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WORK TITLE: The Devil’s Work
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.markedwardsauthor.com/
CITY: West Midlands, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
RESEARCHER NOTES:
***Cannot find LOC entry.***
PERSONAL
Married; children: three.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and novelist. Previously worked various jobs and as a marketing director.
WRITINGS
Coauthor with Louise Voss of the novels: Killing Cupid, 2011; Catch Your Death , 2011; All Fall Down, 2012; and Forward Slash, 2013. Also coauthor with Voss of a series featuring Detective Inspector Patrick Lennon, including From the Cradle, 2014, and The Blissfully Dead, 2015.
SIDELIGHTS
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers and is inspired by writers such as Stephen King, Ira Levin, Ruth Rendell, and Linwood Barclay. Edwards, who grew up on England’s south coast, worked various jobs and began writing in his early twenties. He lived for a time in Tokyo, Japan, and then returned to the United Kingdom to embark on a career in marketing. Edwards went on to become a full-time writer. Edwards also professes to have a love of karaoke.
“I originally wanted to be a horror writer,” Edwards noted in an interview for the Web site A Bibliophile’s Reverie, adding: “For me, the fun of writing is to create characters and then make them suffer, to throw an increasingly horrific set of problems at them and see how they cope.” Edwards went on in the interview that he was more interested in writing about people who are monsters than the classic monsters found in horror books. Edwards noted in the interview: “That’s what fascinates me: how cruel, psychotic, dangerous characters roam among us, preying on ‘ordinary’ people. I suppose I am writing about myself and my own conflicts with nightmare neighbors, sneaky bosses, jealous girlfriends, etc, and exaggerating those situations for dramatic effect. “
Edwards first experience with being published was as coauthor of three novels with Louise Voss. Meanwhile, Edwards had been trying to find a publisher for his solo novels for fifteen years and finally went back and reworked a novel he had written titled The Magpies, about disastrous neighbors. Edwards ended up self-publishing the book. Its sales impressed a publisher who would go on to publish the book which sold more than 470,000 copies.
Edwards followed up The Magpies with What You Wish For and Follow You Home. In his fourth novel, The Devil’s Work, Edwards tells the story of Sophie Greenwood, who gets her childhood dream job, which turns out to be a nightmare. Noting that many of the job scenes in the book are “based on my wife’s experiences at work,” Edwards went on his interview for A Bibliophile’s Reverie Web site to say much of the inspiration for Sophie’s bad experiences at work in the novel came from watching the intense stress the author’s wife faced after returning to work from maternity leave, being given a big assignment, and working hard “till she almost cracked.”
Although Sophie has a supportive husband and a lovely young daughter named Daisy, She begins to have second thoughts on her first day on her new job at Jackdaw. Franklin Bird, the former head of the firm who is now an 85-year-old retiree, comes to the office and asks Sophie to go out to lunch with him. The luncheon immediately sets Sophie on edge because she has a connection she rather would not recall to Franklin’s granddaughter, Jasmine Smith, from when they were both in college in sixteen years ago.
As the story switches back to 1999 and the present day, readers learn about the mysterious Jasmine and why her relationship with Sophie is potentially damaging. Meanwhile, the office environment at Jackdaw is fraught with tension as a senior marketing executive is hit with a sexual harassment complaint. Furthermore, Sophie has been assigned to her first major marketing campaign, which ends up getting sabotaged. Things are to better at home. Sophie’s husband, Guy, has been suspended from his job as a journalist due to a reference on his Twitter account concerning domestic violence. Meanwhile, the pressure starts to show on Sophie as she begins to suspect that someone is actively sabotaging her and is ultimately gong to reveal a dark secret from her past.
“The darkness and malevolence in human souls suffice to create a chilling tale,” wrote a Monster Librarian Web site contributor, who also noted: The story is “a good mystery that keeps the reader guessing.” A Crime Fiction Lover Web site contributor remarked: “This is an enthralling, disturbing read which verges on the unsettling and takes great delight in wrong-footing us at every end and turn.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, July 18, 2016, review of The Devil’s Work.
ONLINE
A Bibliophile’s Reverie, https://bibliophilesreverie.com/ (November 7, 2016), “Review of The Devil’s Work and Interview with Mark Edwards.”
Big Thrill, http://www.thebigthrill.org/ (November 30, 2016), “The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards,” author interview.
Crime Fiction Lover, http://www.crimefictionlover.com/ (September 23, 2016), review of The Devil’s Work.
Hypable, http://www.hypable.com/ (October 14, 2016), Karen Rought, “The Devil’s Work Author Mark Edwards Explains How Writing Saved Him.”
Man of la Book – A Bookish Blog, http://manoflabook.com/ (October 4, 2016), “A Q&A with Mark Edwards, Author of The Devil’s Work.”
Mark Edwards Home Page, http://www.markedwardsauthor.com/ (April 30, 2017).
Monster Librarian, http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/ (October 1, 2016), Robert D. Yee, review of The Devil’s Work.
My Weekly Online, https://www.myweekly.co.uk/ (September 6, 2016), Karen Byron, review of The Devil’s Work.
Talk Nerdy With Us, http://talknerdywithus.com/ (September 27, 2016), Debbi Bachman, review of The Devil’s Work.*
A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Follow You Home and The Magpies.
It was the job she had dreamed of since childhood. But on her very first day, when an unnerving encounter drags up memories Sophie Greenwood would rather forget, she wonders if she has made a mistake. A fatal mistake.
What is her ambitious young assistant really up to? And what exactly happened to Sophie’s predecessor? When her husband and daughter are pulled into the nightmare, Sophie is forced to confront the darkest secrets she has carried for years.
As her life begins to fall apart at work and at home, Sophie must race to uncover the truth about her new job…before it kills her.
More about Mark Edwards
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which terrifying things happen to ordinary people. His first solo novel, The Magpies (2013), reached the No.1 spot on Amazon UK as did his third novel Because She Loves Me (2014). He has also co-written various crime novels with Louise Voss such as Killing Cupid (2011) and The Blissfully Dead (2015).
Mark grew up on the south coast of England and starting writing in his twenties while working in a number of dead-end jobs. He lived in Tokyo for a year before returning to the UK and starting a career in marketing. As well as a full-time writer, Mark is a stay at home dad for his three children, his wife and a ginger cat.
Interview with Mark Edwards
1) While a slightly generic question, what sparked the idea for The Devil’s Work?
I’ve written a number of novels that can be described as ‘X from hell’ – neighbors, relationship, vacation – and The Devil’s Work is my ‘office from hell’ book. But that wasn’t the original intention. I have long-wanted to write a novel set at a college (or university as we say in the UK), partly because I’ve always loved Donna Tartt’s The Secret History but also because it’s a fascinating setting. All those young people making sense of the world, becoming adults, forming cliques. In my head I had an image of a young, nervous woman on her first day away from home, surrounded by intimidating crowds – and then another young woman, dressed in black, cigarette in hand, approaches her.
That became the basis of the college chapters of The Devil’s Work: a friendship, Sophie and Jasmine, that turns into a bizarre love triangle and a disappearance. I wrote those chapters first. They were easy. But as soon as I started writing them I knew they would only be the start of Sophie and Jasmine’s story. I wanted to know what happened to Sophie. And that’s when the ‘office from hell’ idea kicked in.
2) Was anything drawn from real-life for the story idea, perhaps an unnerving psychological conflict that became manifested due to the stresses of a real-life day job?
A lot of it was based on my wife’s experiences at work. We used to work together (it’s where we met) and after she returned from maternity leave – which is quite generous in the UK – she was immediately promoted to lead a small team. Over the coming months I watched her strain get to her, the pressures from above (management) and below (her staff) squeeze her till she almost cracked.
A few years later, I worked at another company as the marketing director. Shortly after taking the job, my writing career started to take off and I had to juggle the two. Although my boss was outwardly supportive I was convinced he wanted rid of me, that he was watching me, interviewing my staff about me, looking for excuses to fire me. He used to keep me locked in meetings for hours, in a tiny room with no windows. It turned out I wasn’t being paranoid – he really was out to get me. I quit just before I was fired.
3) 3) What about the psychological thriller genre piques your interest the most? Are there types of psychological thrillers that are weaker than others? How many sub-genres does this genre have, in your opinion?
I didn’t originally set out to write psychological thrillers. I originally wanted to be a horror writer. For me, the fun of writing is to create characters and then make them suffer, to throw an increasingly horrific set of problems at them and see how they cope. But I decided early on that I didn’t want to write about vampires and demons. My monsters would always be people. That’s what fascinates me: how cruel, psychotic, dangerous characters roam among us, preying on ‘ordinary’ people. I suppose I am writing about myself and my own conflicts with nightmare neighbors, sneaky bosses, jealous girlfriends, etc, and exaggerating those situations for dramatic effect. I’m not interested in writing about heroes. The great strength of the psychological thriller is that it features people like us, dealing with our greatest fears.
I don’t know how many sub-genres this genre has, but the dominant sub-genre right now is ‘domestic noir’, eg Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train. It feels like everybody is writing one and I wonder when we are going to reach saturation point. There are only so many times readers will want to read a book about a toxic marriage, surely?
4) Further, how do you strike the balance in the craft of writing a psychological thriller, in a way where it doesn’t become too nebulous, scattered, but manages to strike some happy medium between psychological depth and a clear surface story?
With great difficulty! To be honest, I have no idea how I do it. But the basic show not tell rule applies. You show the characters’ psychological depths through their interactions with others, and through their behavior. You can’t spend too long inside their heads – or, at least, you shouldn’t reveal all those inner workings to the reader.
5) Are you a writer without outlines or a writer with outlines? Or are you a writer that just lets the unconscious mind take over completely?
I don’t outline. I have tried, but I find it impossible to find the story without writing it, without spending time with my characters, in their world. I have never sat down and thought about a three act structure, or worked out a narrative arc. But there is a blueprint in my head because I’ve read so many novels. I know how it works, I just don’t have any interest in breaking it down and labeling it.
The unconscious mind is a great thing. Not only does it keep track of that story blueprint, but it helps me solve the many problems I find myself confronted with. All of my books have complex plots, often with multiple points of view and timelines. They all have twists too. Writing The Devil’s Work was indescribably painful. I got myself into terrible tangles, couldn’t figure out how to make all the pieces fit together. The first draft was a hideous mess. In the end, I found that by removing one character I could make it all work, but had to rewrite 60,000 words in a month. Suddenly, the story I had always wanted to tell poured forth in a great torrent.
I wish I could outline, because it would prevent all that pain. But I can’t do it. And it would be a lot less fun.
6)A bit more conventional, what future novel ideas do you have in mind?
That’s a secret! But I have just finished writing a novel about a serial killer who wants his victims to die happy. It’s called The Lucky Ones and should be out June 2017.
7) Do you have a message for the many readers and subscribers to this blog, A Bibliophile’s Reverie?
Apart from ‘please read my books’, you mean? (Insert winking emoji here!) My message is that there is nothing a writer likes more than to hear from their readers. The great thing about the internet and social media is that it’s made it so easy for authors and readers to communicate. I’m sure in the olden days people would write fan letters, but now it’s so simple. If you read something you love, let the author know: a tweet, an email, a Facebook message, a comment on their website. We spend most of our lives locked away, unsure if anyone likes our stuff. Getting a positive message from a reader can make all the difference.
Review:
I don’t know about anyone else, but I greatly love books of this sort. The type that are unnerving, dangerously thrilling, and very circumspect when it comes to exploring every subversive layer of the human psyche. There are so many great, unwitting moments juxtaposed so expertly together in this novel- it begins as a seemingly mundane soap opera that erupts into something entirely different by story’s end. And just as you feel that you reached some critical epiphany as to figuring out the story’s puzzle, something new gets divulged and you are stuck trying to theorize once again.
It will thrill and elude you at all the right moments, so this definitely gets a recommendation from me. My only criticism, as all reviews of any sort require some criticism, is that there were time that some of the aspects of the story defied realism and sometimes descended into camp, which was fine by me once the story set itself back again on much firmer, less campier grounds-when a new revelation was revealed and caught you unawares.
Overall, even with the snags of some pesky camp, it is was still good enough for me to consider checking out more of Mark Edward’s works, as I felt very invested in the characters and the thriller/suspenseful aspects that were otherwise very well done, almost to an enviable degree, at least from the perspective of a novice writer like myself.
So if you’re looking for something thrilling, surprising, and subversive, then this may be up your alley. This genre is definitely a favorite of mine for sure!
‘The Devil’s Work’ author Mark Edwards explains how writing saved him
10:00 AM EDT, OCTOBER 14, 2016
BY KAREN ROUGHT
karen_rought
EDITED BY BRANDI DELHAGEN
EXCLUSIVE, GUEST POST, MARK EDWARDS, THE DEVIL'S WORK
What do Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and Mark Edwards have in common? They’ve all been to rock bottom and used writing to hoist themselves up again.
About ‘The Devil’s Work’
A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Follow You Home and The Magpies.
It was the job she had dreamed of since childhood. But on her very first day, when an unnerving encounter drags up memories Sophie Greenwood would rather forget, she wonders if she has made a mistake. A fatal mistake.
What is her ambitious young assistant really up to? And what exactly happened to Sophie’s predecessor? When her husband and daughter are pulled into the nightmare, Sophie is forced to confront the darkest secrets she has carried for years.
As her life begins to fall apart at work and at home, Sophie must race to uncover the truth about her new job…before it kills her.
the devil's work cover small
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads
Saved by writing: What Stephen King, JK Rowling and I Have in Common by Mark Edwards
In 1973, Stephen King was broke. For years, he had been pursuing his dream of being a writer, getting paid a few bucks for short stories by magazines while working as a teacher. During the summers he took work as a gas station attendant and janitor. His wife, Tabitha, worked at Dunkin’ Donuts. They lived in a trailer, their car was held together with duct tape and they had two small children. He couldn’t even afford a typewriter. Money wasn’t the only thing that was short: he barely had time to write.
But he was determined. A story he’d thrown in the trash was fished out by Tabitha who told him he should carry on with it. That novel was Carrie. It took him nine months to finish it. He sent it out — and 30 publishers said no.
But the 31st publisher, Doubleday, said yes. I can imagine how thrilled King must have been. They gave him $2500. Enough to buy a new car, but not enough to quit teaching. He was still working by day, locking himself away at night to write.
And then something gloriously unexpected happened, a tale King recounts in his memoir/guide On Writing. In those days, hardback and paperback rights were sold separately. One day, King was home alone when he took a call from his editor telling him the paperback rights to Carrie had been bought for $400,000 (over $2m in today’s money). A stunned King rushed out to buy his loyal, long-suffering wife a gift, but the only store that was open was the drug store. He bought her a hair dryer.
carrie stephen king
Twenty years later a divorced single mother called Joanne Rowling found herself living in Edinburgh, Scotland, surviving on welfare and struggling to support her daughter. She took her baby for walks to local cafés as she found it helped get the infant to sleep so Joanne could work on her book.
That book was, of course, the first in the Harry Potter series. Later, JK Rowling, said, “I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized and I still had a daughter that I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
In 2013 I found myself in a similar situation. I’d had three novels, co-written with Louise Voss, published by HarperCollins in the U.K. That was after 15 years of trying to get a deal. When I finally got that deal, I was elated, thinking my dreams of being a professional novelist were finally going to come true. I gambled and quit my job so I’d have time to concentrate on writing.
But the books failed to sell. In February 2013, my third novel with Louise had just come out — and bombed. Our publisher hadn’t been able to get it into any shops and had warned us that a similar fate awaited our just-completed fourth novel.
This was disappointing, but a fact of life for many writers. There’s no point moaning about it. As a writer, the world doesn’t owe you a living. Yes, our publisher had given up on us after our first two books didn’t sell as many as they hoped. That’s the harsh commercial reality of publishing and there’s nothing you can do about it.
harry potter and the philosopher's stone jk rowling
The biggest problem for me was not that my dreams of being a successful writer had taken a hard knock, but that I was in serious financial trouble. I had gambled by giving up my day job after getting the publishing deal, though still supporting myself and my family by doing freelance work. I was working by day and writing at night, just as I’d always done. But the books weren’t bringing in any money and I no longer had the security of my day job. My overdraft was at its limit, my credit card was maxed out, I had horrible debts and commitments. As well as having two young children, my partner was pregnant.
We were in deep trouble. I could hardly sleep at night for worrying about all of it. How was I going to pay the mortgage? What was I going to do? Getting another job wasn’t easy because we had moved out of London to a cheaper city with sky-high unemployment rates.
Before starting to write with Louise, I had written a few books that almost got published. One of these was called The Magpies, a novel about neighbors from hell. Of all my solo novels, this was definitely the best, but my failure to find a publisher for it meant it had spent a long time gathering dust in a drawer. I only had a digital copy of it because I had once emailed it to my girlfriend and, luckily, she hadn’t deleted the email. For the last couple of years I had been intending to rewrite it, getting it out every now and then to tinker with it. But with all my other commitments, I didn’t get very far.
Now, with my contract with my publisher at an end, I was desperate. I buckled down and rewrote The Magpies. I decided to self-publish it as an eBook on Amazon. I figured that if I could sell 20,000 copies I could pay off my debts and keep my head above water — just. But even selling that many would be incredibly hard. Most books sell a few thousand copies.
I asked my sister-in-law to design a cover, using a picture by a photographer I was friendly with, and stuck it on Amazon. I contacted every blogger and reviewer I’d ever had contact with. I announced it to my small but loyal group of readers on Facebook. I crossed my fingers.
magpies mark edwards
On day one I sold 133 copies. Not bad, though it had taken a lot of effort to achieve that. Now I had to hope it started to climb the chart…
Over the next few days, sales dropped off.
I woke up on Good Friday and checked my ranking while still in bed (yes, I’m sad). It had dropped substantially overnight. I sighed heavily. This wasn’t going to work. I wasn’t going to be able to sell 2,000 copies, let alone 20,000. My debts hung over my head like storm clouds. The gamble hadn’t paid off. All the hard work and hope had got me nowhere.
Then something happened. I checked my sales figures an hour later and noticed I’d sold about 20 copies in the last hour. I hit refresh. Another half a dozen sales. Hit refresh again. More sales. I caught my breath. It was taking off.
That day I sold 858 copies and the book was No. 35 overall on Amazon. The next day it sold even more and went up to No. 25. A few weeks later, it hit No. 1.
The Magpies has, to date, sold 470,000 copies, and my total book sales are approaching two million. After The Magpies reached No. 1, Amazon Publishing’s crime and thriller imprint, Thomas & Mercer, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. And now, with four more solo novels under my belt — including Follow You Home, which was a bestseller in the U.S. — I am a full-time author, free of debt, and supporting my family of five through my writing.
follow you home mark edwards
My new book, The Devil’s Work, has just come out. It’s set in the office from hell. I think I may have subconsciously written it to spur myself on so I can keep doing this. The setting of The Devil’s Work is exactly the kind of place I don’t want to go back to.
I have mentioned money a number of times, but it’s not really about that. Money buys you time and freedom. Most writers earn less than $10,000 a year, and although my sales are dwarfed by King’s and Rowling’s, I feel incredibly lucky to be doing what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve experienced that moment all aspiring writers dream of, like the call that sent Stephen King out to buy a hair dryer for his wife.
I had a similar experience after The Magpies took off. I drove to a supermarket, wanting to buy something to celebrate but unable to find anything. So I bought a cake. Just a cake.
But it tasted extra sweet.
About the author
mark edwards author photo
Website | Facebook | Twitter
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which terrifying things happen to ordinary people. His first solo novel, The Magpies (2013), reached the No. 1 spot on Amazon U.K., as did his third novel Because She Loves Me (2014). He has also co-written various crime novels with Louise Voss, such as Killing Cupid (2011) and The Blissfully Dead (2015).
Mark grew up on the south coast of England and starting writing in his 20s while working in a number of dead-end jobs. He lived in Tokyo for a year before returning to the U.K. and starting a career in marketing. As well as a full-time writer, Mark is a stay at home dad for his three children, his wife and a ginger cat.
A Q&A with Mark Edwards, Author of The Devil’s Work
Posted by Zohar - Man of la Book on October 4, 2016. Author Q&A, Latest Posts - No Comments
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As a six word story, explain what The Devil’s Work is about?
Dream job becomes a terrifying nightmare.
(My original pitch was ‘The Devil Wears Prada rewritten by Stephen King’ but that’s eight words!)
As opposed to other types of fiction, what do you think the is appeal of psychological thrillers?
Psychological thrillers are hot right now because readers want to connect with stories in which they can imagine themselves. Marriage, relationships with friends and children, co-workers and lovers…Psychological thriller writers take ordinary situations and add a layer of fear and darkness – from the toxic marriage in Gone Girl to the everyday voyeur in Girl on the Train, readers like those familiar situations and characters and thinking about what they would do if it were them. I think it’s a reaction to the Dan Brown years, which were followed by the Stieg Larsson-fuelled Scandinavian noir period – we’ve gone from worldwide conspiracy theories and outlandish situations to what is now called domestic noir. It’s not new but it’s never been more popular.
How do you come up with the idea for a great plot twist? No spoilers since there is a great one in The Devil’s Work!
I am what is called a ‘pantser’ – I make up my books as I go along rather than plotting them meticulously first. This means that my twists don’t usually arrive until I reach that point in the book. I frequently change my mind too. There are two big twists in The Devil’s Work. The first was planned from early on but with the final twist, I changed my mind at the last minute. It’s a risky but exciting way of working. If I can surprise myself I can definitely surprise readers. The hard part is then going back and making sure it all fits together.
A character in The Devil’s Work gets into trouble because of social media–do you think social media is a positive part of our zeitgeist or negative?
I confess to being a social media addict – mostly Facebook and Twitter. As a writer, I love how social media allows writers to connect with readers. I have a very active Facebook page (facebook.com/markedwardsbooks) and spend a lot of time engaging with readers and answering questions. It’s also fantastic for meeting other writers. If I go to a festival I feel like I know everyone because we’ve chatted so much online. And, of course, it’s great for keeping in touch with people you rarely see in real life.
I can see the negatives too. Fortunately, I have never been the victim of trolls and haven’t been publically shamed because of something I did or said. Some of the abuse that happens on Twitter is horrific. I also have an allergy to mobs – I can’t bear it when a swarm of self-righteous moral guardians attack individuals because they have made a mistake or said something controversial. It’s led to a culture where many people are afraid to speak freely – and led to the rise of professional agitators who make a living out of winding other people up by saying outrageous things.
In your bio, you say that you devour TV show box sets–do you like them because you can binge or because of all the special features?
When I say box sets I mean streaming via Netflix or via Amazon. But yes, I hate having to wait. I have watched The Walking Dead week-by-week, series-by-series, over the last six or seven years and it’s agony having to wait between each episode. Having said that, it does make it feel more special…in a world where everything is available instantly, it’s nice to feel that sense of anticipation and excitement.
What TV shows would you recommend?
Like everyone else I know, I’ve just finished watching Stranger Things on Netflix. I loved all the Spielberg and King references. The cast, especially the kids, was amazing. I think Millie Brown, who played Eleven, is like the reincarnation of River Phoenix.
I’ve also just watched The Girlfriend Experience, which was chilly and unsettling with an insane final episode. They really pushed the boundaries of what you can show on TV, and I loved how it kept switching tracks so you never knew what to expect.
The best crime thriller I’ve seen recently is the Swedish/Danish series, The Bridge, which is just sublime. Saga, the central character who might have Asperger’s, is a wonderful creation. I also loved The Fall, a serial killer drama set in Belfast, starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan. It’s terrifying and stylish.
* * *
Bio:
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which terrifying things happen to ordinary people. His first solo novel, The Magpies (2013), reached the No.1 spot on Amazon UK as did his third novel Because She Loves Me (2014). He has also co-written various crime novels with Louise Voss such as Killing Cupid (2011) and The Blissfully Dead (2015).
Mark grew up on the south coast of England and starting writing in his twenties while working in a number of dead-end jobs. He lived in Tokyo for a year before returning to the UK and starting a career in marketing. As well as a full-time writer, Mark is a stay at home dad for his three children, his wife and a ginger cat.
Website: www.markedwardsauthor.com
Twitter: @mredwards
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markedwardsbooks
About the book:
It was the job Sophie Greenwood had dreamed of since childhood: working for iconic children’s publisher Jackdaw Books in marketing. After years out of the workforce to have her daughter, Sophie can’t wait to get stuck in and hopefully mend her strained relationship with her unemployed husband. But on the very first day, an unnerving encounter drags up memories Sophie would rather forget, and she wonders if she has made a mistake. A fatal mistake.
A mouse nailed to the front door. A stranger following her home in the shadows. Unexplainable whispers in the office late at night.
A series of disturbing events lead Sophie to think someone is out to get her, and as her life begins to fall apart at work and at home, Sophie must confront dark secrets from the past and race to uncover the truth about her new job… before it kills her. What is her ambitious young assistant really up to? And what exactly happened to Sophie’s predecessor?
The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards
NOVEMBER 30, 2016 by ITW
1 0
the-devils-workIt was the job she had dreamed of since childhood. But on her very first day, when an unnerving encounter drags up memories Sophie Greenwood would rather forget, she wonders if she has made a mistake. A fatal mistake.
When her husband and daughter are pulled into the nightmare, Sophie is forced to confront the darkest secrets she has carried for years.
As her life begins to fall apart at work and at home, Sophie must race to uncover the truth about her new job…before it kills her.
This month, author Mark Edwards discusses his novel, THE DEVIL’S WORK, with The Big Thrill:
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
I hope readers will come away from THE DEVIL’S WORK feeling thankful that they don’t work in an office like the one in the book—but perhaps feeling a little uneasy about their co-workers. Is there real malice behind the gossip you heard at the water cooler? Are you being spied on by your boss? What does that guy who works in the mailroom actually do in there all day? I’m not saying I want my readers to become paranoid and dread going to work…oh, who am I kidding? That’s exactly what I want!
How does this book make a contribution to the genre?
Domestic noir has been huge the last couple of years, since the release of Gone Girl. The success of that book, and all the other books with “girl” in the title, has shown that thriller readers want books set in familiar places. We’ve had marriages, families, and neighbours from hell, and in THE DEVIL’S WORK we enter the office from hell. There are very few psychological thrillers set in the workplace but it’s a great setting for a scary book. Most of us spend more time at work than we do with our families. We’ve all had a toxic co-worker or a boss who makes our life a misery. I want this book to be the first example office noir.
Was there anything new you discovered, or surprised you, as you wrote this book?
I surprised myself with the final twist in the book, when the person behind the torment of the main character, is revealed. All the way through I thought one character was going to walk through the door and be revealed as the villain. But when I wrote the scene, a different character stepped through. Suddenly, it all made sense. I went back to ensure it all worked, but I was delighted—if I can surprise myself, I’m confident I can surprise the reader.
No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material?
The book is dedicated to a man called Sylvester Stein who died as I was finishing it. He was born in 1920 and was 84 when I started working with him. His short-term memory was shot (we had the same meeting every day for a year; no exaggeration) but he was a genius—a playwright, political activist, health campaigner and marketing man—and he taught me a huge amount. Franklin Bird, the octogenarian owner of the company in THE DEVIL’S WORK, is Sylvester’s evil twin. The only things they have in common are their age, their dedication to work, and the amount of ice they like in their gin and tonic. It has to crunch!
What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?
I’m a big fan of Ira Levin. When I pictured the office in THE DEVIL’S WORK, I wanted it to look like the Bramford Building from Rosemary’s Baby (which was filmed at the Dakota in New York). I love the clarity of Levin’s storytelling, the precision and lack of wasted words. Stephen King described Levin as the “Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels.” King, of course, was another big influence on me because of the way he puts ordinary people in terrifying situations. The college chapters in THE DEVIL’S WORK were my attempt to emulate Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. Like Richard in TSH, my main character, Sophie, is from a small town and is bewitched by a pair of charismatic characters who lead her into darkness.
*****
“Edwards doesn’t need fancy flourishes or clever gimmicks to write the hell out of a story…A white-knuckle, one-sitting read.” — Red Magazine
“THE DEVIL’S WORK is an assured and effective psychological thriller, from a writer who knows how to tell a compelling and thrilling story.” — My Weekly
“THE DEVIL’S WORK is clever, contemporary, and chillingly plausible. Mark Edwards just gets better and better.” — Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go
“A thrill-ride of a book, relishing the unexpected and unsettling the reader at every turn. It’s deliciously terrifying.” —Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner
“Mark Edwards has done it again—another heart-stopping, utterly gripping psychological thriller that had me frantically turning the pages. My favourite book this year.” —CL Taylor, author of The Missing
*****
mark-edwards-author-photoMark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which scary things happen to ordinary people and is inspired by writers such as Stephen King, Ira Levin, Ruth Rendell, and Linwood Barclay.
He is the author of three #1 bestsellers: Follow You Home (a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015), The Magpies, and Because She Loves Me, along with What You Wish For and six novels co-written with Louise Voss. All of his books are inspired by real-life experiences. His latest book, THE DEVIL’S WORK, is available now.
Originally from the south coast of England, Mark now lives in the West Midlands with his wife, their three children, and a ginger cat.
Mark loves hearing from readers and can be contacted via his website.
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which scary things happen to ordinary people and is inspired by writers such as Stephen King, Ira Levin, Ruth Rendell and Linwood Barclay.
His first solo novel, The Magpies (2013), reached the No.1 spot on Amazon UK and has sold 300,000 copies to date. This was followed by What You Wish For (2014), Because She Loves Me (2014; also a No.1 bestseller in the UK) and Follow You Home (2015).
He also co-writes with Louise Voss. Their novels are: Killing Cupid (2011); Catch Your Death (2011); All Fall Down (2012); Forward Slash and a series featuring Detective Inspector Patrick Lennon, starting with From the Cradle (2014) and The Blissfully Dead (2015). Read more about Voss & Edwards.
Mark grew up on the south coast of England and starting writing in his twenties while working in a number of dead-end jobs. He lived in Tokyo for a year before returning to the UK and starting a career in marketing. He now writes full-time and lives in the West Midlands, England, with his wife, their three children and a ginger cat, Billie, who was named after an actress from Doctor Who.
When he’s not writing or looking after children, Mark reads a lot, devours TV box sets and spends far too much time on Twitter and Facebook, where he loves chatting with readers. He also wishes he had more time to do the activity he loves most: karaoke.
The Devil's Work
Publishers Weekly.
263.29 (July 18, 2016): p189. From Literature Resource Center.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Devil's Work
Mark Edwards. Thomas & Mercer, $15.95 trade paper (394p) ISBN 978-1-5039-3818-2
Sophie Greenwood, the heroine of this unsatisfying psychological thriller from British author Edwards (The Magpie),
faces an endless array of calamities just as everything seems to be going right. Sophie, who has a supportive husband,
Guy, and a darling four-year-old daughter, Daisy, has landed her dream job at Jackdaw Books in London. On her first
day at Jackdaw, she's startled to discover that Franklin Bird, the vigorous 8 5-year-old former head of the firm who's
nominally retired, is taking her out to lunch. Sophie hopes that Bird is unaware of her connection to his granddaughter
Jasmine Smith, whom she met in college in Sussex 16 years earlier. Flashbacks to 1999 provide counterpoint to a series
of present-day debacles: a sexual-harassment complaint takes out a senior marketing exec at Jackdaw, an offensive
reference to domestic violence from Guy's Twitter account gets him suspended from his journalism job, and a major
goof sabotages Sophie's first major marketing campaign. Past and present eventually come together in unexpected and
unconvincing fashion as Sophie learns who has orchestrated her fall. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"The Devil's Work." Publishers Weekly, 18 July 2016, p. 189+. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=LitRC&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA459287521&it=r&asid=7efb72c08d9b29cc4830c719951b028e.
Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459287521
Book Review: The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards
by Debbi Bachman September 27, 2016, 8:07 am 0
Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers – good ones. The Devil’s Work is his most recent release, and he has once again hit it out of the park with his storytelling ability. This novel will have you identifying a bunch of red herrings and heading down blind alleys in search of the truth of its plot before all is finally revealed. The reveal is as tense and frightening as any devout reader of thrillers would like it to be and the mystery at its core equally as creepy. This is a devil of a work to put down…
After landing the job she’d wanted since childhood, Sophie Greenwood goes quickly from elation to suspicion as the job forces her to dig up images from her past that she has had locked away. As her memories begin to make their way closer and closer to the surface, Sophie’s life, a life she had been happy with, starts to show signs of strain and tarnished edges. Exactly what has Sophie buried and why are questions that are answered as the story unfolds.
Mark Edwards has the gift of breaking chapters at exactly the right place – the place where you, the reader, cannot possibly stop reading. You’ll hear your inner voice chanting, ‘one more chapter; I’ll read one more chapter,’ until you’ve finished the book in one or two sittings. His prose is addictive and the emotions he evokes from his readers exhilarating.
If you love tense and tightly written psychological thrillers, you will love Mark’s work. Go ahead and get a copy of The Devil’s Work and once you’ve, finished the book (too quickly I’m sure) go back and read the rest of his catalog. You won’t be disappointed.
FICTION
Book Review: Psychological Thriller The Devil’s Work
BY KAREN BYROM · SEPTEMBER 6, 2016
The Devil's Work Cover small
PIC OF kARENPsychological Thriller
The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards
Thomas & Mercer, £8.99
Reviewed by Stuart Johnstone
The Devils Work Cover
You land your dream job marketing for a renowned children’s publisher. So all is good in the world, right?
Not so if you are Sophie Greenwood, protagonist of The Devil’s Work, the latest psychological thriller from English author Mark Edwards. On her very first day, in fact, things start to go wrong when a trip to the dusty basement of her employer leads to a rather disturbing encounter.
It’s the start of a series of increasingly disturbing events that lead her to question her career choices.
Dead and buried
The story then switches back to 1999, when Sophie was a young and insecure student. But it soon becomes clear that troubling events in the past are not quite as dead and buried as she once thought.
The threats come in thick and fast, from the suspicious behavior of her assistant to concerns over what happened to her predecessor in her dream job. And just what is her boss hiding?
Twists and turns
The twin narratives ensure that The Devil’s Work zips along at a fast pace, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. At times, it’s hard to keep track of what exactly is happening, but fortunately the author has the sensitivity to know when the tension-filled build up has to lead to answers.
As the twin timelines start to converge, the author really gets under the skin of his protagonist, lending her just the right mix of insecurities and strength to make her reactions and actions entirely believable.
The Devil’s Work is an assured and effective psychological thriller, from a writer who knows how to tell a compelling and thrilling story.
THE DEVIL’S WORK
September 23, 2016 Written by DeathBecomesHer Published in iBook, Kindle, Print, Reviews 0 Permalink
devilswork300Written by Mark Edwards — There are some real benefits to working from home. You can take as many coffee breaks as you like and could even stop to watch daytime TV if you fancy a bit of brainless nonsense. Best of all, you don’t have to deal with colleagues, which can be a real bonus if your workmates are as much of a problem as the ones in this book.
She’s had four years out of the London rat race to raise her daughter, now Sophie Greenwood has landed her dream job after being headhunted for a top role in marketing at successful children’s publisher, Jackdaw Books. After so long away the job is sure to be a challenge but Sophie soon gets back into full-on work mode and appears to be handling it really well. Too well, perhaps, for one of her team members. But how far would you go to make the boss look foolish?
Things begin to go seriously awry when Sophie takes the reins of a high-powered publicity campaign for Jackdaw’s biggest release of the year. She comes up with some stunning marketing ideas and all looks set fair for a smooth publication date… until things begin to fall apart around her ears.
The team that at first appeared so reliable and solid is suddenly fragile and fragmented, emails go astray and Sophie’s notebook containing all her campaign notes vanishes. Someone is out to get her – but who? And why? Can she trust her ambitious young assistant? And what really happened to her predecessor, who seems to have mysteriously vanished off the face of the earth?
Gradually, we learn the answers to these questions as the story bounces between timelines offering some vital clues into Sophie’s past and shedding light on the significance of her friendship with the mysterious Jasmine back at university in Sussex in 1999.
I found the ping-pinging plot a little distracting at times but, in Sophie, Mark Edwards has created a solidly believable character trapped in a world that gradually becomes more and more unreliable. Some of the supporting cast tend towards the caricature, with creepy Franklin Bird, founder of Jackdaw books, at the head of the queue. He reminded me of Mr Burns in The Simpsons!
This is an enthralling, disturbing read which verges on the unsettling and takes great delight in wrong-footing us at every end and turn. Edwards is a past master at taking a simple, day-to-day situation and skewing it to create tension and thrills. The Devil’s Work sees him using that skill to full effect, treating us to myriad slap-the-forehead moments as things suddenly spring into startling focus.
Although he is now a full-time writer, Mark Edwards once worked in marketing and his familiarity with those dark arts is evident. They ring disturbingly true, as do his descriptions of the publishing industry – not surprising from a man who has seen the business from a wide range of angles.
The Devil’s Work is a book destined to grab your interest and not let go that iron grip until the final page is turned. Definitely not one to dip into – block off a nice chunk of reading time, put the phone on silent and be prepared for the long haul!
Also try Mark Edwards’ The Magpies or A Dangerous Fiction by Barbara Rogan.
Book Review: The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards
Posted on October 1, 2016 by Kirsten Posted in Uncategorized
The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards
Thomas & Mercer, 2016
ISBN-13: 9781503938182
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition
Sophie, a young mother, resumes her career as a literary publicist in London after raising her 4 year-old, daughter. She is fulfilling a lifelong dream, to work for Jackdaw Press, a prestigious publisher of children’s books that captivated her in childhood. However, her workplace is troubled: her predecessor mysteriously disappeared, a colleague is inexplicably dismissed for sexual harassment, another colleague is brutally mugged, and a beautiful subordinate seems to be plotting to replace Sophie. The firm’s octogenarian founder is a grey, ominous presence in the Victorian Gothic office building.
Sophie’s return to work, her husband’s career, and their marriage begin to unravel. Somehow, her troubles are connected with tragic events during her first year at university. Sophie and a girlfriend are outsiders. Unknown to Sophie, her friend’s grandfather is Jackdaw’s founder.
The author, Mark Edwards, skillfully interweaves episodes from the present and past that put Sophie’s career and life in danger There are no monsters or supernatural forces: however, the darkness and malevolence in human souls suffice to create a chilling tale. The story’s twists and turns qualify it as a good mystery that keeps the reader guessing. Edwards has written many psychological thrillers, including The Magpies, What You Wish For, Because She Loves Me and Follow You Home. Recommended.
Contains: mild sex and mild gore
Reviewed by Robert D. Yee