THE BLURB:
Where does an angel go when he's been to Hell and back?
Renegade angel Bobby Dollar does not have an easy afterlife. After surviving the myriad gruesome dangers Hell oh-so-kindly offered him, Bobby has returned empty-handed – his demon girlfriend Casmira, the Countess of Cold Hands, is still in the clutches of Eligor, Grand Duke of Hell. Some hell of a rescue.
Forced to admit his failure, Bobby ends up back at his job as an angel advocate. That is, until Walter, an old angel friend whom Bobby never thought he’d see again, shows up at the local bar. The last time he saw Walter was in Hell, when Walter had tried to warn him about one of Bobby’s angel superiors. But now Walter can’t remember anything, and Bobby doesn't know whom to trust.
Turns out that there's corruption hidden within the higher ranks of Heaven and Hell, but the only proof Bobby has is a single feather. Before he knows it, he’s in the High Hall of Heavenly Judgement – no longer a bastion for the moral high ground, if it ever was, but instead just another rigged system – on trial for his immortal soul...
MY REVIEW:
Holy crap! Bobby's in trouble, but when is he not? This angel is always looking for grief, and he always finds it. Nothing is what he thinks it is, and even Bobby's jaded eyes are opened as the reality of his unreality unfolds.
Bobby's inquisitive nature has rattled the cage of someone important in the Heavenly scheme of things, and that someone wants Bobby destroyed. They have already gone to great lengths to do so, and now he's going to find out just who it is, and what it has to do with this mysterious Third Way between Heaven and Hell. All his friends and most of his enemies are back in this tale, and some of his enemies prove to be more likable than his friends.
He knows who is behind his troubles, and he is up against overwhelming odds. As Bobby says in one of my favorite lines from this book, "You know your life is pretty screwed up when even the winos turn their backs on you." That comment pretty much sums up the magnitude of his trouble.
There is an innocence and kind of naivety about Bobby Dollar, despite his unsavory occupation. He makes mistakes, and draws attention to himself, and yet he continues to ferret out the truth behind the traitors in Heaven's midst. The bad guys and the dangerous beasts are really bad, and the good guys are just swimming as fast as they can in shark-infested waters. There's always something lurking around every corner, just waiting to trip Bobby up.
As I read this series I find myself hoping that the afterlife is somehow a better, less corrupt place than the three options offered in Bobby Dollar's Heaven and Hell. Some of the angels who hold his afterlife in their hands have no compassion or mercy left in them, and some of the demons are kinder gentler souls than their angelic counterparts.
I love the twists and turns of William's prose, as his hard-boiled angel gets down to the dirty business of cleaning up the mean streets of Heaven. He uses ordinary words in an extraordinary way, but never commits the sin of dropping the reader out of the story. THIS is why I read his work.
I highly recommend Sleeping Late on Judgement Day. It is a smart, well-crafted journey into the human condition, set in an environment guaranteed to keep things interesting, and peopled with unforgettable characters. I give it 5 full stars.
Bobby's inquisitive nature has rattled the cage of someone important in the Heavenly scheme of things, and that someone wants Bobby destroyed. They have already gone to great lengths to do so, and now he's going to find out just who it is, and what it has to do with this mysterious Third Way between Heaven and Hell. All his friends and most of his enemies are back in this tale, and some of his enemies prove to be more likable than his friends.
He knows who is behind his troubles, and he is up against overwhelming odds. As Bobby says in one of my favorite lines from this book, "You know your life is pretty screwed up when even the winos turn their backs on you." That comment pretty much sums up the magnitude of his trouble.
There is an innocence and kind of naivety about Bobby Dollar, despite his unsavory occupation. He makes mistakes, and draws attention to himself, and yet he continues to ferret out the truth behind the traitors in Heaven's midst. The bad guys and the dangerous beasts are really bad, and the good guys are just swimming as fast as they can in shark-infested waters. There's always something lurking around every corner, just waiting to trip Bobby up.
As I read this series I find myself hoping that the afterlife is somehow a better, less corrupt place than the three options offered in Bobby Dollar's Heaven and Hell. Some of the angels who hold his afterlife in their hands have no compassion or mercy left in them, and some of the demons are kinder gentler souls than their angelic counterparts.
I love the twists and turns of William's prose, as his hard-boiled angel gets down to the dirty business of cleaning up the mean streets of Heaven. He uses ordinary words in an extraordinary way, but never commits the sin of dropping the reader out of the story. THIS is why I read his work.
I highly recommend Sleeping Late on Judgement Day. It is a smart, well-crafted journey into the human condition, set in an environment guaranteed to keep things interesting, and peopled with unforgettable characters. I give it 5 full stars.
