Hellcorp by Jonathan Whitelaw @urbanebooks @JDWhitelaw13 #review #competition #fun #LoveBooksGroupTours #Hellcorp

Hellcorp sparkles like a blood-black diamond. Satan’s got his work cut out in this darkly comic crime tale. A cracking read! – Mark Leggatt

Life is hard for The Devil and he desperately wants to take a holiday. Growing weary from playing the cosmic bad guy, he resolves to set up a company that will do his job for him so the sins of the world will tick over while he takes a vacation. God tells him he can have his vacation just as soon as he solves an ancient crime.

But nothing is ever easy and before long he is up to his pitchfork in solving murders, desperate to crack the case so he can finally take the holiday he so badly needs…

This is a perfectly-pitched darkly comic crime novel that is ideal for fans of Christopher Fowler and Ben Aaranovitch.

My Review

I was offered to join the book tour of Hellcorp last year in 2018, which was organised by Love Books Group Tours, I jumped at the chance to re-run my review, as I loved the book so much!

I am also doing a competition to win a paperback copy of this book, details are at the bottom of this review.

Giggling and sniggering to myself!

Within reading the first two chapters I was already laughing out loud and giggling to myself (probably looking like a mad woman!). Already becoming a fan of The Devil with his characteristic traits. The introduction with the Pope was a fantastic start, the descriptions of the surroundings and how the characters feel, was so very clear to see.

The story is a very enjoyable and easy to follow read, I loved every part with some characters that change themselves, to the demons that work for the Devil; which made it creepy and shocking! I really enjoyed how you got to know The Devil so well throughout the story, his mannerisms towards others, what he says about humans and how they deal with life.

The Devil has (as expected) quite a fowl mouth, but I found how he spoke was perfect for his character and made me laugh (normally I might skip a swear word or two if its too much), but I thought it was very apt for his character.

Along the way The Devil meets his sidekick and helper Jill Gideon, I really appreciated why the author chose the name Gideon and how The Devil always thought, it was a bit of a joke that the person he should meet was someone named Gideon, (God had help from someone with that name many years before as recorded in the Book of Judges). You find out at the beginning and throughout how The Devil and God are connected, which I thought was very cleverly done and quite amusing.

“You helping me, you knowing what killed Anton Baggio, you being a Gideon, it’s all part of His plan.”

From the very beginning and throughout, the bickering between these two characters was like a married couple and never ending, creating a love/hate relationship I don’t think they even realised they had, however it worked to their advantage to solve the murder.

The journey The Devil goes on is a learning curve for him too. The Devil gets to appreciate (even though he won’t admit it!) how sometimes helping others is the only way. I wouldn’t say The Devil gets a conscience, but he seems to have grown fond of Jill by the end of the story.

The murder that occurred creates many twists and turns for The Devil and Jill to resolve and deal with, which in itself unveils more surprises along the way.

The ending was great and once again made me giggle, I really don’t want to say too much which may spoil it!

This book did give me tears of happiness, an urgency to read more and the giggles throughout. A fabulous read that I would definitely recommend to others and I would read again!

Devilishly delightful! A must read!

Buy it here at Amazon.

Competition – (Competition now closed)

I loved reading this book. So, I’m really pleased to offer one winner to receive a copy.

Enter here for the competition. (Sorry UK only)

About the Author

Jonathan Whitelaw is an author, journalist and broadcaster. After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism. Subjects he has covered have varied from breaking news, the arts, culture and sport to fashion, music and even radioactive waste – with everything in between. He’s also a regular reviewer and talking head on shows for the BBC and STV. ‘HellCorp’ is his second novel following his debut, ‘Morbid Relations’.Social Media links:

Website: https://urbanepublications.com/authors/jonathan-whitelaw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDWhitelaw13
FB Author Page:https://www.facebook.com/JonathanWhitelawAuthor/