English language
Published March 25, 2023 by Scribe Publications.
From New York Times bestselling author and Mountain Goats singer/songwriter John Darnielle, an epic, gripping novel about murder, truth, artistic obsession, and the dangers of storytelling.Gage Chandler is a true crime writer, with one grisly success — and movie adaptation — to his name, along with a series of subsequent lesser efforts that have paid the bills but not much more. Now he is being offered the chance for his big to move into ‘The Devil House’, in which a briefly notorious pair of murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected 1980s teens. He begins his research with diligence and enthusiasm, but soon the story leads him into a puzzle he never expected — his own work and what it means, the very core of what he does and who he is.
this is the kind of book that takes itself and puts itself back together again. it's full of john darnielle's typical preoccupation with small towns, houses, people, & the small details of people's lives. the kind of writing you can smell the asphalt from. i listened to the audiobook, so i got to hear john darnielle read his work out loud, which of course suits the text perfectly.
Darnielle has a very empathic pen and an amazing sense of story and use of words, without getting bloated or to ethereal. The character are heartbreaking lovely and the story is a fair look into the true crime obsession of today.
