The Devil's Intern

Starred review from September 1, 2014
A comic, time-traveling trip to Hell and back. After four years in Hell, Mitchell thinks he's found a way to escape by going back in time and preventing his death. Inside Hell's vast bureaucracy, he works as an intern to Septimus in the accounting department. It seems that most souls go to Hell rather than Up There, as the damned call Heaven. Hell is becoming seriously overcrowded and has financial issues. When Mitchell learns that Septimus has possession of the Viciseomater, a pocket-watch-like time-travel device, he unites with almost-girlfriend Medusa and best friends Alfarin, a Viking prince from the year 970, and his girlfriend, Elinor, who died in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The team first lands in New York and checks into the Plaza. Unsurprisingly, things don't go according to plan, and the group begins to sense that some nasty characters from Hell are after them. Hosie writes with a decidedly wry comic style even as she unfolds her dramatic story. The worst job in Hell, cleaning out the ground-floor toilets, is reserved, for example, for reality TV stars. For all the story's lightness, she doesn't ignore the ever present problem of paradox: What happens if these characters succeed in preventing their own deaths? Just outstanding fun for those who enjoy snarky comedy and suspense. (Paranormal suspense. 12-18)

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Starred review from September 1, 2014

Gr 10 Up-Hosie has written a book that will not only entertain but maybe even enlighten. Seventeen-year-old Mitchell Johnson has spent the last four years in Hell, where he is the Devil's intern in the accounting office. With the number of new arrivals on the rise, Hell's finances are strained. Fortunately, the Devil has a plan to use his Viciseometer, a time-travel device, to limit the number of those destined for Hell. Mitchell sees it as an opportunity to change his fate and revisit the day he met his fate with a bus. After stealing the Viciseometer, he travels back to the past with three of his friends (a Viking prince, a 17th-century peasant, and a wild-haired gal from the 1960s) and attempts to alter history, only to learn that life and death are complicated and unpredictable. Interesting characters, nonstop adventure, and humor with a touch of heart will not disappoint teens looking for a dark comedy. Glimpses of the afterlife could also spark discussion among readers.-Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
Grades 7-10 In a tale that swings from dead funny to dead serious, four deceased teens steal a chance for an earthly do-over. Four years into an afterlife that's so like its predecessor that new residents retain their zits, Mitchell holds a nice gig in Hell's accounting department and hangs out with an ex-Viking, a victim of London's Great Fire, and Melissa, who fell off the Golden Gate Bridge in 1967. But when he learns that the stopwatch-like Viciseometer that his demonic boss keeps in storage is a time-travel device, Mitchell enlists his buddies in a scheme to prevent their deaths. Things go awry in no time because, as it turns out, all involved have secrets and counteragendas of their own. Along with setting up a series of headlong visits to various eras, Hosie incorporates uncommonly savvy thinking about the paradoxes and logical consequences of changing the past. Mitchell may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but he does show sufficient measures of decency and loyalty along the way to a well-deserved redemption.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)