The Water Crystal Deal with the Devil

By Alfred Muller

The monster in his nightmares calls him friend, but Anthony Luther wants nothing to do with the Man-in-the-Dark, wishing only to disappear into the small town of Heckhaven, TN. Unfortunately for him, that town has a long memory and it remembers he caused a fire that killed one of their own. Ten years later Anthony learns that sharing a drink with someone in the abyss of the afterlife is more than it seems.

His best friend, Dezeray Lilet is able to overlook his past transgressions making life in the small town bearable, until another fire threatens to unravel his happiness. Already marked by the first fire Anthony doesn't think he'll be able to overcome a second. To make matters worse Dezeray has hidden her past from herself as a coping mechanism, but when Anthony's past resurfaces her own skeletons are pulled from the cobwebs of her mind unleashing her personal demons into the pot of chaos brewing.

All comes to a head when a demon crashes a graduation party and tips the pot flooding the town of Heckhaven with violence. Only then is a reluctant group of angels called Sciathan Zaldune dispatched to watch over Anthony, at least until the secrets of his past and his connection to the Man-in-the-Dark can be explained. Caught in an ancient struggle between good and evil Anthony finds himself forced to side against humanity to save himself and his few friends.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1088189776
• ISBN13: 9781088189771
• Release Date: March 2024
• Publisher: Alfred Muller
• Length: 462 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An intriguing story, fleshed out world, and deeply nuanced characters need cleaner writing and a tig

Potential: one word to sum up this novel and its author. The backdrop, a war between heaven and hell with earth caught in the middle, is an interesting premise but leads to problematic theology. God barely exists. People go to hell because their guardian angels fail to protect them on the way to heaven. These are just two of the problematic concepts. To be fair, the book is guided more by general principles of mythology than any specific religion, but it is still abrasive to my sensibilities since I am a Christian, the basic faith system explored in this novel. Despite its sacrilegious nature, the story is engaging. Its fantastic characters are the strongest part of the book. The protagonist, Anthony, is very relatable. Initially timid and self-loathing due to his past, he develops in realistic fashion. Though improvement is torturously slow at times, the pace of his arc gives it even more weight. To keep things grounded, he does not turn into a perfect character but develops new flaws alongside his strengths, flaws which I hope will play a role in later books. A standout supporting character is Dezeray. An interesting backstory and character logically based on her experience make this broken person sympathetic and likable. She is developed extensively enough that she could be a main character, but the book doesn’t always treat her as such. The rest of the supporting cast is a mixed bag. Some are caricatured and stupid, some are over the top, and others are a perfect mix. It is often difficult to tell which of the many supernatural and physical characters are the good guys, making for a dynamic read. By contrast, the plot is all over the place, and the pacing suffers for it. The same general arc drives the novel from beginning to end, but smaller plot arcs come and go in haphazard fashion. Most notably, Anthony changes location at one point, none of the supporting characters accompany him, and a new cast is introduced. Secondary plotlines are put on hold and new ones are introduced. The material of this section is interesting but feels like an intermission to rather than a continuation of the main storyline. From interpersonal conflict to superhero-esq fights between towering angels and demons, action in this novel is thrilling, well-described, and easy to visualize. Unfortunately, scenes lack cohesive arcs with little push and pull as each side gains or loses ground over time. Instead, characters bash at each other until one of them wins. The scenes aren’t bad, but they could be better. The writing is by far the weakest part of this book. Bad punctuation, missing/misspelled/wrong words, mixed tenses, run-on sentences, and general poor sentence structure abound. Paragraphs are often bloated with unnecessary sentences. On the other hand, dialogue is usually natural and raw in the best possible way, though sometimes it is hampered by poor attribution, lack of contractions, and stilted wording. Despite the plethora of writing errors, the strengths of the story make this weakness fade into the background to a certain extent. Normally I would rate this book two-stars on the writing alone; however, the story and characters are interesting enough to make it worth reading. The excellent aspects of the story are the most difficult to teach while the weakest ones are the simplest to fix. This is Muller’s first book, so he can certainly improve his skill with time. I will definitely read the sequel to these books and am excited for the future of this promising new author.