By: Mark Edwards
ISBN: 9781503938182
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 9/13/2016
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 4 Stars A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Follow You Home and The Magpies. When Sophie Greenwood returns to work after four years raising her daughter, she is ready for an exciting new challenge. But after an unnerving encounter drags up memories she’d rather forget, things take a turn for the sinister. What is her ambitious young assistant really up to? And what exactly happened to Sophie’s predecessor? When her husband and daughter are pulled into the nightmare, Sophie is forced to confront the darkest secrets she has carried for years.
As her life begins to fall apart at work and at home, Sophie must race to uncover the truth about her new job…before it kills her.
My Review
A special thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Following, Mark Edwards' Follow You Home landing on my Top 50 Books of 2015, and Best Horror Suspense Thriller of the Year, another horror suspense twisty psycho-thriller, THE DEVIL'S WORK, a book within a book. Mixed with Edwards' own signature devilish wit. 2015--Sophie Greenwood is married to Guy (married for six years) and has a beautiful four-year-old daughter, Daisy. Recently she has landed her highly anticipated dream job at Jackdaw Books London, one of UKs most successful children’s publishers. She was re-entering the world of work, at the very publishing firm she had dreamed of joining. Her new team mates: Tracey, Cassie, and Matt, senior marketing executive, with Simon, the marketing director and her immediate boss. There was also her predecessor, Miranda- a mysterious departure. Sophie would create books, work with them, sell them, and inspire children to enter magical worlds. However, soon turns into a nightmare. Someone wants her gone. She has a dark past. Shadows are lurking. There was also Franklin Bird. This could be a problem. Now eighty- five, the former old man, head of the firm, wants to take her to lunch. Will he remember her? At lunch she gets the sick feeling he knows about her painful secret. Before having Daisy, Sophie worked at Lawrence House as a marketing manager in their children’s book division. Guy worked freelance. Guy did not know about her connection to Jackdaw Books. It had all happened years before they met. She felt no need to tell him. She thought they were dead.
Jasmine Smith was her roommate in college, and the granddaughter of Bird. A tragic past. Jasmine had problems. From day one, there is trouble brewing at Jackdaw. Something is not quite right. In addition, there is a mysterious basement in the publishing house. Some thought it was haunted. Rumors of a suicide. What happened in the basement? Alternating from Sussex 1999, to the present, the author unravels a triangle between Liam, Jasmine, and Sophie. (watch out, for those threesomes)--they will get you in some trouble. Also a brother Sebastian, and friend Becky from the past. In the meantime, at work, Sophie is threatened and paranoid. On the verge of panic every day. Watching and waiting. Someone is out to sabotage her. In addition, her husband Guy’s Twitter account is hacked and he is suspended. Between someone gluing dead rats to brutal gory details of the past- combined with a book, The Devil’s Work - a manuscript, an evil scheme, obsession, blackmail, revenge, a murder, an abducted child, and Gothic horrors. From madness to insanity, a race against time--someone is out to get Sophie and destroy her new life. The ongoing mystery? Who, what, why? A captor, a torturer--someone wants to "drive the devil out" of anyone who is bad. Chilling! Edwards keeps readers guessing, who is the mastermind behind the shocking madness. Appears the devil has an accomplice. A Folie à deux. The inducer who infects their partner with their psychosis. A twisty nightmare of gore, horror, suspense, and mystery. As always, the author keeps you glued to the pages while keeping one eye open, afraid to turn the next page.
Review Links:
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Advance Praise
‘The Devil’s Work is clever, contemporary, and chillingly plausible. Mark Edwards just gets better and better.’ —Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go
‘A thrill-ride of a book, relishing the unexpected and unsettling the reader at every turn. It’s deliciously terrifying.’ —Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner
‘Mark Edwards has done it again—another heart-stopping, utterly gripping psychological thriller that had me frantically turning the pages. My favourite book this year.’ —CL Taylor, author of The Missing
‘A twisted and thrilling tale that I couldn’t put down until I’d finished. Another surefire best seller.’ —Jenny Blackhurst, author of How I Lost You
‘You think you had a bad day at the office! Another belter from Mark Edwards.’ —Helen Fitzgerald, author of Viral
‘Brilliant all the way through. I couldn’t put it down.’ —Sarah Lotz, author of The Three
‘Creepy, chilling and utterly compelling.’ —Angela Clarke, author of Follow Me
‘Deliciously dark and beautifully written.’ —Robert Bryndza, author of Girl in the Ice
About the Author
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which scary things happen to ordinary people and is inspired by writers such as Stephen King, Ira Levin, Ruth Rendell and Linwood Barclay.
His first solo novel, The Magpies (2013), reached the No.1 spot on Amazon UK and has sold 300,000 copies to date. This was followed by What You Wish For (2014), Because She Loves Me (2014; also a No.1 bestseller in the UK) and Follow You Home (2015).
He also co-writes with Louise Voss. Their novels are: Killing Cupid (2011); Catch Your Death (2011); All Fall Down (2012); Forward Slash and a series featuring Detective Inspector Patrick Lennon, starting with From the Cradle (2014) and The Blissfully Dead (2015). Read more about Voss & Edwards. Mark grew up on the south coast of England and starting writing in his twenties while working in a number of dead-end jobs. He lived in Tokyo for a year before returning to the UK and starting a career in marketing. He now writes full-time and lives in the West Midlands, England, with his wife, their three children and a ginger cat, Billie, who was named after an actress from Doctor Who.
When he’s not writing or looking after children, Mark reads a lot, devours TV box sets and spends far too much time on Twitter and Facebook, where he loves chatting with readers. He also wishes he had more time to do the activity he loves most: karaoke. Read More
