SHAKEN LOOSE

In DeBare’s contemporary fantasy novel, a woman in the fiery Christian Hell searches for a rumored exit back to Earth.

Annie Maple dies and goes to Hell. Of course, the 29-year-old San Franciscan doesn’t immediately accept that she’s dead and traversing the desert landscape that makes up the underworld. Annie soon learns that souls in Hell suffer in a lake of fire, but her own soul, along with quite a few others, has inexplicably been “shaken loose” to wander this sweltering place. Surprisingly, many people she runs into aren’t so bad. Annie even meets a couple of would-be allies—Billie, a wife and mother from Alabama, and Trua, a Hunnic tribesman—but neither is especially dependable or trustworthy. Billie, however, claims to know the location of a hidden passage to Earth and promises to lead Annie and Trua there. Annie has trouble remembering the specifics of her demise, and, pondering her life’s “smaller sins,” she questions why, exactly, she and several others are down there. Human souls aren’t the only things in the underworld, which also has its share of demons. In the midst of their journey, Annie and her companions interact with a demon or two, including the king of the realm himself, Satan. (“I’ll admit there was a time when it amused me to make bargains with humans. But that was centuries ago.”) They can’t help but get caught up in Hell’s unrest: A revolt among the demons seems to be brewing. Whatever the fate of Hell might be, if Annie’s group steers clear of the lake of fire and avoids dying (again), maybe they can return to the land of the living.

DeBare energizes this tale by maintaining an impressive momentum. Annie is persistently moving, whether she’s hunting Hell’s alleged exit door, evading a trio of ultra-violent men, or, as part of a precarious deal she makes, looking for a devil-built city. The cast includes diverse human souls, from bridge-building Ethiopian engineer Henry Mwango to Chen Haisheng, leader of a workers’ militia unit in 1927 Shanghai. Even the circumstances surrounding the characters’ deaths are distinctive; they’ve lost their lives across decades (and even centuries) to such menaces as car accidents, diseases, and being burned at the stake as an accused witch. Annie is a wonderfully complex protagonist; she’s conflicted about her beliefs (oscillating between praying to God and questioning his seemingly cruel ways) and sadly racked with guilt over a tragic incident that no reader will think is her fault. She’s also shrouded in mystery, having periodic spells that ignite dreamlike sequences where she’s burning in the fiery lake. While most of Hell’s creatures aren’t major characters, mythological demons from such texts as The Lesser Key of Solomon and Milton’s Paradise Lost make appearances (or are name-dropped) throughout. The author’s pithy writing aptly describes the human and demonic characters alike. The frantic final act prompts an unforgettable ending that’s open enough to hint at sequel possibilities.

A riveting and exceptionally dark fantasy with a smoldering cast and setting.