The Devil's Playground - Softcover

Sherez, Stav

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571312357 ISBN 13: 9780571312351

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2014

Synopsis

In his debut novel, Stav Sherez - author of the best-selling Carrigan & Miller detective series - explores a history of terror and mass murder rooted in Europe's murky past.

In a forgotten corner of a rain-lashed park in Amsterdam, the body of a tramp is found. The scarring on his body suggests he may be the latest victim of a serial killer terrorizing the city, but the police can find no name, only the telephone number of a young Englishman.

Jon Reed is summoned from London to identify the body of the man he once knew as Jake Colby. With a killer on the loose, he and the detective in charge of the case are determined to help uncover the truth of what happened, no matter where that may lead them.

About this title

Review:

When the body of a tramp, Jake Colby, is found in a secluded Amsterdam park, Dutch police detective Ronald Van Hijn believes that this is the ninth victim of the serial killer stalking the city. Yet, all previous victims were young, female and beautiful. What could have made the killer change his MO?

On the corpse Van Hijn finds contact details for Jon Reed, an Englishman who befriended Jake in London shortly before the murder. Van Hijn summons Jon to Amsterdam to identify the body and so sets him on his own journey of discovery.

Was Jake really a tramp? What revelation about his identity led him to a life on the streets? And did his fate lie not in the hands of a serial killer but in the horror of the Holocaust death camps some 60 years before?

The Devil's Playground is a thought-provoking debut crime thriller from a stunning new young talent.

Review:

Audacious, powerful Source: Observer

Demonstrating rare intelligence, brilliantly structured, beautifully written, The Devil's Playground is the finest first novel I have read in some time. It is altogether extraordinary and introduces a major new talent. Author: James Sallis, author of 'Drive'

A page turner of a thriller. Source: Metro

A razor sharp thriller. Like Robert Harris, Sherez has an immaculate sense of pace, expertly propelling the story along. Gripping to the end. Source: Jack

A taut thriller which dissects the legacy of a frightful history with intelligence and care. Author: Louise Welsh, author of 'The Cutting Room'

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0571312357
• ISBN 13: 9780571312351
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464