Set in Brooklyn, Jeremy P. Bushnell’s “The Weirdness” (Melville House) is an electrifying debut novel that traces Billy Ridgeway as he adventures across New York City.
Billy Ridgeway is hung over and late for work when the Devil comes to visit. Billy smells him first, or rather, he smells the fair trade coffee the Devil is brewing, all the better to tempt him. Sitting on the ratty sofa in Billy’s Brooklyn walk-up, Lucifer Morningstar offers him a deal that will land the struggling writer the career of his dreams.
Why Billy? And how bad an idea is it, really, to make a deal with the Devil? He’s not even being asked to give up his soul. All he has to do—Lucifer explains by way of a PowerPoint presentation—is retrieve the Neko of Infinite Equilibrium, a lucky cat statue currently in the possession of the most powerful warlock on the Eastern seaboard.
Billy discovers his own strength, harnessing his powers as a hell-wolf and finally fighting the warlock face-to-face. God even makes a guest appearance, and He’s not who you thought He was.
“The Weirdness” is a stunningly imaginative debut about finding meaning in life, confronting your biggest critics, and discovering that a boring life might be the best life after all…powerful hell-wolf or not.
