“You have Democracy, we have Demonocracy. You have physics and science, we have black magic. You have charity and good will, we have systematized horror. That’s the difference here. Lucifer’s social design must function to exist in a complete opposite of God’s. Lucifer has built all of this to offend the entity that banished him here.”
Cassie did not ask to become an Etheress and live at a deadpass — which serves as a portal to Hell, but a series of freakish events have left her with no choice. Able to cross into Hell and back and capable of wielding great power, Cassie catches the attention of Lucifer, who sets into motion a plan that will attempt to use her to forever rip the veil that separates Earth from Hell.
TITLE:
CITY INFERNAL
WRITER:
by Edward Lee
SERIES:
The Infernal Series
GENRE:
Horror Fiction, Grand Guignol
DESCRIPTORS:
Hell, Mephistopolis, Evil, Satan, Demons, Suicide, Myths, Power, Serial Killers, Torture, Infanticide
SUMMARY:
Identical goth twins Cassie and Lissa sneak into a nightclub when tragedy strikes. Lissa’s boyfriend Radu tries to rape Cassie using an ecstasy drug when Lissa finds them and accusing them of having an affair. She shoots Radu before turning the gun on herself.
A year and a half later, Cassie’s father quits his law practice and moves them to Blackwell Hall just outside Ryan’s Corners, where they can heal from their losses. What they don’t realize is that he has moved them into the macabre building of a serial killer who spawned and sacrificed babies to Satan in exchange for power. Long dead, Blackwell’s legacy remains as the building has become a deadpass where the veil between Earth and Hell is thin and easily breeched by an Etheress — which is just what Cassie has unknowingly become.
Now able to cross into Hell and back, Cassie journeys to Mephistopolis to find her sister, for all suicides are trapped in Hell, and if not reclaim her, at least apologize. Along the way she meets a trio of suicides — Via, Vebe and Hush — who show her the ropes, teach her what the legends say of the Etheress and do their best to keep her out of Satan’s hands. What they don’t realize is that the all-powerful lord of Hell already knows about Cassie and has every intention of capturing her and using her mythical power to permanently open the veil and extend Hell to Earth. But Satan is not the only one seeking out Cassie.
APPEAL:
Fans of Clive Barker’s grand guignol stories such as Hellraiser, will fall in love with Mephistopolis, the city that Hell has evolved into. It is so over the top that I caution recommending it to readers with weak stomachs.
The pacing is moderate. The actions scenes are quick and sometimes brutally devastating but there is a lot of explanation and description necessary to evoke the city of Hell in the reader’s mind–and Cassie’s is a journey of exploration and discovery as much as a hunt for her twin sister. The over-the-top imagery sustains the narrative in these passages.
Although the emphasis seems to be on the character of the city Mephistopolis itself, we get to know Cassie and her new pack fairly well. Cassie, the protagonist, is revealed as she develops throughout the novel.
The story is told from the 3rd person past tense limited omniscience, usually from Cassie’s point of view although we get a few other points of view when events happen on Earth that affect Cassie and her father–particularly her father’s POV, Jervis’ POV and also the POV of the succubus. Generally it follows a neat linear development.
Lee had to build Mephistopolis almost from scratch. He created a sense of city and order breed from evil and chaos to cover all forms of cruelty. Only a couple of items jarred me from suspending disbelief and enjoying my tour of the city: the street names were all common names of infamous people. With a city that large, you’d think some of the names would unfamiliar and others unique to the land of the dead.
READALIKES:
Edward Lee has written several books that are over-the-top horror including the sequels to this story Infernal Angel
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