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The Devil in Me
?There?s a devil in me... sometimes that spells danger? A teacher loses one of her pupils somewhere in the London Underground. A catwalk model reveals the grisly secret of looking good. Slacker friends are forced into action over an accidental murder. A bomb?s aftershock is felt fifty years later. Sex toys become instruments of fate. The suburbs are besieged, star scandals are revealed, epic tragedy turns to triumph and a cry for help flares briefly in the night... Black comedy, high farce, dark revelations... they all go to make up Christopher Fowler?s powerful collection of immoral tales.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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125 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Fowler
269 books1,286 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Christopher Fowler was an English writer known for his Bryant & May mystery series, featuring two Golden Age-style detectives navigating modern London. Over his career, he authored fifty novels and short story collections, along with screenplays, video games, graphic novels, and audio plays. His psychological thriller Little Boy Found was published under the pseudonym L.K. Fox.
Fowler's accolades include multiple British Fantasy Awards, the Last Laugh Award, the CWA Dagger in the Library, and the inaugural Green Carnation Award. He was inducted into the Detection Club in 2021. Beyond crime fiction, his works ranged from horror (Hell Train, Nyctophobia) to memoir (Paperboy, Film Freak). His column Invisible Ink explored forgotten authors, later compiled into The Book of Forgotten Authors.
Fowler lived between London and Barcelona with his husband, Peter Chapman.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Christopher Fowler was an English writer known for his Bryant & May mystery series, featuring two Golden Age-style detectives navigating modern London. Over his career, he authored fifty novels and short story collections, along with screenplays, video games, graphic novels, and audio plays. His psychological thriller Little Boy Found was published under the pseudonym L.K. Fox.
Fowler's accolades include multiple British Fantasy Awards, the Last Laugh Award, the CWA Dagger in the Library, and the inaugural Green Carnation Award. He was inducted into the Detection Club in 2021. Beyond crime fiction, his works ranged from horror (Hell Train, Nyctophobia) to memoir (Paperboy, Film Freak). His column Invisible Ink explored forgotten authors, later compiled into The Book of Forgotten Authors.
Fowler lived between London and Barcelona with his husband, Peter Chapman.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 28, 2025
I've just had another read of this marvellous collection and I am updating my review because of the death of Christopher Fowler in March (2023) and to provide more substance than in the original. Fowler was originally known for his work in the horror genre but his work always contained more than the supernatural. If you read even a few of his stories you will not be surprised that he was a neighbour and friend of Clive Barker and if you have read Baker's original 'Candyman' story, upon which the edifice of so many mediocre films has been built, you will understand what makes Fowler's stories so brilliant.
Fowler's stories are observational stories about London and Londoners and that is particularly true of this volume - one of the last of his story collections - but containing some of my favourites. It is always insidious to start naming particular stories mentioning the following:
'Something for Your Monkey' a brilliant demolition of the world of celebrity PR and journalism though set in the last days of the British film industry in the 1950's.
'Crocodile Lady' a wonderful tale of horror but nothing supernatural, something all too real and believable.
'Come on if You Think Your Hard Enough' one of my favourite Fowler stories because it is about escape, not escaping, growing up, being trapped by the past, hating yourself and hating others to compensate for how much you hate yourself. The monsters inside us are always the least likely to die.
Fowler is a marvellous writer about London and how the city, and the country have changed. He brilliantly captures that change, but also how an older way of life of habits, prejudices, ways of thinking and acting are there in the memories we carry from childhood and what we inherit and learn from our parents and other older family and friends while we are growing up. Because Mr. Fowler writes so brilliantly of what it was like to be young in 1970's and 1980's and though not young still not exiled from that state in the 1990's he is a particularly acute, sensitive and thoughtful writer about how London and the UK have changed, dramatically, in the last quarter of the twentieth century. He is scathing about what has been lost but has no dewy eyed illusions about what went before.
I think he will be remembered and read because despite what changes it is amazing what stays the same, which is why writers from Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Conan Doyle and Virginia Woolf and countless others are still read for pleasure. That the last three also wrote about London in a defining way is also what Fowler has done. It may be too early to see it now, the late twentieth century can seem just anachronistic, largely pre-mobile phones and the internet, so close to us it just seems just dreary and out of date. But who cares that Dickens, Doyle and Woolf wrote about a London that was disappearing even as they wrote. London is always disappearing, society is always changing, what matters is not being contemporary but in being true.
Fowler is a very true author, his observations about people and places are true beyond their circumstantial details. When I read 'At Home in the Pubs of Old London' it is the continuities in human behaviour that matter, they are what are true and important. People imagine that 'new' technologies are going to radically change things but humans have been remarkably resistant to change as it adopted new technologies from fire, crop rotation, kings, democracy, railways, socialism, aeroplanes, motor cars, atomic energy etc. If you get people right it doesn't matter if they use telegrams, fax or aps.
Fowler's stories are observational stories about London and Londoners and that is particularly true of this volume - one of the last of his story collections - but containing some of my favourites. It is always insidious to start naming particular stories mentioning the following:
'Something for Your Monkey' a brilliant demolition of the world of celebrity PR and journalism though set in the last days of the British film industry in the 1950's.
'Crocodile Lady' a wonderful tale of horror but nothing supernatural, something all too real and believable.
'Come on if You Think Your Hard Enough' one of my favourite Fowler stories because it is about escape, not escaping, growing up, being trapped by the past, hating yourself and hating others to compensate for how much you hate yourself. The monsters inside us are always the least likely to die.
Fowler is a marvellous writer about London and how the city, and the country have changed. He brilliantly captures that change, but also how an older way of life of habits, prejudices, ways of thinking and acting are there in the memories we carry from childhood and what we inherit and learn from our parents and other older family and friends while we are growing up. Because Mr. Fowler writes so brilliantly of what it was like to be young in 1970's and 1980's and though not young still not exiled from that state in the 1990's he is a particularly acute, sensitive and thoughtful writer about how London and the UK have changed, dramatically, in the last quarter of the twentieth century. He is scathing about what has been lost but has no dewy eyed illusions about what went before.
I think he will be remembered and read because despite what changes it is amazing what stays the same, which is why writers from Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Conan Doyle and Virginia Woolf and countless others are still read for pleasure. That the last three also wrote about London in a defining way is also what Fowler has done. It may be too early to see it now, the late twentieth century can seem just anachronistic, largely pre-mobile phones and the internet, so close to us it just seems just dreary and out of date. But who cares that Dickens, Doyle and Woolf wrote about a London that was disappearing even as they wrote. London is always disappearing, society is always changing, what matters is not being contemporary but in being true.
Fowler is a very true author, his observations about people and places are true beyond their circumstantial details. When I read 'At Home in the Pubs of Old London' it is the continuities in human behaviour that matter, they are what are true and important. People imagine that 'new' technologies are going to radically change things but humans have been remarkably resistant to change as it adopted new technologies from fire, crop rotation, kings, democracy, railways, socialism, aeroplanes, motor cars, atomic energy etc. If you get people right it doesn't matter if they use telegrams, fax or aps.
January 4, 2023
I came to the short stories via the Bryant and May series which I found to be excellent entertainment. I’m not so sure of the short stories, partly because I find them difficult to categorise but also because I wonder what Fowler is attempting to achieve.
As an author of short stories, Fowler reminds me of the early work of Ian McEwan (First love, last rites; In between the sheets etc), for his attempts at portraying society’s thin veneer of respectability under which lies not only horror but the bizarre reality of human existence.
Unfortunately for me, I don’t think he captures that world beneath respectable society as well as McEwan, and this leaves me wanting more, hence just 4 stars. I hope to revise my score up to 5 stars once I have completed reading all his other work (apart from Bryant and May which I consider separately).
As an author of short stories, Fowler reminds me of the early work of Ian McEwan (First love, last rites; In between the sheets etc), for his attempts at portraying society’s thin veneer of respectability under which lies not only horror but the bizarre reality of human existence.
Unfortunately for me, I don’t think he captures that world beneath respectable society as well as McEwan, and this leaves me wanting more, hence just 4 stars. I hope to revise my score up to 5 stars once I have completed reading all his other work (apart from Bryant and May which I consider separately).
April 24, 2013
This is my third collection of Fowler's short fiction and the first one that I'd say was mislabeled as horror by the library system. This anthology is actually pretty tough to categorize due to the variety of genres represented in here by the very talented and multifaceted author. There is light situation comedy, noir and plenty of social satires, which are the speciality of Fowler's and are always very well done, morbid and clever. Also, his collections always feature an interesting preface and short intros to the stories. Very good collection from an excellent versatile writer. Recommended.
October 28, 2012
An excellent book of thought provoking short stories from one of my favourite authors!! Read it!!
August 15, 2016
Ah the London I know, love and miss....all perfect for a moderne Tales of The Unexpected
March 17, 2021
Just brilliant
I loved reading each and every one of these stories. Christopher Fowler is as genius story teller who will ensure you continue turning those pages, fabulous
I loved reading each and every one of these stories. Christopher Fowler is as genius story teller who will ensure you continue turning those pages, fabulous
July 27, 2024
اول که شروع کردم فکر کردم رمانه ولی داستان کوتاهه
سبکش معمایی جنایی ترسناکه
یه جاهایی هم خیلی خندیدم
به غیر از یه داستان sex monkey بقیه رو دوست داشتم
اون داستان هم برای این دوست نداشتم که از معمایی بودن در اومده بود و فقط دیگه چند تا قسمت کمدی داشت
میخواست یه چرخه اتفاقو توضیح بده و بعضی اتفاقایی که افتاد خیلی اغراق شده بود و نننشست به کل داستان برا همین به نظرم تحمیل شده بودن
به عنوان یه کتاب سرگرم کننده خیلی خوبه و شاید بعدا از همین نویسنده خوندم
سبکش معمایی جنایی ترسناکه
یه جاهایی هم خیلی خندیدم
به غیر از یه داستان sex monkey بقیه رو دوست داشتم
اون داستان هم برای این دوست نداشتم که از معمایی بودن در اومده بود و فقط دیگه چند تا قسمت کمدی داشت
میخواست یه چرخه اتفاقو توضیح بده و بعضی اتفاقایی که افتاد خیلی اغراق شده بود و نننشست به کل داستان برا همین به نظرم تحمیل شده بودن
به عنوان یه کتاب سرگرم کننده خیلی خوبه و شاید بعدا از همین نویسنده خوندم
August 4, 2025
A mixed bag of short stories. I prefer Christopher's novels. However, there is enough in here to keep you interested. I particularly liked the last one.
October 29, 2025
Not a big fan of short stories, but a big fan of this author. A mixed bunch - a couple brilliant; a few so-so; a couple not much.
November 22, 2010
love Fowlers style - seemlingly ordinary if not boring stories to begin with/ at times which develop into sinister or strange outcomes; the book is aptly named 'The Devil in Me' as the devilish side of characters come out when you least expect it.
Some definite laugh out loud moments, I am interested in reading other books by Fowler in the future. :D
'Rainy Day Boys' - possibly my favourite of the 12 stories!
'Sex Monkeys' - loved the play on words with the protagonist named 'Chance' and while reading I often thought 'what are the chances of that happening'...well every chance as his name is Chance. :)
'Eighteen and Over' - made me chuckle defiantly.
'The Look' was also very interesting (horror wise) as 'The Beacon' and 'Seven Dials' were heart warming.
I think I am becoming a big fan of books of short stories!
Some definite laugh out loud moments, I am interested in reading other books by Fowler in the future. :D
'Rainy Day Boys' - possibly my favourite of the 12 stories!
'Sex Monkeys' - loved the play on words with the protagonist named 'Chance' and while reading I often thought 'what are the chances of that happening'...well every chance as his name is Chance. :)
'Eighteen and Over' - made me chuckle defiantly.
'The Look' was also very interesting (horror wise) as 'The Beacon' and 'Seven Dials' were heart warming.
I think I am becoming a big fan of books of short stories!
May 7, 2014
An interesting collection by the Bryant & May author.
A number of quite interestingly constructed stories. Some were very good. I particularly enjoyed "At Home in the Old Pubs of London", "Crocodile Lady", "The Beacon" & "Seven Dials."
This is the second collection of Mr. Fowler's stories that I've read and I have several more to read. Enjoyable.
A number of quite interestingly constructed stories. Some were very good. I particularly enjoyed "At Home in the Old Pubs of London", "Crocodile Lady", "The Beacon" & "Seven Dials."
This is the second collection of Mr. Fowler's stories that I've read and I have several more to read. Enjoyable.
May 9, 2009
Creepy and great
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews