Hell's Super

Circles in Hell, Book One

De: Mark Cain

Narrado por: Michael Gilboe

"If you like Christopher Moore or Tom Holt, read Hell's Super.... Hilarious!"

How can one damned handyman keep all of hell running when everything's always breaking, devils and demons plot against him...and he's terrible at fixing things?

Steve is hell's super, its handyman. Being Mr. Fixit to the underworld keeps him and his assistant, Orson Welles (yes, that Orson Welles), pretty busy, since things go on the blink all the time down there. No malfunction has ever created so much inconvenience, though, as the malfunction of hell's escalator, which leads from the pearly gates to the depths of Hades. What's worse: The breakdown appears to be sabotage.

Satan calls in Steve to investigate. But Steve is distracted these days. He's in love with Flo, a gorgeous, almost saintly figure who has come to hell by choice to ease the suffering of the damned. What's more, she seems to like him, but romance in hell? That could never be. Still, solving the mystery of the escalator could earn him some points with Satan, maybe even a chance with Flo. Or maybe not.

Hell's Super is the first volume in the satire/fantasy comedy series Circles in Hell. It has been compared to other works of "hell fiction" including The Screwtape Letters and Good Omens and to the paranormal humor of Tom Holt, Christopher Moore, and Douglas Adams.

©2013 Mark E. Cain (P)2015 Mark E. Cain

stick with it.

Hell's Super started off a little bland, but, after the first few hours I couldn't put it down. As we meet people from history, I started to get a sort of Roger Rabbitesque vibe(the movie, not the book which I haven't read). Gilboe's narration, which like the story, took time to grow on me, was fun and expressive and proved to be a perfect fit. Don't hesitate to give this one a chance. I will be eagerly awaiting the nexy audio adaptation in the Circles in Hell series! This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast."

Awful Narration

Loved the concept and overall story, but the narrator was the worst! Terrible accents, flat delivery - ugh.

fun little diversion from reality.

Although the accents were abominable, the story was fun, and I give the narrator credit for trying. The story is reminiscent of Good Omens, especially with the silly infernal plot twists.

What would your hell be?

I was grabbed by the description which seemed to promise a funny story of misadventures in hell. The book delivered that and more. It is also a story of someone trying to hold onto his humanity while enduring damnation. Despite being doomed to a job in hell for which he is ill-suited (thus fulfilling the promise of eternal damnation through eternal disappointment, irritation, and emotional suffering); Steve Minion still takes his job description seriously and tries to fix what he can. He does this despite knowing it will just break again. This results in a funny story with a view about how hell hell could be personalized based on individual personalities to maximize each persons suffering.

There are some fun cameos in the book with historical characters such as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford. etc making appearances in hell. This was a neat aspect of the book because there are some people you would think should have gone to the other place. While you never get to know exactly why some of those people ended up disqualified for heaven (Louis Braille how’d you end up in there?), it is interesting to see the author’s imagining of what those people’s personal hells could be.

Good narration for a comedic novel is essential to getting the full effect of the author’s humour. Here I think the narrator succeeded in getting the timing and tone right for the story. It was worth listening to the book (as opposed to reading it) since it comes across as though Steve himself is telling you of his misadventures in hell. There were however accents that I was not feeling (which made me want to drop it to 3 stars) but credit to the narrator for putting in the effort to do accents. Thankfully, the worst offending accent turned out to be part of the plot (which I’m going to assume means the narrator read the work in full prior to starting the production - thus restoring the narration to 4 stars).

Overall: the story is a nice mix of subtle puns, ironic character mixes, and funny situations. Combined with the narration, it is an entertaining listen.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

BOOH!

A really entertaining production, but if you're listening with headphones turn down the volume. BOOH (bat out of hell) has a hell of a shriek. Cain's take on Hell & the inhabitants is just LOL funny. Love the Hells created for some of histories well known characters, like Thelonious Monk doomed to play an out of tune child sized accordion for eternity. So I am now hooked on another book series. My hell will probably be that there are no real books only enticing 'coming soon' trailers.

hard to get

into at first but then couldn't stop. Reader was good with the plethera of voices from Orson Welles to Tesla! Descriptive and once the plot thickens you just want more. Good job!!!

If hell was run like a business....

Would you consider the audio edition of Hell's Super to be better than the print version?

I never read the print version, so I can not compare.

I am sure I would love the printed version as much as I enjoyed this one. A fast and funny story about what

What other book might you compare Hell's Super to and why?

This was a very unique story, so I can't compare it to others. If you want to listen to a different and fun viewpoint of what life would be like if hell was run like a business, this is it. When things go wrong they call engineering and this exactly what you would expect would happen. It is hell, so why would things go right?

What about Michael Gilboe’s performance did you like?

He did a good job to narrating the story. I didn't find myself bored while listening at all. His narration was great and went well with the story.

Who was the most memorable character of Hell's Super and why?

Had to be Boo the bat. SCREEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was provided by the author/narrator/publisher free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review.

Cool view of hell

All the cool people seem to have gone to hell. Great story about chaos in hell

pretty good

Once you get past the obvious Christianity plug it's a great book. I would recommend it

good book. more about the characters than the plot

It was a good book. The plot is not very deep and easy to predict. However the characters are great as is the setting. Worth the read.