First published 2022
Gage Chandler grew up hearing his mother tell him he descended from royalty. Now he writes true crime books. His first book became a movie and made him money. The books that followed paid his rent but brought him little fame. When publishers offer him a chance to write about murders that happened in the 1980s, he takes it. The deal comes with a twist. He must live in the actual house where the killings occurred. Locals call it the Devil House. Two teenagers apparently committed the crimes there decades ago. Gage moves in and starts his research. He interviews people and digs through old records. But the deeper he goes, the more the case confuses him. The story pulls him back into questions about his own previous work. He begins to wonder what his writing actually does to the people involved in these crimes. The investigation forces him to examine not just what happened in that house, but who he has become as a person.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Devil House
Period: 1980s
403 pages · Hardcover · MCD