Theology student Hudson has just won the lottery, but not just any lottery—Satan’s lottery. Only eleven people in all of human history have been so honored since Lucifer’s fall from Heaven in 5318 B.C. All Hudson need do is say “yes,” and he will receive an all-expenses-paid tour of Hell, and his tour-guide is the damned soul of H. P. Lovecraft, the greatest horror writer of all time…
And into the Abyss, Hudson ventures, to witness carnal pleasures that boggle the mind and horrors piled upon horrors within the smoking, screaming metropolis that is now Lucifer’s domain. But will Hudson make the ultimate choice and disavow his salvation to become an aristocrat in Hell?
A spinoff of City Infernal.
This novel contains examples of:
- And I Must Scream: There are so, so many ways to end up like this in Hell. The Hellborn are the lucky ones, because they can at least die; the Human Damned have no such escape.
- Arc Number: Six. Everything in Hell has to be done in increments of six. Hudson eventually gets frustrated with how relentless it is.
- The Corruptible: The purpose of the Senary is to show that everyone can be corrupted, even the saintliest of people. So far it's worked perfectly.
- Deal with the Devil: Hudson is offered one; as a completely pure and good person, Lucifer is willing to offer him an eternity of unimaginable luxury in Hell if he freely and willingly turns his back on God. Subverted in the end, as it turns out that Lucifer has no intention of honouring his side of the bargain.
- Death Seeker: Gerold wants to die. The world seems determined to make it hard for him.
- The Devil Is a Loser: Hudson points out that with the resources Lucifer has at his disposal, he could do very nearly anything, but instead he just spends all his time trying to spite God as hard as possible. Howard doesn't disagree.
- Fallen Angel: Ezoriel is one, though he seems to have had a change of heart and is now working against Lucifer.
- Golem: Commonly used as mindless servants and grunt soldiers in Hell. The Demonculus is constructed to be the biggest and most powerful one imaginable, standing 666 feet high.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Lucifer hates all humans, but he hates female ones especially much and tries to make sure they suffer especially much in Hell. He ordered his entire palace built from severed, still-living female heads for this reason.
- Industrialized Evil: Hell has a complex economy that tries to eternally torment people in ways that has side benefits, such as using pain to generate power.
- La Résistance: There is an insurgency in Hell trying to sabotage Lucifer's works. Very occasionally they even succeed.
- Rivers of Blood: The Gulf of Cagliostro is a sea of blood and sewage. In fact, there is barely any real water in Hell at all - there is a plan afoot to steal a large quantity from Earth.
- The Legions of Hell: Favius and Buyoux are soldiers in Hell's vast army.
- I Lied: Hudson is promised a long life of wealth and perfect safety followed by an afterlife as a Privilato in return for his soul. Then he dies almost immediately after signing the contract, and it turns out that they call Lucifer the father of lies for a reason...
- Mister Seahorse: Lucifer has recently implemented a new directive whereby everyone and everything in Hell, male or female, living or dead, animate or inanimate, must be capable of getting pregnant.
- Noble Demon: Favius is genuinely brave, conscientous, selfless and lives only to serve the glory of Lucifer. While everyone in Hell takes care to claim as much, it's implied that Favius is rare in that he's actually sincere; Buyoux claims that Favius is the only person he can genuinely trust.
- Stupid Evil: Everything in Hell is messed up, broken and makes no sense, because sense is pleasing to God and Hell is set up to be as displeasing to God as possible.
- The Villain Wins: In some of the subplots, albeit not all of them. Hudson submits to the Senary, continuing its winning streak, and is Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves. The attempt to steal six billion gallons of fresh water from Earth goes off without a hitch. Favius ends up on Earth, where he will go on to do the Devil's work in Lakehouse Infernal. That said, the Demonculus ends up hijacked by Gerold who's going to use it to stomp around and wreck up Hell for the rest of eternity, which is undeniably a setback for Team Lucifer, but still, two out of three ain't bad.
- Wicked Cultured: Howard has read all the classics and dislikes it when people swear, but he's perfectly accepting of the atrocities all around him.
- Women Are Wiser: Of the eleven existing Privilati, only one is female. Howard claims that women are "more concrete about their notions of sin versus redemption."
