First Circle Club

A damned soul has escaped Hell and no one, not denizens of Hell or denizens of Heaven, knows how the soul made it out. But, no matter how it happened, it is a problem for both sides. The soul named Daniel was a serial killer before dying and has started up his old habits on Earth, taking young victims’ lives in order to send them to Heaven early. To bring him back to Hell, both sides enlist a total of four people, two from the first circle of Hell and two from the first circle of Heaven, who have the experience needed to track him down. They are sent to Earth but soon find out that this problem may be much bigger than just someone escaping: there might be a conspiracy that spans both Heaven and Hell, and someone is pulling all their strings.

This book was very interesting. I really liked how the people of both regions, Heaven and Hell, were both flawed and not evil people. As was explained in the book, the first circles are barely good or bad enough to be where they are. This made the characters much more likeable because I wasn’t expected to hate them because a couple people were from Hell, and think the other two were perfect since they came from Heaven. I found Virgil to be a little too gung-ho in the beginning, but I found as time went on, I came to really enjoy them all. In fact, for some reason, I found this book reminded me a little of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter series. Just a little bit, though; this book wasn’t quite as action-oriented or as involved. The plot was interesting, the action was great, and I am really looking forward to more in this series. I recommend to everyone who enjoys urban fantasy!

Thanks to NetGalley and Smith Publicity for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review. This review will also be posted on Goodreads.

Hurray for Indie Authors!
A serial killer has escape from Hell and he's killing children! Neither Angels or Demons can find him so they put together a team to return to earth and hunt Daniel down, think Fantastic Four. From the first circle of Hell (Limbo) we have Virgil and Lisa, a Marshal and Cop, who were both a little too trigger happy. From the first circle of Heaven (boring beach) we have Sara and Alfred, a medical examiner and a criminal psychologist, who are a bit of a mystery as to why they didn't rate a higher level of Heaven. The team gets along well because, regardless of where they ended up, they were all in law enforcement.

As you can infer from the title this world building is an adaptation of Dante's Inferno with a heavy, and comical, dose of made up theological juris prudence.

The hunt for Daniel is anything but easy since they have to first adjust to the time period, What the hell are those little screens everyone is carrying around?, and because Daniel has the aid of a billionaire trying to avoid his fate and others unknown. There is plenty of investigation, action, and intrigue but the surprise is the deeper theological questions is raised. You see, Daniel is killing only the very best children guaranteed to go to the highest levels of Heaven. He's killing them while the biggest temptation in their lives is an Oreo cookie (FYI still tempting!). So I guess the question is, if you knew there was a Heaven with hard-to-get-into levels of immortal bliss is it not "gift" he's giving these children? If it's only your lack of sin on earth that buys you into never ending paradise wouldn't you want to die young and leave a beautiful soul? You don't have to be a theologian for the knee jerk killing kids is wrong. Yes it is, but that doesn't answer the question. The books answer is: Earth is meant to be a place where souls can find their destiny and express themselves fully. While that's lovely I don't think it answers the question under these circumstances - and maybe that's the point. The Angels and Demons in this book are stressed about the friction placed on their rules and outraged about the loopholes Daniel and his backers are exposing. It's frightful to think of any afterlife weighted down by bureaucracy. First Circle Club is an unexpectedly thought provoking paranormal serial killer hunt.