The Blender Book Club discussion

We may be entering the dog days of summer, but I'm afraid our August selection offers little reprieve from the heat. Taking the form of a noirish detective story set in a quite literal Hell, Simon Kurt Unsworth's debut novel follows Thomas Fool, an "Information Man" who becomes involved in a criminal investigation which is startling even by Hell's standards. Someone is not only committing murders, but actually harvesting the victims' souls--and Fool knows well enough that if he doesn't do something about it no one else will, either.

Though the subject matter is bleak, The Devil's Detective blends mystery, horror, and fantasy in a way that's engaging and at times even funny. It's a sharp pivot from most of our recent selections, and I look forward to seeing what everyone thinks!

Having gotten underway on TDD, I'll give everyone a heads up that there's some pretty disturbing/gory imagery at a few points, veering into straight horror territory. Maybe not too surprising, given the subject matter, but be warned if you're a squeamish reader.

Yes, I almost stopped reading the book because of the horrific scenes. But I continued on to the end. After a while, I got used to the gruesomeness, although I would have preferred a lot less of it.

Cheryl wrote: "Yes, I almost stopped reading the book because of the horrific scenes. But I continued on to the end. After a while, I got used to the gruesomeness, although I would have preferred a lot less of it."

Yeah, that's the trouble with choosing books before I've had a chance to read them myself... I was under the impression this one would lean more towards the police procedural side (albeit with a dark setting) rather than horror. Glad you were able to stick it out, though.

Zachary wrote: . Yeah, that's the trouble with choosing books before I've had a chance to read them myself...
Is there any way to 'vet' the books you choose? In a slightly larger bookclub(~20 members), a group of about 4 people are able to read all the suggested books for the next year. I'll volunteer for this kind of duty if people think it's useful.
This from someone who didn't submit any suggested readings for the coming year.
Know that your efforts are appreciated; otherwise I would have never read some books.

Geoffrey wrote: "Zachary wrote: . Yeah, that's the trouble with choosing books before I've had a chance to read them myself...
Is there any way to 'vet' the books you choose? In a slightly larger bookclub(~20 membe..."

Geoffrey--thanks for your comment, and sorry for taking so long to respond. I'm happy you've been enjoying reading outside your usual comfort zone.

It would be great to have some sort of curatorial process, though since we plan the whole coming year all at once it would make for a lot of reading in a pretty short time span. If you'd like, I can give you some titles over the next month that I'm considering but unsure about, and you can look them over if you feel up to it.

Goeffrey--see the most recent comments in the "2020 book selections" thread for more discussion of this.

"Zachary wrote: ...It would be great to have some sort of curatorial process bookclub..."
'Vet' was a bad choice of words: I'm only trying to think of ways for you to get more than 1 opinion so you personally don't get swamped.
Pass along to me titles over the next month that you're considering but unsure about.
If getting a 2d opinion on some titles this way dilutes the quality of our reading list (in anyone's opinion), then maybe it's not the best approach.

I’m sorry I won’t be at the meeting tonight.My mom is in the hospital with pneumonia. How to make it next month.

We don’t meet until next week I think! Zach’s is 8/21 and Travis’s 8/22. I hope your mom feels better soon and we see you next week!

Anne wrote: "We don’t meet until next week I think! Zach’s is 8/21 and Travis’s 8/22. I hope your mom feels better soon and we see you next week!"

Yep, this is a weird month where both groups meet the same week. Sorry if this means you have to scramble to finish both books... I don't even think I noticed they were a day apart till after the plans were finalized.

Hi all, checking in post- knee surg'y (last Tu). Ended up staying 2 nites in hosp'l due to nausea from anesthesia & meds. Home now and settling into routine of [painful] exercises, meds, and phys. therapy. Biggest problem is keeping off my feet, since my daughter had to go back to work today, and on my own my OCD kicks in and I do too much. Anyway, each day's better, all one could hope for.
Re bk discussions this week, reality has set in, and I won't be able to be at either. I'd have to Uber (no driving for at least a mo.), and have only been able to get a start on "Devil's ..".
I already like Fool's personality & narrative viewpoint, tho', and it's helped me endure the bleak hopelessness of the setting. The characteriz'n of the angels is also interesting. I will really miss hearing everyone's comments on this unusual book, so hope you'll all share here.
**And Zach, I can't apologize enough for how much I've let you down this summer-- hoping for a good turnout Wed pm. Pls. share all this with Travis.

Lucy wrote: "Hi all, checking in post- knee surg'y (last Tu). Ended up staying 2 nites in hosp'l due to nausea from anesthesia & meds. Home now and settling into routine of [painful] exercises, meds, and phys. ..."

Lucy - Yikes, that sounds like quite the ordeal. 😬 I hope the healing process is as quick and painless as it can be.

We always miss you, of course, but summer is a busy time for most of us and you certainly aren't to blame for your knee injury! Hopefully you'll be healed up in time to join us for September, and in the meantime I'll try to remember to post some of our discussion points here after Wednesday's meeting.

After I posted i would miss the meeting last week,
I realised I had the wrong Wednesday ! My moms situation has been heavy on my mind. My mom is having a difficult time adjusting to her new surroundings at Life Care of Bridgeton nursing home. The facility is not turning out to be a satisfactory one, so I am looking for another. I probably won’t make this month’s meeting after all, but I will post my thoughts. I think you should have saved this read for October. A Halloween book if there ever was one! Like Cheryl, I stopped listening to the audio version of Devil’s Detective several times. The description of the murdered corpse was gross! Not to mention the killing of Gordy by the demon orphans! Who would want Thomas’ job? I am confused as I listen to each chapter tonight. ( with the lights on!) I am waiting for it all to make sense! If this had been my month to bring snacks, I would have totally gone for deviled eggs! Praying and missing you Lucy.

I will be there tomorrow and am bringing two friends. Do we need snacks? I don’t remember what we ever did for snacks...

Readridinghood wrote: "After I posted i would miss the meeting last week,
I realised I had the wrong Wednesday ! My moms situation has been heavy on my mind. My mom is having a difficult time adjusting to her new surrou..."

I'm sorry to hear to about about your mom's living situation, Donna. Do what you need to do, and hopefully we'll see you next time!

Sorry for the gross-out scenes in this book, I can only imagine how much more disturbing it would be in an audiobook format... I did try to line up something creepy for October, but I agree, it would be hard to beat this one.

Anne wrote: "I will be there tomorrow and am bringing two friends. Do we need snacks? I don’t remember what we ever did for snacks..."

Yay, friends! I wouldn't worry about snacks. So far we've only had them occasionally, and usually folks aren't very hungry anyway. Bringing some fresh faces will be more than good enough! (And I'll provide the usual coffee and tea. ☕)

Scenes may have been gross, but I didn't think they were overdone in this book's context.
Definitely not Dante's Hell; more like a struggle between those with a "conservative" version of Hell (leave it as it always has been) and a "Progressive" version (update the punishments for sinners as soon as new & better ones become available).

Geoffrey wrote: "Scenes may have been gross, but I didn't think they were overdone in this book's context.
Definitely not Dante's Hell; more like a struggle between those with a "conservative" version of Hell (leav..."

I agree. Something we touched on at our in-person discussion was the way Unsworth's hell seems to reflect and amplify the fears and miseries of humans on earth. These days most of us fear soul-crushing work and endless bureaucracy more than literal fire and brimstone, so hell has adapted to reflect those fears. And now, with the rise of authoritarianism and intrusive technology in the real world, hell is going to become more authoritarian too.

Lucy - We had a few new faces this month, so the discussion was pretty lively. This being a detective story, a lot of our conversation was spent on untangling the various plot twists, character motivations, etc. as well as hashing out the mechanics of Unsworth's hell. Most of us agreed that, while the mystery itself was pretty easy to figure out, it was still a page-turner with a unique enough setting and atmosphere to make it stand out. Everyone agreed it was a bleak read, but that the bleakness was counterbalanced by the engaging plot. As a debut novel, especially, we thought it was impressive, and most folks expressed an interest in checking out the sequel.

More philosophically, we had some differences of opinion about whether or not this is a character-driven story, and to what extent Fool is really in charge of his own decision-making. The majority opinion was that the characters were secondary to the plot and world-building, and that Elderflower/Satan really was orchestrating everything. I pushed back on the last part, suggesting that, as the so-called "father of lies," we shouldn't necessarily take Elderflower at his word. I think Fool did possess at least a certain degree of freewill, and that by taking credit for everything after the fact Elderflower was just trying to break him down further and breed even more hopelessness. But obviously mileage will vary with that one.

There is now a 2nd book to this Trilogy, The Devil's Evidence

Zach, I'm nearly finished with "Devil's... ", after a bad week of little reading due to painful knee stuff.
Anyway, I was deeply impressed by your analysis above of Hell's 'evolution', and that it would be more terrifying for humanity to face an eternity of "soul-crushing work and endless bureaucracy", hopelessness and authoritarianism than a fire & brimstone few believe in any longer.
More comments (on Thomas Fool's degree of agency, and on Elderflower) when I finish.

Lucy wrote: "Zach, I'm nearly finished with "Devil's... ", after a bad week of little reading due to painful knee stuff.
Anyway, I was deeply impressed by your analysis above of Hell's 'evolution', and that it..."

Oops, I guess I thought you'd finished... apologies for any spoilers in the above comments!

None at all -- your & Geoffrey's comments just re-ignited my desire to finish. Excellent that there were some new folks and a lively discussion!

So here, very belatedly, is the sum of my feelings about "The Devil's Detective". I agree somewhat with Zach in believing that Fool did have a degree of free will, because even tho' Satan/Elderflower declares that Fool was led by the nose to make every decision on his next course of action, Thomas reacted to events with more courage & persistence than I think Satan could've predicted, and from a genuine empathy (and affection in the case of Gordie & Summer) for the other humans in Hell that the Devil wouldn't comprehend.
While the fact that the murderer would turn out to be an Angel was sort of telegraphed, I feel like Balthazar's sudden transformation into a humble ally of Fool wasn't believable. Tho' his death was incredibly sad. All in all, I didn't like the ending, not for any worthy lit-crit, analytical reason, but just because I couldn't bear the idea of Thomas being subject to the manipulation of Satan, forced into the role of feared & despised head of brutal demon forces.

I think that Balthazar's so called transformation was more about adhering to the strict moral code he followed throughout the book (though he DOES express doubt about that code with Fool at the end). Adam violated God's law, Adam had to be killed.
I'm reading the second book and unfortunately Thomas is even more manipulated and defeated. Hopefully it'll improve in that regard because I can't stand it either.

The 'higher-ups' like Elderflower only seem better off because their hope gets smashed less regularly? This would make the part Adam was sent to the worst part of Hell since those inhabitants the worst off because they never know when their hope would end, but in the slums at least they knew that everything they tried would 'go to hell'.