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Devil House: A Novel Hardcover – January 25, 2022

by John Darnielle (Author)

3.6 806 ratings

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“It’s never quite the book you think it is. It’s better.” ―Dwight Garner, The New York Times

From John Darnielle, the New York Times bestselling author and the singer-songwriter of the Mountain Goats, 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 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.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

MCD
Publication date

January 25, 2022
Dimensions

5.85 x 1.5 x 8.55 inches
ISBN-10

0374212236
ISBN-13

978-0374212230
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From the Publisher

Devil House John Darnielle Los Angeles Times quote

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Devil House is terrific: confident, creepy, a powerful and soulful page-turner. I had no idea where it was going, in the best possible sense...It’s never quite the book you think it is. It’s better.” ―Dwight Garner, The New York Times

"Suspenseful, brilliant and chaotically addicting, Devil House triumphs as a page-turning metafictional treatise on the power of narratives cloaked in the trappings of a certifiable true crime classic." ―Zack Ruskin, San Francisco Chronicle

“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

“Devil House can be read as an indictment of the true crime genre, specifically of the way stories are concocted to explain often-unfathomable tragedies, and of how some stories take precedence over others regardless of their truth. . . this is a story about what can’t be told because the nature of telling selects some truths while setting others aside.”―Slate

“‘What happens to the story; what happens to the teller; what happens to the people?’ Darnielle renders this dilemma―and the bad-taste curiosity that compels people to read and write true crime despite reservations―with such depth and clarity that it feels like he’s somehow culpable too. That’s good fiction writing.”―The A.V. Club

"Devil House is not a novel about karma or comeuppance. It is a portrait ― sometimes direct, sometimes refracted ― of a man realizing that his career, combined with his powerful imagination, has taken him far from his morals. In many such narratives, the career wins. Refreshingly, in Devil House, the morals do." ―NPR

“While I expected bloody twists and turns, the kinds of twists and turns this novel threw at me were intoxicating. . . Crime-thriller hooks, emotional and philosophical reflection, and one of the most subtle and devastating endings I’ve ever read: Devil House is a novel I know I’ll be returning to.”―Jack Casella Brookins, Chicago Review of Books

“Darnielle has an affection for the dark side of pop culture and the way fans of supposedly gloom-and-doom genres like heavy metal and horror are more sophisticated than they get credit for. So this smart, twisty novel about true-crime books and the 1980s “Satanic panic” is a fine fit for him and his best so far...An impressively meta work that delivers the pleasures of true-crime while skewering it.” ―Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“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

About the Author

John Darnielle’s first novel, Wolf in White Van, was a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award nominee, and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for first fiction, and widely hailed as one of the best novels of the year. He is the writer, composer, guitarist, and vocalist for the band the Mountain Goats. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and sons.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ MCD (January 25, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374212236
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374212230
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.85 x 1.5 x 8.55 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #375,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,069 in Murder Thrillers
- #19,008 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #20,257 in Suspense Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
3.6 806 ratings

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John Darnielle

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John Darnielle (/dɑːrˈniːl/, born March 16, 1967) is an American musician and novelist best known as the primary (and often solitary) member of the American band the Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Steevven1 (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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3.6 out of 5

806 global ratings

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Austin Shirey

Not what I expected, but incredible nonetheless

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2023

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John Darnielle’s Devil House was not what I expected. But that’s not a bad thing—it’s actually one of the things I loved most about it.

Having read and wholly enjoyed his stellar debut, Wolf in White Van, I knew Darnielle writes character-centric stories centering on existential crises and questions, sometimes tinged with or dancing around aspects of speculative fiction, and with a style and voice all his own. So I went into Devil House expecting some sort of horror-tinged story about a true crime writer wrought through Darnielle’s idiosyncratic lens, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most readers went in with the same expectations—the cover alone seems to advertise that type of novel, not to mention the back jacket copy. And yes, to some extent, that’s what I got.

But that’s not the whole story. Which, as it turns out, is kind of the point Darnielle is making in Devil House.

Now, some readers may be put off by the…I wouldn’t necessarily say “bait and switch” Darnielle pulls, but it’s also not not that… I think the best way to put it is, you are in good hands—Darnielle is no hack, and he’s got something he’s trying to say, and you just need to trust him and follow along to the end. And as cliche as it may sound, if you do that, I promise you, you may not get the story you want, but you will get the story you need. And by God, did I love that story.

Darnielle leads us through a labyrinthine puzzle box centered on a true crime writer as he works on his newest book, extrapolating on his process with bits and pieces of his previous work, and even a fragment of a fictitious medieval myth, where the morality of the true crime genre as a whole—and, unexpectedly, the double standards of castle law doctrine—is picked apart brick by brick.

Devil House is a powerful, challenging, exquisitely-written novel filled with fascinating characters and an incredibly tangible sense of place and time; a novel less concerned with blood splatter and bumps in the night than it is with the sensationalization of violent crime, the moral obligations of true crime authors, and even the marginalization of the poor and mentally ill.

In short, Devil House is a novel that you’ll be thinking about long after you’ve finished the last page, and I can’t think of a better endorsement than that.

One person found this helpful

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Kay Clark

Incredible writing

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2023

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Darnielle is a master of words to paint a situation and to build a mood. I was thoroughly enraptured with Devil House, but with one small structural departure that pulled me out. I get why he used it, but, for me, he could have shaved it down or lost it completely and the book would have only benefited. I’m not mentioning what it was because any future reader deserves to experience the full book in their own way.

The other complaint is that the ending felt cheap and tacked on, like it was the only way he could wrap it up, but, for me, it cheated an otherwise tight story of a real ending. Not like the tricks Stephen King has used for decades, but similarly dissatisfying.

I know this sounds like a lot of negative criticism, but Devil House is a truly great work of literature and you should give it the hours it requires to become fully immersed. Do it.

2 people found this helpful

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willII

OK

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2022

Verified Purchase

I really like John’s books, but I didn’t like this one as much as his others. One section in particular seemed very tangential and not very interesting to me, and I only read it to make sure I didn’t miss anything. He is great at describing things and really sets a mood, so overall worth reading.

2 people found this helpful

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Nick Cato

Tedious

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2022

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A writer of best selling true crime books discovers much of what he does is morally wrong.

Although well written, I’m surprised so many are hailing this as some kind of masterpiece: while it has its moments, I found much of it a slog, and large sections can be skimmed without missing a thing (for the record I didn’t skim). I’m all for “experimental” fiction, but this one is a real chore to get through.

Richard Chizmar’s CHASING THE BOOGEYMAN took a similar premise and delivered the chills at a break neck pace. DEVIL HOUSE’s biggest downfall is its tediousness. Lengthy stretches of exposition mar nearly every section, and I found the finale to be more frustrating than the clever twist it tries to be.

A huge disappointment.

32 people found this helpful

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Yer Dad

Not for everyone, but phenomenal for those it's for

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2022

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I'll start by saying this book is dense, personally I think it needs to be for everything to wrap up the way it does. The book lingers on detail, on the energy that pushes through crime scene photos and the stories we tell. If you aren't a fan of slow builds, I'd suggest finding another book, but if you're into this sort of thing Darnielle pulls off a phenomenal landing in the last act.

16 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mike Kitchen

Sometimes fiction is stranger than truth...

Reviewed in Canada on February 18, 2022

Verified Purchase

...but not often. This book was. I'm sure others have deconstructed true crime in fiction. Lord knows the genre begs for it. But John Darnielle does it so disorientingly. Darnielle's writing is so frustratingly rich and yet perplexingly spare–simultaneously. Parts of the book burn you out, but yet you can't put it down. Maybe a conceit or two didn't feel right to me, but I had to find out where he was going with them. And I found out where it went. And it was weird and banal–but correct. I got it.

2 people found this helpful

Adam Holloway

The New Great Western Novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book will surprise you and enthral you. It will make you think and - that most rare of literary goals - make you feel. It's a hard book to sell to someone, because spoiling what the story is about (and more importantly how it's told) should be a crime.

One person found this helpful

Lucia Grazioli

I don't get it

Reviewed in Italy on March 22, 2022

Verified Purchase

Or if I did understand it correctly I don't get the need for 400 pages.
It felt more like an essay at the end rather than a mistery.
I found the story to be fragmented and hard to follow and often times like a different book from what was advertised.

Amazon Customer

Engrossing

Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

Loved the narrative and the way the author painted pictures of real lives.

Bristol Book Blogger 📚📖📓

Confusing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

I don't know what this book is about or where it's going. It's confusing there are too many characters with similar sounding names: Gage, Gredg, Chase, Chandler, Jessie . . . There is no plot and though it's well-written it's just a meandering load of waffle with no story. Goin by the reviews I'm not alone. The blurb makes this seem like a thriller but it's far from thrilling.

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