises' The Critic

'Seamlessly blends noir, gothic and mystery in a way that's unique to crime fiction. Populated with a truly memorable cast, Playground is a guaranteed one-sitting read...and how can you resist a novel about the scariest movie of all time? Bravo!' Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector

Praise for Hyde

 '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' David Hewson

'Gloriously diabolical. A terrifying thrill ride through the hidden chasms of the human soul' Chris Brookmyre

'I absolutely adored it. Intense, harrowing and hugely entertaining. . . Spectacular' Chris Whitaker

'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' James Oswald

'An engaging Gothic thriller full of atmosphere and surprises' Irish Independent

'Russell writes a pacy, ever-twisting mystery that will keep you turning the pages' Ian Rankin


Praise for Craig Russell

'A masterclass in suspenseful, character-driven prose fiction. Simply exceptional'
Frank Darabont, writer & director of The Shawshank Redemption & The Green Mile

Recenzii

FROM CWA DAGGER AND DOUBLE McILVANNEY AWARD WINNER CRAIG RUSSELL COMES ANOTHER DARK, GRIPPING MASTERPIECE . . .

A dark, riveting thriller set in 1920s Hollywood about "the greatest horror movie ever made", the curse said to surround it, and a deadly search, decades later, for the single copy rumoured still to exist.

1927: Hollywood studio fixer Mary Rourke is called to the palatial home of "the most desirable woman in the world", silent movie actress Norma Carlton, star of The Devil's Playground. When Rourke finds Carlton dead, she wonders if the dark rumours she's heard are true: that The Devil's Playground really is a cursed production. But nothing in Hollywood is ever what it seems, and cynical fixer Rourke, more used to covering up the truth for studio bosses, finds herself seeking it out.

1967: Paul Conway, film historian and fervid silent movie aficionado, is on the trail of a tantalizing rumour: that a single copy of The Devil's Playground-a Holy Grail for film buffs that was supposedly cursed and lost to time-may exist. His search takes him deep into the Mojave Desert, to an isolated hotel that hasn't changed in forty years but harbours only one occupant-and a shocking secret.

Separated by decades, both Rourke and Conway begin to suspect that the real Devil's Playground is in fact Hollywood itself...