Claudia Lux takes readers to Hell and back in Sign Here, a twisty, frequently comedic thriller about one family, their secrets and the desperation that leads them to sign away their souls. Peyote Trip, former human and current deal-maker, needs just a few more people to sign away their souls in order to secure a promotion to the next--and less awful--level of Hell. He's got a secret, though: if he can get a Complete Set, a deal with each member of the Harrison family, he'll get the chance to start over on Earth.
The Harrisons are the picture of a privileged nuclear family, but they have secrets too, beginning with how no one talks about what happened 17 years ago, something that began with the death of a girl and ended with the suicide of the eldest Harrison son. When young Mickey Harrison's new friend tags along on the family's six-week summer vacation to New Hampshire, her presence exposes the cracks in this family's facade.
Lux presents a complex, layered story as well as secondary plots and points of view that all connect in an explosive climax. Sign Here, her first novel, is a masterwork of character and tension, made all the more compelling by an irreverent take on the fine art of buying souls for Hell. Sure, Pey and his coworkers deal in souls, but the real trick here is how Lux deftly balances dark humor with generational trauma and packages it all up into a supernatural thriller with a surprisingly big heart. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer