The Devil's Pocketbook — Ross Jeffery

Erik and Lara are in mourning for their daughter, who was born "incompatible with life". To get away from their suffocating grief and the ever-present shadow their daughter has cast in their lives since passing, and desperately trying to recover their increasingly rocky relationship, they take a trip to the seaside town of Polperro, in Cornwall. But no sooner have they arrived, than they realise that their grief cannot be so easily eluded. Drawn to the waters, Erik and Lara discover a large Devil's Pocketbook, and inside: the miracle child they could never have. Scylla.

"You will grieve the grief in The Devil's Pocketbook. You will bear the hope. You will discover, too, cruel wonder in a pod in a rocky bay, even as you think: get away. Ross Jeffery is the two things you long for most in an author of horror: first, he's fearless. Second, he's giving. Giving you, the reader, all that fear instead."

-Josh Malerman, New York Times best selling author of Bird Box and Daphne

"In The Devil's Pocketbook, Ross Jeffery marries a raw, unsettling, emotionally painful story with an isolated, stunningly rendered setting. The result? A harrowing tale that will haunt you and move you. A fantastic book!"

-Jonathan Janz, Author of Marla and The Dismembered

"Never has a study of grief been so masterfully rendered on the page. The Devil's Pocketbook is both breathtaking and unflinching; showcasing a writer at his very best and who has crafted a work of such horrific beauty that you'll struggle to look away."

       -James Frey, New York Times best selling author of A Million Little Pieces

"A Lynchian fever dream of love and loss. Haunting. Disturbing. Touching. Masterful in every way. A rare psychological terror. Not to be missed."

            -Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes

"The allure to keep reading was almost concerning. There's magic in these words. Good luck putting it down."

-Chad Lutzke, author of Stirring the Sheets and Of Foster Homes and Flies

"Every page of The Devil's Pocketbook is permeated with deep, dark grief, the kind that sweeps you under, that makes you do unimaginable things. There's an uneasy undercurrent from the very beginning, pulling the solid ground from beneath your feet as you watch a family descend too far, always knowing they're a breath away from going under. Ross Jeffery has written a story full of emotion and dread, all with the tang of salty sea air and the dark promises of what lurks in the deep "

-Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Below

"A gut-wrenching, beautifully-written portrait of loss, grief and deliverance. The Devil's Pocketbook marries the emotional heft of a Kieslowski movie with the feverish, horrifying imagination of Barker and Beukes. Jeffery keeps getting better and better - and this one. For me, is his best book yet."

-TC Parker, author of Saltblood

"The Devil's Pocketbook strikes you with waves of folkloric darkness and visceral horror, but it's the irrepressible current of tragedy and loss which drags the reader under and refuses to let go. This is a special novel, with a rare emotional weight which will make you want to hold those closest to you that bit tighter.

-Kev Harrison, author of The Balance and Below