#BlogTour-‘The Devil Aspect’ by Craig Russell

Crime

About the book…

How do you find a killer when you’re surrounded by madness?

1935. As Europe prepares itself for a calamitous war, six homicidal lunatics – the so-called ‘Devil’s Six’ – are confined in a remote castle asylum in rural Czechoslovakia. Each patient has their own dark story to tell and Dr Viktor Kosárek, a young psychiatrist using revolutionary techniques, is tasked with unlocking their murderous secrets.

At the same time, a terrifying killer known as ‘Leather Apron’ is butchering victims across Prague. Successfully eluding capture, it would seem his depraved crimes are committed by the Devil himself.
Maybe they are… and what links him with the insane inmates of the Castle of the Eagles?

Only the Devil knows. And it is up to Viktor to find out.

‘Deep, dark, and twisty . . . a gripping masterpiece of a thriller!’ Alex Grecian, New York Times bestselling author of The Yard

‘Elegant, edgy, ingenious‘ A. J. Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

‘Drags you into its dark world kicking and screaming . . . gets under your skin slowly, then goes deep, like the tip of a butcher knife‘ New York Times

‘Sensational . . . twists are jaw-dropping . . . a mind-blowing story line that will appeal to fans of Caleb Carr and Thomas Harris’ Publishers Weekly

‘ A thrilling, twisting trip through the darkest corridors of the human mind’ Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse

‘A tour de force: a clever and visceral thriller‘ Lincoln Child, New York Times bestselling author

‘Dark, stylish and packed with jaw-dropping twists . . . an astonishing piece of work’ M. W. Craven, author of The Puppet Show

‘A superior thriller, at once stylish, absorbing and compulsive’ Laura Carlin, author of The Wicked Cometh

‘Well-crafted gothic crime . . . smart, atmospheric’ Kirkus Reviews

‘A Gothic masterpiece in psychological horror and creeping dread ‘ Neil Broadfoot, author of No Man’s Land

‘Deliciously authentic and darkly atmospheric‘ Graham Smith, author of Death in the Lakes

WOW! How does a bookblogger follow such superlative reviews as those above and yet say something more than ‘buy this book!’ (which is frankly what I want to say!)

Well here we go, I have roused myself from my dramatic fainting couch (metaphorical but one day will be a reality…I need something to throw myself on from these brilliant books I have been able to shout loudly about thsi year, oh yes, one day it will be mine…)

Anyway, I disgress, ‘The Devil Aspect’ hooked me from the conept-it reminded me of the Amicus horror film ,’Asylum’ wherein Robery Powell played the naive psychologist intern and had to guess which of the interned patients was his predecessor.

Further to this, ‘The Devil Aspect’ is set at a time when the socetal concept of horror, and madness was about to be radically overhauled by the start of World War 2.

With that overshadowing the narrative, the reader is immediately immersed into an action scene that introduces the main character, naive young psychologist Viktor Kosarev who is about to take up a post at a castle with 6 inmates, known locally as ‘The Devil’s 6’.

Mixing eastern European folklore with a limited understanding of mental health conditions, we are walking in Viktor’s steps as he assess the patients whilst the overarching plot of the serial killer on the loose-The Leather Apron-ramps up the tension to unbearable levels.

It recalls to mind the famous saying by Rorschach in ‘Alan Moore’s ‘Watchmen’ are they locked in there with him, or is he locked in there with them? By which I mean that ‘The Devil Aspect’ -referring to the theory that Viktor has developed-looks into the nature of evil, its intrinsic and extrinsic factors within the context of fear of the supernatural.

If we acknowledge the existence of a devil who can make us behave in a certain way, does that negate the issue of free choice, abdicating our mental state instead to a concept of evil???

Or rather, does free will allow the devil to get in?

And if it doesn’t exist within the inmates, it surely is waiting outside in the form of a serial killer, or is it deeper than that,embedded in the very foundation of the castle itself? Could the character of Hobbs which comes through under the Devil Aspect therapy be the actual Devil conjured by the a triumvirate of evil, madness and belief? After all, Hobbs is an old nickname for Old Nick himself…

Fascinating and intriguing, the isolation of the castle, whilst knowing that the Leather Apron is lurking, waiting with sharpened anticipation of new victims, feeding off fear and ignorance.

A brilliant read with memorable characters exposed to a seeping air of growing menace from all quarters, this is Craig Russell’s best novel to date (imho) and he has written some brilliant ones (my favourite being ‘Brother Grimm’ which I have dug out to read as a companion piece to ‘The Devil Aspect’ -nerves of steel from this hardy Welsh woman or what??

I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who likes their menace served with panache!
Huge thanks to Clara Ruiz from Little Brown Books for the tour invite and my gifted copy of the book.

About the author…

Craig Russell’s novels have been published in twenty-five languages, four have been made into major films in Germany, in one of which he has a cameo role as a detective. He has won the CWA Dagger in the Library and the McIlvanney Prize, for which he has been shortlisted another twice, and has previously been shortlisted for the CWA Golden Dagger, the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, and the SNCF Prix Polar in France. A former police officer, Craig Russell is the only non-German to have been awarded the Polizeistern – the Hamburg Police’s Police Star.