Satan Loves You

(Originally published at Red Adept Reviews)

Overall: 4 1/2 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 4 1/2 Stars

This was an easy book to enjoy, with a few caveats. On the positive side, the story was funny, clever, and irreverent. I'd compare it a little to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. Perhaps Christopher Moore in terms of humor as social commentary and a vehicle to skewer sacred cows. Still, I can't say the book quite matches either of these comparisons, as Mr. Hendricks seems to take it a step or two beyond.

The author seems to be willing to offend, oh, everyone if the result is a brilliant line. Nuns, hipsters, conspiracy theorists, media personalities, celebrities, charitable institutions, are just some of the targets. I don't know what Quizno's Sandwich Shop did to him or his people, but it can't have been good.

I will mention the two issues I had with the book. One was that, in the midst of this legitimately funny and clever book, on multiple occasions, really bad things happen to kids. No one is going to confuse me with the teacher from Romper Room, but even I have to say this was a buzz kill. Well, at least one of the kids, to paraphrase Monty Python, got better. Still, I really would have loved this to be toned down as it will probably be off-putting to some readers, even thick-skinned ones, and the funny gets lost.

The other issue was Satan gets sued and shows up at the trial. Much of the book is absurd, delightfully absurd, kiss reality bye-bye, and yet this was a bridge too far. Nancy Grace - yes, she's a character, and those scenes are admittedly brilliant if you've ever watched her for even five minutes - just accepts this, as does Oprah, as does the judge and the jury, and presumably most people. I enjoyed the trial, as I liked most aspects, but throw me some explanation, even an absurd one. In a book that acknowledges atheists, how? I also acknowledge there are going to be some readers who are going to be able to just go with it and are giving me the old side-eye for this paragraph.

What I'm left with though is the simple fact that I couldn't stop laughing. Every issue I had with plot and characterization is no match for how much fun I had. This is clearly not the book for everyone though.

Characters: 4 1/2 Stars

Satan, it turns out, is the beleaguered manager of hell, and he gets a lot less respect than one might expect. He can't seem to get the demons to do his will, the circles of hell aint what they used to be, and the flames need repair. Funny stuff. Later on, as he explains the whole Fallen Angel thing to a corpse, we sorta get a hint of the whole powerful, majestic, bad-ass version, which may or may not make an appearance toward the end. I liked that too, but consistent characterization, not so much. I supposed a millennia or several dealing with this stuff might break your spirit - and I think that's meant to be the point. Still, I have to say that sticking to some core traits might have been nice.

Satan's assistant was Nero. Yeah, THAT Nero. He also served as Satan's attorney and his credentials involved multiple seasons of Law and Order and some Grisham novels. I understand this based on my credentials as talent scout based on watching American Idol.

Then, we have a nun who means well, but you don't want her to pray for you. A former wrestler who is now a judge. St. Jude. Michael. All your more famous angels and demons. Charo. While Dante never appears, his spirit is definitely felt.

All the characters with any significant “screen time” have clever, zippy dialogue. I'd give you a favorite line or two, but there are too many great ones!

Writing Style: 5 Stars

While I don't agree with all of his choices, I can't deny this was pretty masterful in nearly every way. Great lines, funny and cogent rants - the author is way cooler than I will ever be. He should totally quit his day job, unless his day job is writing, because that would be the opposite of the point I'm trying to make. I'll read this author again!

(What to do with the Amazon stars when you've rated something a 4.5? Since it's my birthday today, I'm feeling generous and rounding up.)

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From the author, Grady Hendrix:

1. How did you come up with the idea for the story?

I've had some lousy jobs before - telemarketing cheap jewelry, selling cleaning chemicals to industrial kitchens, going through the garbage of hotels to estimate how many recyclables they were throwing away - and I think that's something everyone has in common. We all spend so much time working in jobs we don't love that it sometimes feels like our lives are going to disappear in an endless round of reports, and quarterly evaluations and bathroom breaks. Then I realized: how much worse must this be if your office is actually in Hell? And how much worse must it be if you're Satan and there will be no promotions, no retirement and no way to transfer to another company? And whenever things are really bad, that's also, simultaneously, when things are really funny.

While reading, I noticed that you went some places a lot of authors wouldn't go. Did you consider pulling your punches? Or did you and was this the, scary to contemplate, tame version?

I think with comedy that second-guessing yourself is the kiss of death. That's how you wind up with “Home Improvement.” And I also think that the beauty of ebook self-publishing is that people can stop worrying about what the neighbors think of them and just let it all hang out: the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm currently co-writing a YA series for Little, Brown called The Magnolia League, so SATAN LOVES YOU is like being on vacation where I don't have to worry about what
my agent, my editor and the marketing department are going to think about what I write. There's nothing at stake here except my self-respect, and I once worked as a street performer so I don't have much self-respect anyways. That said, I did take out a long section about being trapped in an infinite Chuck E. Cheese's. Life's bad enough without having to contemplate things like that. It was just too depressing.

Favorite movie or book featuring Satan, other than your own?

I'm a big fan of the Satan you find in Jack Chick's religious tracts. The one who wears a little red suit and spends all his time trying to think up ways to screw people over the second they make the slightest misstep, and then greets them in Hell with a hearty “Haw, haw!”

What's your favorite circle of hell and why?

Personally, I love the first circle because it's just so blatantly unfair. It's reserved for dead people who aren't getting into Heaven because they never got baptized. It's not a bad place, really, but it's just sort of like Discount Heaven, like a nice hotel that has scratchy towels, no channels on TV, and cheap shampoo that never suds up. I imagine it's absolutely crammed with Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and pretty much everyone that a 14th Century Italian would think is going to burn in Hell eternally. Which means that it's probably party central and has really great restaurants.

If Satan Loves You becomes a movie, who would you like to play the title character?

I like that Gollum guy they got for Lord of the Rings. He had really good timing.

6. Anything else you want to say?

Just that I firmly believe in giving people what they pay for. SATAN LOVES YOU is 99 cents, and I truly believe that it's worth every penny.