SOUL ENCHILADA

Broke-down pizza-delivery heroine Eunice “Bug” Smoot’s snake of a granddad sold his soul to the devil for a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz. When he flies the coop, Satan—aka Scratch—and his crony Beals (short for Beelzebub) chase Bug down for her soul faster than she can say “repo.” Before she knows it, Bug is trapped in a satanic smackdown to save herself, her friends and her Cadillac. Convoluted? Completely. Bizarre? Absolutely. Hilarious and accessible? Totally! Gill scores big in this action-packed, power-punch of a debut. His dialogue slam-dunks with sass and clever wit that eases the reader into the strange, interlocking chain of events that befall Bug in the first few chapters. His characters are fully realized, intelligent, believable and lovable. The odd, Paradise Lost–like plot probably carries the least appeal of all the elements, but the dialogue and characterizations gently push—or shove, actually—the reader’s suspension of disbelief over the edge. Seances! Hairspray! Basketball! Satan! All readers can do is buckle their seatbelts, close their eyes and take the plunge. (Fantasy. YA)