Russell Mardell, The Horror of My Life

Russell Mardell 

BIO
Russell Mardell is a novelist, playwright, and producer based in the South West of England. He is the author of the novels, Stone Bleeding, Bleeker Hill, Darkshines Seven and Cold Calling, and the short story collection, Silent Bombs Falling on Green Grass. His new novel, The Knock-Knock Man, was published in May 2022.

Having studied film production in London he has also worked on various short films and is an associate producer on the award-winning documentary, ‘Rise: The Story of Augustines’.
​
He works at The Rocketship Bookshop in Salisbury, an independent bookshop for children and young people, and is also one of the founders of The Salisbury Literary Festival.

WEBSITE LINKS

www.russellmardell.co.uk

www.twitter.com/russellmardell

www.reddoorpress.co.uk/collections/fiction/products/the-knock-knock-man

The first horror book I remember reading

I have vivid memories of being fascinated, as a young child, by The Devil Rides Out and Dracula on my dad’s bookshelf, and being a little freaked out by the covers (the glorious Arrow issues) and I remember feeling there was something very adult and forbidden about them. The first one I remember daring to read from that shelf was The Day of the Triffids, and it really did feel a little dangerous to me at the time. The TV show had scared me senseless, pure nightmare fuel, and I remember it feeling like a test of bravery. I was far too young to appreciate it at the time, but I got through it and it felt like a big achievement. Technically it’s a sci-fi novel, but to me it will always be a horror novel first and foremost.

The First Horror Film I remember watching

I can blame my dad for this one too. He’s a big Hitchcock fan, so I’m pretty sure it would have been Psycho. I also remember him returning from the video shop one evening with a copy of the original Friday the 13th, I’d not asked for it, I’m not sure I’d even heard of it, and have no idea why he rented it – certainly wasn’t his sort of horror film – and I was far too young to watch it.

I like to think he had no idea what he was renting, and it was all a happy accident. But I always look back on that as the starting point to what would become a lifelong love of horror films (I have a real fondness for the Friday films, I think for that reason) Many years later I ended up working in that video shop (the best job in the world!) and I absolutely devoured every horror film on the shelves.

The Greatest Horror Book of All Time

The impossible question! I could make an argument for quite a few, for many different reasons but I would say, simply because of what it means to me, it would be ‘Salem’s Lot. It was my first Stephen King novel, and like so many people, his books were a gateway to so much more, and a large part of why I wanted to write. It’s also a magnificent novel too!

The Greatest Horror Film of all time

It’s pretty hard to look past The Exorcist for that accolade. I first watched it, way too young, when a friend managed to get hold of a pre-cert copy and I sneaked downstairs very early one Sunday to watch it, sound turned low (so, of course, I hadn’t really experienced it at all) I knew the stories, the myths, all the talk of pea soup and spinning heads but for me the horror, the absolute dread, has always been the first three quarters of the film. It’s uncomfortable, at times unbearable, and paced to perfection. A perfect storm of writer and director, the genius of Owen Roizman behind the camera and one of the greatest performances in film by Ellen Burstyn. It’s not a film I can return to very often. It’s never been a film I can settle with.

THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME

Simply because of the fear it instilled in me as a young child, the Arrow edition of The Devil Rides Out is probably the one that means the most to me. More recently, I think all three of Andrew Michael Hurley’s novels have gorgeous covers, and I think the one for Stephen Volk’s Dark Masters trilogy is outstanding. I do have a fondness for really simple covers though too and I adore the reissue cover for William Peter Blatty’s, Legion, it’s deceptively simple but I think, really beautiful.

THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME

A coin toss between Jaws and Alien. Both are perfect. Maybe Alien has the edge for me because of the tagline.

THE BEST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN

I probably need to say the most recent one here, don’t I? I really don’t like looking back on past books, and if I’m forced to I only ever see the faults anyway, so I would always say whatever was newest. The Knock-Knock Man is a novel I’m hugely proud of though. It is exactly the book I wanted to write, and that’s not always the case. It had lived in my head for so long, I’m so happy to get it out and trap it on the page. That said, Bleeker Hill is also a novel I’m immensely proud of, and for much the same reason. They will probably both end up being my most divisive books, but so be it.

THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME

There’s a couple. I think that Werner Herzog’s remake of Nosferatu doesn’t get the credit it deserves. It’s stunning. I also adore Session 9, and think it deserves to be much better known than it is. It’s a beautiful, slow burn horror – my favourite kind – and genuinely scary. Plus it’s got Peter Mullan in it and he makes everything worth watching.

THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME

Not so much underrated, but I think MG horror is often overlooked by some adults. One of the joys of working in a children’s bookshop is that I’ve really had my eyes opened to how many fantastic MG horror books there are out there at the moment – Lockwood & Co, The Aveline Jones series and Monsters of Rookhaven, are up amongst the best books I’ve read in a long time. There’s so much talent and imagination at work in that world. Also, it would be hard to say she’s underrated as she’s a bit of a legend, and maybe it’s just me, but I don’t hear enough people talking about Michelle Paver’s adult ghost stories – Thin Air and Dark Matter – and I think they are absolute masterpieces. She’s such a wonderful writer and a bit of a hero.

THE BOOK / FILM THAT SACRED ME THE MOST

No writer creates nightmares that get right to my horror sweet spot quite like Adam Nevill. He’s an absolute master of the genre, and is consistently good. Without question, Adam’s No One Gets Out Alive is the book that has unnerved me, freaked me out and generally horrified me the most. In a good way. Mostly. The first three quarters of the novel is relentless, suffocating, brutal and unforgiving. As a sustained exercise in terror, I’ve read nothing like it, and doubt I will again. It will never be comfort horror and, much like The Exorcist, I’m not sure I can go back there too often, and that is probably the biggest compliment I can pay.

My new novel, The Knock-Knock Man is out now in paperback and eBook (US release soon) and is available in bookshops and online. A limited number of signed copies are available from The Rocketship Bookshop – www.rocketshipbookshop.co.uk/product/the-knock-knock-man-signed-by-the-author/

Read our Review of The Knock Knock Man here 

The Knock-Knock Man by Russell Mardell 

Who is The Knock-Knock Man? A ghost, a killer, or the figment of a frightened boy’s imagination?

It is a question that continues to haunt disgraced New Salstone police officer, Ali Davenport, fifteen months after the devastating case that changed the course of her life. Now, after the death of her former colleague, Ernie, Ali has returned home to face a past that won’t stay buried.
​
Found in the disused office building where he worked as night security, Ernie’s death has been ruled as a suicide. But not everyone is convinced. Wild stories are circulating about a supernatural presence in the building, an entity that might have attacked Ernie that fateful night. With the sale of the building about to go through, Ali is hired by its owner to work Ernie’s remaining night shifts and debunk the potentially damaging story. An easy enough job, if you don’t believe in ghosts. But then Ali meets Will, a teenage ghost hunter who claims to have evidence on film…
Forming an unlikely partnership, Ali and Will soon fall headlong into a mystery that takes them through New Salstone’s macabre history and into Ali’s own dark past. As the pieces of the puzzle come together, Ali is forced to face the question of The Knock-Knock Man one last time. But what Ali doesn’t know is The Knock-Knock Man has already been watching her for a very long time…