The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards
The Devil’s Work is a standalone psychological thriller by Mark Edwards, the author who also wrote Follow You Home.
I have to admit that The Devil’s Work is the first book I have read from this author, however it will not be my last. In fact I will go back and hunt down some of his older standalone novels, because if they are as good as this one, the author goes on my ‘to watch out for their books’ list.
The meaning of be careful what you wish for, because it might just come true is a main theme in this book. Sophie Greenwood has just won the lottery. Well, no really, but she did get the job of her dream, which is no small feat in itself.
Afterall she has always looked up to Jackdaw Books, the publishing firm, and she wanted to work there since she was a child.
She was a stay at home mom for the last 4 years raising Daisy, her daughter, but now she feels that it’s time to get back into the rat trace, she can have her career back again.
And now she is finally in! She got her dream job. Right until it became the job from hell.
When you realize that your co-workers are not the nice folks you were led to believe, and a particular co-worker might just be after your dream job, and if you are not careful, the pranks played on you might just turn deadly. And her assistant Cassie seems to have an especially full agenda, all involving Sophie.
The plot moved nicely along and I bet most of us were pretty sure who the evil mastermind was. However the author knows just how to throw a punch, and when the twist came, ouch I never saw that coming.
I am usually kind of weary reading psychological thrillers because they have this mischievous tendency of playing with our human emotions so well. Mark Edwards is an expert at manipulating them, and making us really fear our own buried past (and who doesn’t have that?).
Sophie definitely has an interesting past, where dark secrets are quietly hiding in the closet ready to come out at the first opportunity.
But when her family is also dragged into the whole mess, she knows that confronting her past is the only way to keep everyone around her sane. And alive.
There are some flashbacks to Sophie’s past, from her time in college which explains a few things nicely and puts things into perspective.
This book indeed gave me a weird feeling, but I could not stop reading it. It was engrossing, fast paced, with full of nail biting moments and it was really well written. It is a thriller well worth reading.
