Hell On Earth

by David Bowen

When staunch trade unionist Reg Hallsworth gets relocated to Hell few can imagine the trouble it will cause. Certainly not Death Third Class number 221 of the Human Transition Department, who hides him there to cover up his own clerical error. Certainly not Norris who knows nothing of the afterlife, so much so that he doesn’t even know Jenny, the girl he’s currently dating, is an Angel. His Guardian Angel if you really want to put a label on that sort of thing. And certainly not Jenny who is far too busy trying to help Norris get over his epiphany, his life changing liberation... his nervous breakdown. But with Hell on strike and sinners queuing up to get in they soon will. With a disaster of biblical proportions just around the corner it is up to these unlikely heroes to save the day and find a suitable location to build a new Hell... on Earth. If you had to build a new Hell somewhere on Earth where would you put it?

Genres: Fantasy

254 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2011

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny book!

No, I'll rephrase that, a VERY FUNNY book!

In fact so funny I had to stop reading it in public places because I was getting odd looks directed my way.

I even had to stop reading it in any company at all, I was even disturbing my partners enjoyment of whatever she was doing.

The chapter where Death Third Class 221 gets called in front the the Disciplinary Committee is just too much, that scene will live with me for a long time.

I added it to my favourites bookshelf. What more can I say

[Yasbree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED it! This book is hilarious! I love the author's writing style and his sense of humour. I was trying my hardest to stop me from laughing out loud while my baby slept next to me. It was really, really hard! I think I probably tore a muscle. But it was worth it. Can't wait to read more of his books.

[Rob Rhinehart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a funny and lighthearted fantasy book with a snarky, dry British narrative. If you like Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin, or Tom Holt then you are likely to enjoy this book. About bungling angels and devils and their equally flawed human counterparts, the bureaucracy of heaven and hell, and the everlasting pursuit of happiness. Death (actually, one of many) loses a death certificate and must temporarily hide a human in hell—which sets up a sequence of events with evil machinations behind it that threatens the human race with hell on earth. It's frenetic and nonstop, never taking itself seriously. Every paragraph has some sort of wordplay or Dad joke and I snorted through my nose regularly (the book-reader's equivalent of LOL). If you are looking for deep meaning which you can debate earnestly with your book club, complicated characters and story arcs, look elsewhere. This is pure, page-turning, candy-coated fun.

David Bowen needs to be more well-known. Only a handful of reviews, hard to find his books in print, and impossible to find them digitally. I will buy his second book while I can still locate it, and I hope more people fund this wonderful author and we see more from him in the future.

[Berita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if I think this was funny, or trying to hard to be funny. Not as fun as I assumed it to be, but not as silly as it could have been.

Little tidbits of references was nice, but sometimes it felt like a try to cram - oh so much pun and wit - into a few sentences, that it felt like way over the top.

And then it suddenly got fun and amusing again. Entertaining, yet somewhat lame. Almost like a Adam Sandler-film that's not exactly top class. Fun in an embarrasing and "isn't this soon finished"-kind of style, but one has to emit a few laughs anyway.

It has taken me a long time to read it, as I've read so many books beside it. That says a lot of how interesting it was, but when I actually got down to it - I managed most of it rather quickly.