Only the Devil Is Here

“A gripping, cinematic supernatural thriller, shot through with unsettling imagery and startling insights into the nature of good and evil.” —David Demchuk, Sunburst Award–winning author of The Bone Mother   Kidnapped from his foster home, six-year-old Evan desperately searches for a way to escape his brutally violent captor, Rook. Armed with supernatural abilities, Rook is no ordinary man, but then Evan is no ordinary boy. And it soon becomes clear that on their frantic journey through a world teeming with unimaginable horrors and unnatural predators, Rook is Evan’s only hope for survival . . .   “With Only the Devil Is Here, Stephen Michell announces himself as a new and powerful presence on the literary horror scene. This is curt, violent, poetic storytelling, a Cormac McCarthyesque journey from darkness into even deeper darkness, suffused from moment one on with gothic nighttime awe and terror yet also shot through with the slimmest threads of hope—intimations of numinosity, if not of salvation.” —Gemma Files, Shirley Jackson Award–winning author of Spectral Evidence   “Michell subtly upends expectations with a genuinely insightful examination of the essence of good and evil. By the novel’s end, Michell delivers an invigorating chase story, a suspenseful horror-action hybrid with memorably warped characters, and terrific B-movie cinematic flair.” —Publishers Weekly   “How Rook acquired his superhuman strength and came to accept his unholy mission are just two of the many revelations Michell has in store for readers. Better still is the poignant father-son relationship that slowly builds between Rook and the orphaned Evan, who is also gifted with supernatural powers. A very promising debut from a new author to watch.” —Toronto Star

Toronto Star

“A very promising debut.”

Publishers Weekly

“Subtly upends expectations with a genuinely insightful examination of the essence of good and evil. By the novel’s end, Michell delivers an invigorating chase story, a suspenseful horror-action hybrid with memorably warped characters, and terrific B-movie cinematic flair.”

David Demchuk, Giller Prize–nominated author of The Bone Mother

“A gripping, cinematic supernatural thriller, shot through with unsettling imagery and startling insights into the nature of good and evil. Suspenseful, scary and unexpectedly moving, it’s a wild ride from start to finish.”

intimations of numinosity, if not of salvation. For all you probably won't like where it takes you, it’s just so damn hard to turn away.”

“With Only the Devil Is Here, Stephen Michell announces himself as a new and powerful presence on the literary horror scene. This is curt, violent, poetic storytelling, a Cormac McCarthyesque journey from darkness into even deeper darkness, suffused from moment one on with gothic nighttime awe and terror yet also shot through with the slimmest threads of hope

Michael Rowe, award-winning author of Enter, Night; Wild Fell; and October

“An outstanding literary horror debut, the lean, muscular prose of which barely contains the bursting, profoundly human heart of the novel. Only the Devil Is Here is the work of a natural storyteller at the start of what will doubtless be a very long, very promising career."

elusive. It’s in that murky moral unknown that Only the Devil Is Here thrives.”

“A breathless debut that moves too fast to accommodate bulky backstory. As such, the true nature of the characters, their origins or intentions, are only ever glimpsed. Who’s good? Who’s evil? Is the division between one and the other really so neat? Michell keeps the details―the idiomatic abode of both God and the Devil

About the Author

Stephen Michell is a Canadian writer based in Southern Ontario. He has published short fiction in various magazines and journals, and his short story “As Worlds Collide” was featured on the podcast LeVar Burton Reads. Only the Devil Is Here is his debut novel. Find out more about Michell on Goodreads and at stephenmichell.com.

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