Thank you, Berkley Publishing, for the gifted copy of Sign Here {partner}

Genre: Horror
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 10.25.2022
Star Rating: ☆☆☆

Summary:

“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.”

Review:

I’m not entirely sure what I expected from Sign Here, but it is one of the more unique stories I’ve read in recent memory. Not only is it unique, but it’s reasonably unsettling as well. I had a hard time reading it as it was initially my ‘before bed’ book, but then it gave me nightmares, so it became my ‘during the day’ book. It wasn’t scary or thrilling by any means; it was just profoundly unsettling for me to read.

The characters were all morally grey (why they ended up in hell, I guess), but I didn’t hate them. Well, that’s not true; there were three in particular that I didn’t like.

As for the ending? It was a letdown for me. I thought it was a strange way to conclude the book, and it didn’t fit with the previous 90% of the story. I can’t pinpoint exactly what didn’t work for me, just that it fell flat. It might be because I thought I’d had the book all worked out until that point, and then it went in the opposite direction.

😈 Dark Humor
👔 Not your typical hellscape; think Office vibes
🐌 Slow in a few areas
👌🏼 Some fun reveals
✌🏼 Two stories in one
🫓 Ending fell flat

I’d love to compare Sign Here to another book that I’ve read so you could see if it would be for you, but as I said previously, it’s a unique story. I suggest checking it out or adding it to your Spooky Season 2023 Reading List!

---

BOOK INFO
Format: 416 pages, hardback
Published: October 2022
ISBN 9780593545768 (ISBN10: 0593545761)