SIGN HERE

4 stars out of 5

With much of this story taking place in Hell, there's clearly a dark side - but it also offers a touch of humor and intrigue as well as the not-so-secret revelation that life on earth can be just as bad on occasion if not worse. Much of the focus is on a guy called Peyote Trip, who has progressed through the truly awful "floors" to the Deals Department on the fifth floor. Torture at this level is far less Hell-like than the lower floors; there are bars, for instance, but the only thing served in them is Jagermeister. 

Peyote's working hard to reel in one last member of the Harrison family back on Earth; if he gets that one to sign here - i.e., sell his soul - he'll get a "redo" on Earth by virtue of collecting a full set of deals from his own heirs. He'll do his best, but he could use some help, so even though he doesn't trust her for a second, he turns to coworker Calamity - who has an agenda all her own cultivated by a life on Earth that fits her name like a glove.

Her backstory, though, which is sprinkled in between what's happening with Peyote and the Harrison family down on Earth, just didn't click with me. There's a truly awful man called The General who seems to get his jollies from torturing young boys, but I never quite got the connection to Calamity (as in, who was he really?) Clearly, what happened to Cal back then made her who she is today (and where she ended up), but even by the end of the book I didn't fully understand what that was.

The Harrison family's story, on the other hand, starts with a father, two mostly grown children and a mother who is basically living a lie that's rooted in the past (plus another big one in her present). Gradually, all the secrets and relationships are peeled back like onions, revealing some pretty ugly stuff that could threaten Peyote's chances of signing up the last soul. Details, of course, I can't reveal, so I'll just say this is a very clever, entertaining book. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Sign Here by Claudia Lux (Berkley, October 2022); 416 pp.