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Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2015
320 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
The year is 1993. Rookie crime beat reporter Evie Jones is haunted by the unsolved murder of her best friend Lianne Gagnon who was killed in 1982, back when both girls were eleven. The suspected killer, a repeat offender named Robert Cameron, was never arrested, leaving Lianne's case cold.
Now twenty-one and living alone for the first time, Evie is obsessively drawn to finding out what really happened to Lianne. She leans on another childhood friend, David Patton, for help—but every clue they uncover seems to lead to an unimaginable conclusion. As she gets closer and closer to the truth, Evie becomes convinced that the killer is still at large—and that he's coming back for her.
From critically acclaimed author Elisabeth de Mariaffi comes a spine-tingling debut about secrets long buried and obsession that cannot be controlled.
"[An] artful first novel...Hooked readers will silently implore Evie to refrain from entering a basement or a cabin in the woods in pursuit of a story—and a killer." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Evie is a tough, wisecracking narrator worthy of the greatest private-eye pulp novels...[Her] vulnerable yet empowered voice, is refreshingly reverent." - Kirkus
"The Devil You Know is an exceptionally tense, thoughtful book, one which had me questioning my assumptions and checking my pulse. Elisabeth de Mariaffi writes in crisp, tight prose that pulls the reader through the story seamlessly, and it is a story that thrills, surprises, and above all else makes the reader rethink their assumptions about how women experience the world of violence. A magnificent debut novel." - Steven Galloway, author of The Confabulist and The Cellist of Sarajevo
"Elisabeth de Mariaffi conjures an atmosphere that is both light and dark, familiar and off-kilter, nostalgic and hard-edged, and, ultimately, all the more chilling for being anchored in reality...You won't sleep till you get to the end." - Carrie Anne Snyder, author of Girl Runner
"This story is creepy, dark, and addictive. It's a really smart thriller—and it feels true, which makes it all the more frightening." - Sarah Selecky, author of This Cake Is for the Party
"The Devil You Know manages simultaneously to be funny, sweet, hip, and utterly terrifying. Elisabeth de Mariaffi has written a smart, unique thriller."—Alafair Burke, author of All Day and a Night
This information about The Devil You Know was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elisabeth de Mariaffi is a critically acclaimed writer whose short story collection, How to Get Along with Women, was longlisted for the prestigious Giller Prize. She lives in St. John's, Canada, with her family.
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