Hell to Pay

Meet Chesney Arnstruther. Once a mild-mannered insurance actuary, now a full-time crime-fighting superhero, it’s all he can do to kick bad-guy ass while at the same time holding down a steady relationship with the gorgeous Melda. Something is going on.
Meet Xaphan, wise-cracking demon and the source of (almost) all of Chesney’s powers. He’s been asked by his infernal master to give Chesney whatever he needs... but surely stopping bad guys is not in Hell’s plan? Something is definitely going on.
Meet Arthur Wrigley, a modest yet charming older gentleman whose nasty little hobby is fleecing innocent widows. Meet Simon Magus, ancient mystic and magician from Biblical times now very much enamoured of Vegas, baby. And pray you never meet the Chikkichikk, a proud and ancient race of, well, warrior dinosaurs, from the universe that God made then rejected before He started monkeying around with this one.
Whatever the hell is going on, this is definitely the third book in the wondrous To Hell & Back series.

Losing none of the previous offerings wit or charm, Matthew Hughes has ended his To Hell and Back series in the best possible way: by leaving me wanting more.  The structure of Hell to Pay resembles the content of the two proceeding books.  Part one is Chesney and Xaphan dealing with a con-man the old fashioned way, like they used to in The Damned Busters.  I thought this was a clever way to start the book, as the sequel, Costume Not Included, had been more about theology than a newly minted superhero. 

However, the intelligent religious discussion that I have come to expect from Chesney and Co. isn't abandoned for long.  Part two of Hell to Pay returns to matters of 'The Twelve' and the disruption in Hell now that Satan is working on The Book of Chesney in the Garden of Eden.  This time around the discussions of how we came to be doesn't overpower character development.  I thought that Hughes had allowed for smaller moments between individual characters, and this paid off.  Chesney's realisation that the changes that Joshua made to him perhaps weren't for the best and that he didn't need fixing were handled in a sensitive and skillful way.  Then there's a discussion between Chesney and Melda towards the finale that's verging on heartbreaking.  On the brighter side, Hughes made sure that the fantastic rum drinking fiend Xaphan had plenty to do, and occupied quite a lot of Hell to Pay.

I'm definitely sad to see the series conclude but I think that the final few pages left the characters I had grown to love in a good place.  Though maybe in the future Xaphan could have his own spin-off series?  Please?

Costume Not Included

As I've mentioned in a previous review, I was disappointed with the first book in Matthew Hughes' To Hell and Back series.  I had ordered the sequel, Costume Not Included, at the same time from the library and I wasn't over enthused to begin reading.  So after a break of a few weeks I decided with trepidation to go on another adventure with Chesney ' Actionary' Arnstruther and and his demon sidekick Xaphan.

Chesney Arnstruther's efforts to Save the Day and Get the Girl are making slow progress.  This superhero stuff is more complicated than he first thought, even with a cigar-chomping demon for a sidekick.
But while Chesney is trying to learn the ropes, Boss Greeley has made a deal with the Devil, a pact that is making the villain stronger by the minute.  Meanwhile, the Reverend Hardacre has been doing some research into matters spiritual and has found that not everything in the Garden (of Eden) is rosy.

For me, Costume Not Included was a marked improvement, and I wish that this was the first book in the series.  I found it easy to read and finished within a day.  Hughes grapples with the same concepts of good and evil and everything in between as before, but has moved the story in a different direction; focusing more on his characters relationships with each other and the Reverend Billy Lee Hardacre's intentions for writing The Book of Chesney.  While slightly plot light, the cast of characters are all written well, and there has been plenty of development between the two books, with Chesney dealing with his new relationship and introducing Melda to his his somewhat hypocritical uptight mother.  Then there's Xaphan, who, as always, was fantastic as the chain cigar smoking, constant rum drinking fiend.
  I look forward to more Hell and Back Adventures, and hope that Hughes can find an even better way to utilise his characters through a stronger plot.