Sign Here

I’ve seen Claudia Lux’s debut novel, Sign Here, described as horror, mystery, supernatural suspense, and family drama. It has aspects of all of those. Pey has worked his way up from being tortured to torturing souls to being responsible for getting humans to make deals for their souls.

He has a plan. What he needs is a complete set, one member from five generations of the same family, the Harrisons. Meanwhile the Harrisons plan to spend six weeks at the lake house in New Hampshire. Daughter Mickey brings her new best friend, Ruth, with her. However, things don’t go according to plan for anyone.

Pey, his coworkers Cal and Trey, Ruth, and the Harrisons: Silas, Lily, and Mickey are fully developed characters. However, Sean Harrison was not as robust a character. They’re characters that readers either will like or be disturbed by their actions. They have flaws that make them more realistic, but they’re not always relatable. There is one very inappropriate fantasy by Silas that was disturbing. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect well with most of the characters.

With dual plotlines, the point of view frequently switches back and forth between Pey, Silas, Lily, and Mickey. There is a little dark humor in this novel. Rules, goals, contracts, and time limits exist in the Deals Department where Pey, Trey, and Cal work. It almost had a corporate feel to it. The working relationships in the Deals Department were an interesting exploration of office politics. There’s plenty of family drama for all of the main characters.

This book has a clever premise and a solid mystery with some twists that will keep readers guessing and others that were somewhat predictable. The suspense built slowly, but steadily. Friendship, family, lies, death, grief, loopholes, deception, morality, and much more are at the heart of this story. The world-building is done well, but this is a slow-paced novel that took a while to draw me into the story line. The chapters are short and the dialog felt natural and consistent for each character. The ending left me with a few questions that weren’t resolved, but I admired how the author brought the two storylines together. There are threads woven into the plot that added depth and complexity.

Overall, this unique, thought-provoking, and entertaining novel has great characterization, and a tense and suspenseful part three. Those who relish mild horror with family drama and suspense may enjoy this book.

Berkley Publishing Group and Claudia Lux provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for October 25, 2022.