The Damned Busters

Today’s post is on The Damned Busters by Matthew Hughes. It is 413 pages long including an author interview at the end. It is published by Angry Robot Books. The cover is simple cartoon drawing of the characters and how the plot starts. The intended reader is adult who likes comic books heroes, humor, and it is not offended by mocking of religion. There is no language, mention of sexuality, and the raising of demons but nothing in poor taste. The story is told in third person. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- After accidentally summoning a demon while playing poker, the normally mild-mannered Chesney Anstruther refuses to sell his soul... which leads through various confusions to, well, Hell going on strike. Which means that nothing bad ever happens in the world- and that actually turns out to be a really bad thing.
There’s only one thing for it. Satan offers Chesney the ultimate deal- sign the damned contract, and he can have his heart’s desire. And thus the strangest superhero duo ever seen- in Hell or on Earth- is born!
Book one of the To Hell & Back saga is a riotous fantasy from the acclaimed author of the Henghis Hapthorn stories.

Review- This is one of the funniest books that I have read all year. It has its moments of laugh out loud humor but mostly it is going to put a smile on your face. The blurb on the back is not bad but Chesney does not sale his soul and that is what causes all the problems in the novel. Hughes is playing the superhero tropes and he does it well. The first two chapters are a little slow but after those the story just gets going. One thing if you are a very religious person then you may find some of the plot points offensive but if you are more like me and know that a story is just a story then you will not care. I give this warning because of the underlying themes is that God is writing a book. That is both the heart of and the solution to many of the problems in the book. I was not offended by anything in this book it was just funny to me. The characters are all pretty interesting, even the ones that are clearly straight from comics that I have read in my past. I look forward to reading more in this world.

I give this one Five out Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with my own money.