Conceptually, Sign Here has potential. But the execution makes it feel like several disjointed stories instead of one cohesive whole.
In one storyline, we follow Peyote, a dealmaker from Hell whose job is to sign as many souls into Hell as possible. He is forced to work with Cal, another dealmaker, but they are keeping secrets from each other. In another storyline, we follow the Harrison family as they go to their summer house for their annual vacation. But secrets abound there too.
I had a lot of trouble getting into this. At first glance, the Peyote and Cal storyline seems the more interesting one. But it wasn't. It felt like it was trying too hard, with a fluffed out story that wasn't really relevant and lots of dark humor that came across as more forced than anything else. The more details we're given about Hell, the less believable it became and the less into the story I got.
We also spend a lot of time on Cal's backstory, which left me more confused than anything else. (Is The General her father, or just a father figure? Where did the brothers or "brothers" come from? What were they actually doing?) I pretty much didn't understand anything related to Cal, and every time we switched to her story, I felt the urge to skim.
The Harrison storyline was more interesting. It's a combination of family dysfunction and coming of age, with a dose of mystery thrown in. But it also had some of the same issues as the other storyline, coming across as trying too hard to be deep and poignant, which ultimately made what could've been an intriguing tale into an overwritten one.
The thing is, these two storylines don't really go together. They're pretty much two completely separate stories, with only like one page of overlap between them. So their interweaving, back and forth, with a few pages spent on one and then a few pages spent on the other, doesn't really pull the whole thing together.
I feel like this was a bit of a missed opportunity. There's a lot of potential here, but at 400 pages, it was about 100 pages too long. With some choice editing, this could've easily been a gripping tale. But as it stands, it feels too convoluted, confusing, and indulgent to be anything other than middling.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.
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