Sympathy for the Devil

Meet Hell's Only Boy Scout.

Jack Bishop — damned soul and former homicide cop, is the only honest man in hell — at least according to Satan, who directs Jack to solve an unsanctioned murder in Hell's lower district. Aside from the eternal ramifications of pissing off Satan, the murder case is significantly complicated by the fact that Hell's residents can't actually die.

Aided by a headless half-breed named Pike and an enthrallingly sharp-witted nun, Jack sets out to solve the murder while malevolent forces conspire to throw him off the trail. In the big game of chess between Heaven and Hell, Jack doesn't know if he's being strategically placed or ceremonially sacrificed. Either way, he's got to see this case through to the end.

Praise for SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL:

“Mix Sandman Slim and Hellboy, let Shane Black write the script, then turn that movie into a novel — that’s what you’re holding right now. Mike Bracken hasn’t just done it right, he’s done it in a way you can’t stop reading.”

— Stephen Graham Jones, Five-Time Bram Stoker Award Winner and Author of My Heart is a Chainsaw

"With snappy Tarantino dialogue set in the slums of Mars' Total Recall, Mike Bracken's SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL does something I thought impossible: offer an original spin on the police procedural. Literally set in the bowels of Hell, Bracken's crime story creates the ultimate locked-room mystery: a whodunit in a land where people cannot die. Mix in the ultimate bad guy, Hans Gruber in a bad hairpiece, and it's a hard knock afterlife indeed."

— Joe Clifford, ITW and Anthony Award Finalist, and best-selling author of the Jay Porter thriller series.