SIGN HERE by Claudia Lux

I received a gifted galley of SIGN HERE by Claudia Lux for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, PRH Audio, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review! The costume for this one was purchased during a Beetlejuice watchalong with @gavgav7 because who can resist Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice?

Publication Date: 10/25/2022

Rating: 4 / 5

SIGN HERE follows two interlocking storylines. Peyote is a man on the job, a job that has him working on the fifth floor of Hell where he is tasked with striking deals with the living. It’s quite literally hell, so not the best of places to work but in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t the absolute worst level of hell to be stuck on. Still, there is an out available and if he can strike just one more deal with the final member of the Harrison family, he has options.

The Harrisons are a fairly typical family on the surface, mom and dad, sister and brother. When they head off for a summer at the lake with their daughter Mickey’s new BFF Ruth, there is hope for a good family vacation. Problem is Pey, and his coworker Cal, have plans that are a bit different. As things unfold it turns out there are a lot of secrets in the Harrison family closet.

I didn’t know much about this book going into it, but I was quickly sucked into the story. Pey is an interesting character to hear from and his portions of the book are very conversational as he introduces the reader to hell and to all that makes it a very unpleasant place to be. Sure, his job puts him in the role of a sleazy salesman with hidden consequences to every deal, but you can’t help but kind of like the guy too.

The Harrisons have a lot to uncover and their portions of the book come through like a typical domestic thriller with secrets from both the present and the past coming to light as the story unfolds. It took a while for it to get going and for me to see where this part of the story was going to take me, but I did enjoy some of the twists the story took.

This is a hard book to define – Pey’s portions definitely have more of the quirky, dark humor talked about in the synopsis, while the Harrison family portions were more the gripping thriller. In the end, it was a very enjoyable read suitable for the fall season without being spooky.