Sign Here

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As soon I read the first line of Sign Here, I wanted to read more. It turned out I did have a lot of ideas about what Hell might be like. Author Claudia Lux managed to replace many of them with some of her own.

There are too many POVs, short, impactful chapters, interesting, flawed, peculiar characters in this novel. And surprise, surprise: the incidents take place in both hell and earth. Special thanks to the publicists at Penguin Random House and to NetGalleyfor providing me with an ARC of this book! Summary Parallel to Peyote’s story we follow the Harrisons, who have not one but many a big family secret and the agents of Hell working on them ceaselessly. You see, Peyote can get a promotion if only he succeeded in convincing one more member of the Harrisons to sell their soul... Overall: the ending was spectacular. The sarcastic, entertaining, intelligent writing enchanted me!As for complaints? Well they say the devil is in the details, and there are some details that needed to be fleshed out and others that didn’t always bear up under closer scrutiny: **SPOILER** if drinking the water in hell makes people lose their memories, it shouldn’t have made a difference that Peyote drank coffee or beer instead, since both are made with water. The memory-wiping effect should have still occurred. Also, several times screaming matches were happening where others clearly would’ve heard - sound travels - yet somehow no one did. They’d have had to be deaf! , but these were minor issues for me. One of my favorite memories from writing this book was one night, when I was wrapping up, I decided to write the first sentence of the next chapter, just so I could have something to start off with when I returned. So there I was, a little loopy from sitting alone in my study for hours on end late into the night, and I got this kind of cheeky, mischievous feeling, like right before you challenge someone to eat a pepper you know is super-hot, and I typed: ‘Calamity Gannon, human In one, we meet Peyote Trip. He works on the fifth floor of Hell. Meaning he has survived the worst. Now, he is one of those guys that offered you an out when things are bad as long as you sign your soul on the dotted line. He enjoys his trips to earth to get his marks. Pey has in his sights a big target: the Harrison family. Peyote needs a fifth-generation member to sign the contract and he knows he is close to achieving it when a new employee lands on fifth with him. Her name is Calamity and despite him knowing better, he can't seem to stop from wanting to help her.

Up here it’s not the fire-and-brimstone thing you think it might be. It’s music that’s too loud, food that’s too rubbery, and kissing with too much tongue. Doesn’t sound that bad, right? But don’t forget: it’s forever. I mean for-all-time forever. Not a lifetime. That’s a pebble compared to what I’m talking about. Hell is agitation for eternity. You can’t possibly fathom eternity; your little mortal brain would explode. A century feels like an hour, less with each millennium. With endless time and no peace, everyone breaks eventually. Peyote not only has a job to do, he wants a promotion. But first he needs to get one more member of the Harrison family to sell their soul. Like everything in Hell (and on Earth) this is easier said than done, especially with a family that has so many secrets. I thought it was an entertaining story and a promising debut. I’ll definitely be watching for Claudia Lux’s next book!Peyote Trip has been working in Hell ever since he arrived eons ago. His job is to answer people’s calls for help and get them to sign a contract, guaranteeing their afterlives will be spent in Hell, no matter how good they were when alive. However, Peyote has big plans for himself, and all he needs is one more contract within this one family before he can fulfill it. While Pey is forced to work with a new wildcard coworker, Calamity, we also follow his Earth family as they get closer to calling for his help. Review Amind-bending, riveting debut…Part thriller, part family drama, with a dash of horror thrown in, and it works beautifully. Engaging characters (even in Hell!), impeccable plotting, and plenty of twists will keep you reading all night.” I enjoyed the chapters, characters, and storylines focused on Hell more than the one on Earth (what does that say about me?). Lux did a great job weaving suspense, mystery, and red herrings throughout. Although most of the final reveals were predictable, they were still satisfying. There was a lot of "will he, won't he, oh he better not" going on with a certain character. Ultimately, Sign Here compels the reader to think about what a wonder it is to be human, and to realize that the distinction between good and evil is not as clear as we expect it to be.” The mention of her father brings up a great deal more about the influence of her parents. “As the child of a nonfiction writer and a poet — Jean Kilbourne and Thomas Lux — I was taught from a very early age that words contain so much more than their meanings. From childhood, my mother’s pioneering work in media criticism and feminist activism taught me how to observe and interpret the world, to recognize not only what is being said between the lines, but also the power of the things left unsaid. My father’s prolific career gave me an early and deep love of poetry, and appreciation for all the things language itself has to offer.

Lux brilliantly combines satire, suspense, and pathos in her remarkably assured debut...balances the whodunit plot and her antihero's quest perfectly as the action builds to a surprisingly moving place. Readers of paranormal crime series such as Jim Butcher's Dresden Files will be eager to see what Lux has up her sleeve next." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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This book has a clever premise and a solid mystery with some twists that will keep readers guessing and others that were somewhat predictable. The suspense built slowly, but steadily. Friendship, family, lies, death, grief, loopholes, deception, morality, and much more are at the heart of this story. The world-building is done well, but this is a slow-paced novel that took a while to draw me into the story line. The chapters are short and the dialog felt natural and consistent for each character. The ending left me with a few questions that weren’t resolved, but I admired how the author brought the two storylines together. There are threads woven into the plot that added depth and complexity. For example, the very first note I have in my phone for Sign Here is Ruth’s line, ‘Do you ever just want to rip your nails through someone’s face?’ I had that thought (to be clear, it was a random thought, not a desire or intention!) liked the way it sounded and then started speculating: what kind of person would ask that question? What does it say about them and their internal world, especially if they are young and female? How would another person respond, and what kind of relationships would influence that response differently? Then I design characters in answer. In one storyline, we follow Peyote, a dealmaker from Hell whose job is to sign as many souls into Hell as possible. He is forced to work with Cal, another dealmaker, but they are keeping secrets from each other. In another storyline, we follow the Harrison family as they go to their summer house for their annual vacation. But secrets abound there too. What about the mighty, dysfunctional, estranged Harrisons? The family is all set to take a family vacation at their New Hampshire house! In this book, the underworld is largely a maddening bureaucracy populated by doomed souls. One of them is Peyote Trip, the heart and soul of Sign Here. Yes, both of those things do exist in this version of Hell.