DEVILWOOD

by Tom Franklin

William Morrow
February 2, 2027

A horrifying crime brings a long legacy of evil to light in this chilling Southern noir from the beloved, New York Times bestselling author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

There’s something wrong in those woods . . .

Deep in the woods of rural Alabama, Officer Wilbur “The Cow Man” Miller and his dog, Trixie, stumble upon a nightmare scene of chaos and carnage. Local outcast Shirley Dye lies dead on the floor of her home, her body mangled by the blood-crazed cats locked inside with her. But was her gruesome death a tragic accident, or something far more sinister?

Having grown up in the same woods, raised on legends of deadly black panthers and insidious demons, Miller is no stranger to the darkness that gathers beneath the trees. But as he gets pulled into the investigation, the boundaries between reality and myth blur: a feral white cat haunts the crime scene, delivering grotesque offerings to the dead woman’s door, and inhuman screams echo in the darkest hours of the night, leaving Miller to wonder exactly what kind of monster Shirley faced.

Not all monsters are supernatural though: the Dye home has long been a refuge for shady characters including two desperate cousins on the run from the law, a local undertaker with secrets he’s keeping close to his chest, and a charismatic preacher who warns that the Devil himself lurks just inside the tree line. Shirley’s death isn’t the first that cursed corner of the woods has seen, and as the mystery deepens, Miller must untangle the blood-soaked history of the land from the crimes of the present.

With lyrical storytelling and razor-sharp prose, Devilwood is a masterfully tense novel where the lines between human predator and supernatural evil blur, and where the sins of the past are never, ever buried deep enough.

Foreign Sales:
Macmillan / UK


Praise for Devilwood :

“What a gift to have a new Tom Franklin novel, and Devilwood would have been worth any wait. A fleet and sinister tale of an earnest lawman, busted marriages, charismatic pastors, wayward believers and the dark mysteries of the old woods, Devilwood offers up a world where everyone is haunted by the past, and the past’s past. An unholy collision between Cormac McCarthy and Stephen King, it’s utterly enthralling.”

- Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Turnout

"Devilwood by Tom Franklin is a haunting, stunningly poetic journey into the darkness at the edge of town that hides monsters both corporeal and metaphorical. A tour de force examination of myth and legend and the places we call home."

- S.A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author of King of Ashes

"Filled with brilliantly realized, break-your-heart characters, Devilwood is a spellbinding southern gothic mystery that shivers with the horrific awe of our oldest places. Franklin lyrically spins an unforgettable tale about the demons rooted in the human heart and how they haunt through the ages."

- Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts