You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Fourth Estate has pre-empted book-to-screen scout Tobi Coventry’s debut novel, a flatshare literary horror called He’s the Devil.
Editorial Director Katie Bowden secured UK and Commonwealth rights, including e-book and audio rights, from John Ash at CAA in a deal made on the eve of London Book Fair. It has been dubbed one of the books of the fair.
North American rights were sold to Zack Knoll at Abrams Books by Julie Flanagan at CAA. Publication is scheduled for spring/summer 2025.
The blurb reads: “When Simon’s best and only friend Josh moves out of their shared flat, his world falls apart – and in moves a new flatmate, Massimo. But Massimo’s brought something with him. Strange sounds come from Massimo’s room, smells of meat drift through the corridor and Simon’s nights fill with disturbing and tantalising dreams.
“Massimo is awakening something in Simon, something wild and exciting and horrifying that could be the end of him, or maybe a new beginning. Across the city, meanwhile, bodies are being discovered, torn apart from the inside. Whatever’s in Massimo, whatever’s in the flat, isn’t finished. It wants more.”
Bowden said: “He’s the Devil is in equal parts brilliant and horrible; a deliciously unhinged book that is both genuinely funny and an inventive exploration of the very real horrors of renting and sharing your living space with someone you’d honestly rather not share it with. Tobi Coventry is a thrilling, original new voice in fiction and we’re proud to welcome him to Fourth Estate.”
Coventry said: “I am absolutely over the moon, and so is 10-year-old me who forced every adult he met to talk him beat by beat through the plot of ‘The Exorcist’. I have long admired Fourth Estate, and as soon as I heard what Katie had to say about the book, I knew she was the perfect editor. To have found a home with Zack at Abrams too, it’s the cherry on the cake. I can’t wait to unleash Simon and Massimo into the world.”
Ash said: “From the opening pages of Tobi’s novel, I knew I was reading something very special – something at once propulsive, funny, unnerving and somehow deeply touching. I couldn’t be more thrilled that he’s found a perfect editor and champion in Katie Bowden at Fourth Estate, and also with Zack Knoll at Overlook in the States, and I can’t wait for He’s the Devil to disturb and entrance readers across the world.”
Coventry is a renowned book-to-film scout and the founder and Director of Dialogue Scouting. In 2022, he produced a short horror film, ’Blood Rites’, an adaption of a Daisy Johnson short story. He’s the Devil is his first novel.