Sunday 30 September 2012

The Damned Busters

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!


Chesney's tale has everything that I should love in a book: Super Heroes, God and the Devil, Angels and Demons.  But, for me, Matthew Hughes' The Damned Busters is a mash up that follows too closely to the rules.  Funny in places, and I liked the ending, but I can't say this was one of my favourite books and I'm not even sure if half of it was processed through my melon.  However, my melancholy attitude towards The Damned Busters could be explained partially because I started this directly after finishing Blackbirds, which is probably my book of the year, maybe even decade.  Despite my lack of enthusiasm about the book, I did eventually finish The Damned Busters (which is always a good thing) as there was potential for it to be great and I've got book no.2, Costume Not Included, waiting to be read.

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