Sign Here Review

by Claudia Lux

Rating: 4/5

A darkly humorous, surprisingly poignant, and utterly gripping debut novel about a guy who works in Hell (literally) and is on the cusp of a big promotion if only he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sell their soul.

Peyote Trip has a pretty good gig in the deals department on the fifth floor of Hell. Sure, none of the pens work, the coffee machine has been out of order for a century, and the only drink on offer is Jägermeister, but Pey has a plan—and all he needs is one last member of the Harrison family to sell their soul.

When the Harrisons retreat to the family lake house for the summer, with their daughter Mickey’s precocious new friend, Ruth, in tow, the opportunity Pey has waited a millennium for might finally be in his grasp. And with the help of his charismatic coworker Calamity, he sets a plan in motion.

But things aren’t always as they seem, on Earth or in Hell. And as old secrets and new dangers scrape away at the Harrisons’ shiny surface, revealing the darkness beneath, everyone must face the consequences of their choices.

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This was definitely an entertaining one to go through!

The premise follows Peyote as he works down in Hell, literally. Peyote “helps” those still on earth by giving them an opportunity to have whatever they want if they just “sign here.” Yep, Peyote helps the devil collect souls to be sent to Hell. And Pey is about to get a big promotion, he just needs one more member of the Harrison family to sign a deal with him. Pey has been keeping an eye on the Harrisons for years, biding his time. But when the Harrisons go to their lake house for the summer, and their daughter invites a friend this time, and a new coworker has a different plan in mind that could ruin Pey’s plan, new and old secrets come out.

From the moment we met Pey, I was entertained. Pey has such a dark sense of humor from his time spent in Hell. I mean it makes sense. He’s just trying to survive, you gotta take what you can get to stay sane. But it was quite hilarious as we learned about this take on eternal damnation and all the different levels of Hell. How things are just always a little off. How the only alcohol you can drink is Jagermeister. But Hell really isn’t that bad, as long as you don’t say that out loud. Which if you did, then it could shift things and find new ways to get on your nerves. The whole idea of all the little things we find annoying being what literally makes up Hell was so entertaining. Those beginning worldbuilding chapters really had me dying.

But once we’re familiar with Hell and Pey’s plan, things do become more serious. We bounce between Pey and the family members of the Harrison family as we make our way through the storyline. There’s a sort of mystery as we go through, wondering who could be the one to make the deal.

It definitely went a route I didn’t fully expect. Some of the twists, yes, I could see. Some I guessed right away. But others I didn’t expect. Or how it all would fit together.

The idea of what your soul is really worth comes into question a lot throughout this. And while the ending wasn’t what I expected, I thought this ended really well and was fitting based on all the events we see.

Though I do have some lingering questions with how it ended, but I’m okay with making my own guesses for those.

If you enjoy dark humor and paranormal thrillers, I definitely suggest picking this up!