The Weirdness: A Novel

Struggling writer Billy Ridgeway wakes up one morning to an impeccably dressed stranger sitting on his couch. The unexpected guest is Lucifer Morningstar, more widely known as the Devil. And when Satan offers coffee and an interesting proposition, Billy Ridgeway decides to take the coffee. A Japanese “beckoning cat” doll (Neko) has been stolen and its supernatural powers are dangerous to the world. Satan’s deal is this: If Billy helps to retrieve the Neko, in return his novel will be published and placed on the bestseller list. Appropriately titled, The Weirdness is a modern day Faustian novel.

There were some parts that were funny but mostly it was bizarre, and there was a point at which the novel got a bit too fantastical, while still engaging. Billy as a character is very interesting: he is a writer who is down on his luck, but has interesting quirks: for example, his very tangential mind that cannot focus on topics at hand. Lucifer Morningstar was also very cool. Calm and collected, his likeness to temptation wasn’t addressed a lot, but he was certainly cunning. This is a novel that doesn’t take itself too seriously at all, making it a fun read.