Review: Hellhole by Gina Damico

Title: Hellhole

Author: Gina Damico

Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Released: 2014

Summary: Max Kilgore, the name evokes the image of an action hero being cool and saving the day. In reality, Max is skinny, pale, and kind of a nerd. He spends his days at school, working, and taking care of his sick mother. Max's one hobby is to trudge up to Ugly Hill and dig for dinosaur fossils. One night, Max accidentally digs a hole straight to Hell, unleashing a Devil. Burg is one of 666 devils and because Max is the one that set him free, he's now stuck with him.

Max decides to bargain with Burg, for him to cure his mom and leave. Burg's terms are a big house with a hot tub, nonnegotiable. Since Max is new to this whole dealing with the devil thing, he requests the help of a former goth girl named Lore. Max's life just got a whole lot more dangerous.

My Thoughts: For being a book about the devil, this was a whole lot of fun. I really enjoyed myself while reading it. Parts of it actually made me laugh out loud, which is rare for a book to accomplish. My favorite part of this story is the humor, I loved it. This is the first Gina Damico book I've read and I'm definitely going to read more by her in the future. I'm very glad that I picked this book up from the library shelf and gave it a read.

I really liked all the characters in the story, even the side characters. They each had funny aspects about them that just made them enjoyable to read. I really liked Max and Lore. I liked his friendship with Audie. Max's boss Stravoula was very entertaining. I even semi-liked Burg. He said a lot of funny stuff, but I was stupid to hope that the devil would redeem himself. I also really liked Max and his mom's relationship, even with all the stuff they were going through.

I also liked the touch of darkness in this funny story. That feeling that evil doesn't always look evil. How decisions can bring about good or bad consequences. Burg kind of presents himself as a harmless slacker, but you can't forget what he is. I don't even know if what I'm saying is making any sense. Evil doesn't always present itself as evil, it can hide behind a jovial disguise, but you still must guard against it. Max learns that the hard way.

I thought this story was great. I enjoyed it from start to finish. The humor was strong from the first page to the last, it never felt forced and it made me laugh. I'm definitely going to read more of Gina Damico's books. Just a whole lot of fun, mixed with a tad bit of seriousness, in book form.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

Devilishly Fun!