{"id":12726,"date":"2019-03-05T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=12726"},"modified":"2019-03-04T22:40:03","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T03:40:03","slug":"review-devil-aspect-craig-russell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-devil-aspect-craig-russell\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"12725\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-devil-aspect-craig-russell\/devilaspect\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/devilaspect.jpg?fit=329%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"329,499\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"devilaspect\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/devilaspect.jpg?fit=329%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-12725\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/devilaspect-231x350.jpg?resize=231%2C350\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/devilaspect.jpg?resize=231%2C350&amp;ssl=1 231w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/devilaspect.jpg?w=329&amp;ssl=1 329w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 85vw, 231px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Devil-Aspect-Novel-Craig-Russell\/dp\/0385544367\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32DINIAJK9ZUM&amp;keywords=the+devil+aspect&amp;qid=1551754714&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=the+devil+aspect%2Caps%2C494&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong><em>The Devil Aspect <\/em>by Craig Russell<\/strong><\/a><em><br \/>\n<\/em><strong>Doubleday (March 5, 2019)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>432 pages; $17.67 hardcover; $13.99 e-book<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Reviewed by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/BluGilliand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blu Gilliand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I liked\u00a0<em>The Devil Aspect<\/em>. The problem is, I thought I was going to love it.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The description hit so many of my sweet spots: a foreboding castle-turned-insane-asylum high in the Czechoslovakian mountains, housing six killers so insane they&#8217;ve been dubbed &#8220;The Devil&#8217;s Six;&#8221; a town suffering through the rampages of a serial killer known as Leather Apron; and a young psychiatrist willing to push his patients to the brink with his controversial treatment techniques. It all had a bit of a Hammer Horror vibe to it, and I was primed from page one.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not that the novel, the American debut of award-winning Scottish author Craig Russell, doesn&#8217;t fulfill that promise. This is a deeply atmospheric book, painted in bright red blood and deep black shadows. There are some incredibly tense sequences involving Viktor Kos\u00e1rek&#8217;s one-on-one therapy sessions with members of The Devil&#8217;s Six. When Leather Apron (so named to invoke Jack the Ripper, although the name &#8212; and the killer&#8217;s methods &#8212; say Leatherface to me) strikes, Russell doesn&#8217;t hold back on detailing his brutality. The police procedural portions of the novel, in which we follow a police investigator on the hunt for Leather Apron, hit all the right notes.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the ingredients are all there. For me, the issue was pacing. This novel tops 400 pages, and I feel like it would have benefited from a little trimming and tightening. It takes a long time for all of the separate elements to dovetail in the way most experienced readers know they will. As a result, a major plot twist at the end feels like something the author tacked on instead of something the story earned.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s hard for me to pin down exactly what caused it to drag. Whenever I picked up the book, I would get lost in it, gobbling up four or five chapters at a time. But when I put it down, I didn&#8217;t feel like I&#8217;d made a lot of progress in the page count or in the plot.<\/p>\n<p>With that reservation in mind, I would still recommend <em>The Devil Aspect<\/em> to lovers of atmospheric horror. Russell mixes influences ranging from the aforementioned Hammer style of brooding horror to films like <em>Silence of the Lambs\u00a0<\/em>and <em>Identity<\/em>. Columbia Pictures has snapped up the film rights, and I&#8217;m excited to see what they do with it; in the right hands, and with the right script, this could make a great movie. In book form, it&#8217;s a very good story that I think many of you will enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell Doubleday (March 5, 2019) 432 pages; $17.67 hardcover; $13.99 e-book Reviewed by\u00a0Blu Gilliand I liked\u00a0The Devil Aspect. The problem is, I thought I was going to love it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[301,1291,345,79,1687],"class_list":["post-12726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-blu-gilliand","tag-craig-russell","tag-doubleday","tag-reviews","tag-the-devil-aspect"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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