The devil's detective

My Amazon review is here - http://www.amazon.com/review/R3KPZSU3L9JOSF/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Thomas Fool is an “Information Man” in Hell. Hell seems to be a large city - think Los Angeles in size - bounded by a wall. On one side of the wall, in one area, perhaps, there is the ocean of Limbo, where souls are fished out and enfleshed and sent on to Hell proper. Once in Hell, enfleshed souls are assigned to work in factories or brothels. Fool was assigned to be one of a small number - 9 at first, but now 3 - of the Information Men who mostly don't investigate the murders that occur in Hell.

I spend most of the book wondering why Hell would care. I also spent most of the book wondering about the economics of Hell. What were they making in those factories, for example? Why are there trains? Why not just have the damned souls sleep in the factories? Why are there bars in Hell?

This is a most un-Hellish Hell.

I was intrigued, but also more than a little bit concerned. A lot of urban fantasy writers soften up their demons. They make them more likeable and personable and approachable, which seems odd. Likewise, Hell gets softened until it is just another place, rather than the epitome of a place. I don't like this humanizing of demons, but, on the other hand, if we make demons and angels truly other and as far from us as we are from a dog, where does that leave the story?

Apparently, Hell has not always been this way. Until some time in the not too distant past, Hell had lakes of fire and torture racks, and no Information Men.

This story is a murder mystery during the reception of a foreign embassy. The embassy is from Heaven. The angels Adam and Balthasar are in Hell to promote a handful of randomly-selected damned souls to Heaven. During the embassy, the body of a male prostitute who services demons is found. His soul has been removed. Fool follows the clues, somewhat woodenly, and begins to develop a belief in his mission. Because he has a gun and is willing to use it on demons, he attracts the attention of Hell's bureaucracy and the adulation of human souls.

There are other puzzles in the story. Who is the Man of Plants and Flowers and how did he transform from a damned human soul into what he is? Why are demons worried about him? Why are there even plants in Hell?

More desouled bodies accumulate as Fool continues his investigation. Ultimately, he follows the clues to the end, and, although I was a few steps ahead, I found the resolution satisfying. I particularly liked the ending and the vision of the Hell that is coming.

The writing was competent and occasionally profound. Apparently, I am not the only one who got tired of Fool's mental lamentation calling himself “stupid Fool” or “pitiable Fool” or whatever, but anyone who has been depressed knows how such voices can take over, and there ought to be no more depressing a place than Hell. I am interested in reading the next instalment and sees what develops.