This note contains spoilers for the book.

 

I got this as a free promotional copy through an offer on the Internet.

Good clean fun, by my standards. We've got labor relations, deals with the devil, Hell going on strike, a televangelist becoming honest, a nagging mother accepting being told to stop, and an actuary being interesting to two different women. AND a super-hero.

The deal with the devil starts as a complete accident—the nonsense syllables Chesney spouts when he hits his thumb happen to be the right words for the summoning, and the blood that comes out falls on the felt he's tacking to the poker table he's building. But he refuses to accept the traditional contract. This kicks off a labor dispute (there was no shortage of union organizers in hell) and results in the tempter demons going out on strike, leading to massive changes in how people behave up on earth.

Then we've got a wannabe superhero with demonic assistance, a reasonably honest philanthropist with political ambitions, a guy who wants to rule the world—with demonic assistance, and an honest cop. Oh, and the bosses spoiled daughter, and a manicurist with a heart of gold. Plus assorted supporting demons and an angel or two. They bounce off each other quite amusingly.

I'm probably hyper-sensitive to theater-of-embarrassment of geeks with women, and it's not played too nastily. Still not my favorite bit.

I do still wonder how, if angels and demons don't have free will in the way this book describes, how Lucifer's rebellion ever occurred in the first place.

I'm also still puzzled by the title. It seems to be a reference to No.617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (or one of the books or movies about them), but I can't make any connection other than with the title.