Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

It can be very refreshing when the main character is a bit of a douchebag. The haughty, cold-hearted Johannes Cabal has sold his soul to the Devil in return for knowledge in necromancy. However, not having a soul, is throwing a wrench in occult studies, so he wagers with the Devil to get his soul back. He only has one year to sign over 100 souls to Hell or else forfeit his life and his soul forever. The Devil throws in a fiendish carnival to make things interesting. To call this book unusual seems fairly obvious by this point. But I ended up enjoying this tale very much. It had me snickering in places and as much as Johannes is a bit of an ass, he can be very amusing which is all that I ask of a character. Plus, he's aided by his charismatic brother, Horst, a vampire. I'm looking forward to reading the follow-up tale in which Johannes tries his hand at detective work.