Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard (Headline, 2009)
Agent: Sam Copeland, RCW Literary Agency
Summary: Johannes Cabal has never pretended to be a hero of any kind. There is, after all, little heroic about robbing graves, stealing occult volumes, and being on nodding terms with demons. His purpose, however, is noble. His researches are all directed to raising the dead. For such a prize, some sacrifices are necessary. One such sacrifice was his own soul, but he now sees that was a mistake – it’s not just that he needs it for his research to have validity, but now he realises he needs it to be himself. Unfortunately, his soul now rests within the festering bureaucracy of Hell. Satan may be cruel and capricious but, most dangerously, he is bored. It is Cabal’s unhappy lot to provide him with amusement.
In short, a wager: in return for his own soul, Cabal must gather one hundred others – in one year.
One year to beat the Devil at his own game. And isn’t that perhaps just a little heroic?
Notes: Tim Burton mixed with HBO’s Carnival. The sort of book Tim Burton would write, if he wanted to write a book about a necromancer who’s bet his soul on a wager with the devil and then travels the country side with a hellish fair.
Johannes Cabal is a wicked dark comedy. Johannes sold his soul to learn the laws of necromancy and makes a wager with Satan so that he may win it back – one year to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls. A travelling circus is an aid to his task. Horst, a charismatic vampire and brother of Johannes joins as the carnival’s barker on the diabolical romp through the English countryside. Purgatory as a bureaucratic nightmare? A vampiric crypt-dwelling brother? A carnival of death, chaos, and latex ladies? The story is inevitably grabbing, especially as Cabal started collecting souls to exchange with Satan for his own lost soul, and Howard’s imagination was given the chance to shine. An abusive boyfriend is forcibly seduced by an enchanted doll, a mother kills her baby because an arcade game told her to, and winsome Layla the Latex Lady sucks the life out of widowed Detective Barrow. Everything is delightfully uncomfortable and keeps one hooked.
The Book to Screen Club 