From Publishers Weekly
It's Alive and The Silence of the Lambs meets The Stand in this ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful blend of quest novel and splatterpunk epic. The book begins with a bang, as it were: a 15-year-old gives birth to a horrendous winged monstrosity that rips its way out of the mother's womb, then proceeds to exsanguinate everyone present. Unfortunately, this is typical of what's to come: the atrocities pile up and up until they topple over into absurdity. Colin, an orphan raised by sorcerers; Zoel, an angel; and Asdeon, a demon with a sarcastic sense of humor and an unsettling tendency to transform into tough-guy icons like Humphrey Bogart, team up on a quest to recover the Trine, three talismans that impart galvanic power, missing from its place of safekeeping. Along the way they encounter a psychic young woman stalked by a serial killer who survives not only death but dissection, as well as a Gulf War vet turned professional bodyguard whose former client was Cuisinarted to death. The plot strands all converge in Las Vegas where else? where the Devil is planning to end the world. The denouement is predictably apocalyptic. This uneven m‚lange of serial killer thrills and ornate Gothic narrative may appeal to some hard-core horror fans, but for most readers it's an unsavory mix. Even more disconcerting that Reaves (Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter) excoriates mindless slasher films in some irrelevant asides when he himself is serving up the literary equivalent of those cinematic abattoirs. (May 1)Forecast: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter has been on PW's hardcover bestseller list for three weeks as of this writing. That's much more because it's a Star Wars title than because it's a Reaves title, of course, but some readers will remember Reaves's name and give Hell on Earth a strong initial push.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The birth of a demonic monster in a small Alabama town signals the beginning of a nightmare of terror that has its source in the eternal war between good and evil. In order to prevent the triumph of Hell, a young man versed in the ways of magic must join forces with agents of Heaven and Hell to recover a magical talisman that holds the forces of darkness at bay. Set in the same universe as Street Magic and Voodoo Child, this belongs in most libraries' horror or dark fantasy collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
