Imagine hell as a police state where taser-armed guards shepherd new arrivals off the ferry and into a crowded immigration block for processing. Imagine hell as a distorted Manhattan where the damned live out the consequences of their sins for eternity, all of it televised 24/7 so hell's bad citizens can share in everyone else's suffering at the same time. Imagine a portrayal of hell too grittily realistic to be satire, too funny to be straight adventure romp. This is what Hal Duncan offers in this short novel, the tale of "a hitman, a hooker, a hobo and a homo" who go to hell and don't like what they find. The story opens with a tramp on the brink of suicide, a gangster handcuffed and about to be beaten to a pulp, a prostitute being battered by the pimp she has just failed to walk out on, and a young semi-conscious man being wheeled into ER with multiple injuries. Almost imperceptibly it shifts from tough action to comic adventure, in a gripping and stylish read from one of the most talented new fantasy writers to emerge in a long time.

# posted by Chris Roberson @ 10:26 AM