Digital Reads Reviews

This book started out with low level demon minion, Roach, wanting to prove his worth to his boss Satan. All for wanting to be the lead in the next demonic production of Dante’s Inferno. Roach goes rogue, comes up to Earth in disguise, along with his best friend Scorch decides to go after Larry’s soul, follows him around, creates trouble… And yes, he gets attacked too… BY CATS!! Tiny house cats!!

This was a different genre read for me, a literary humorous fiction by Mary M. Schmidt. The cover had me quaking in my boots, I wasn’t sure what the eye symbolized… Not sure even now after reading the book… Maybe it was the tiny house cat’s EYE. The story basically followed Roach and Larry Kavanaugh & family.

The book itself was funny in parts. Roach was not very smart, he was threatened by bounty hunters, he was attacked by cats, he went off on minor escapades. His plans never fell into place, I would call them disaster. But that provided the humor as Roach went on jaunts with with best friend Scorch, Satan’s IT engineer, interjecting the prose at the right moments. I liked the Roach parts more than the rest. He made Dorothy a pawn in his plan, soon possessed her. Ah… Dorothy was Kavanaugh family friend and Larry’s affair…

Larry was uggghhh, he was unlikable, infidel, overall a selfish guy. He had sold his soul to the Devil, so to say. His wife Kathleen was shown a nag to begin with, but later developed into a stronger character fighting against Roach’s plans alongside her sister, Grace. There was some serious evil vs good kinda fight and exorcism.

The story had its fun moments, but there were my niggles. It was disjointed, not cohesive, the writing could be polished.

On the whole, it was enjoyable in parts, thanks to Roach and Scorch. I received a digital copy of the book from the author, and this is my honest, straight from the heart opinion.

Mary M. Schmidt is a graduate of Notre Dame University in Baltimore. She spent time in Rome during the ’60s, getting to know the feral cats. Her previous book, Cat Lady, is about that experience. Cat Lady won the Jaffalogue’s Picks award for best long narrative published in 2015.
Mary works for a local hospice doing transitions, that is, assisting terminal patients with their end of life procedure. This is not in the least bit depressing!
Mary makes her home near Annapolis with her cat Graycie.

Larry Kavanaugh is an ordinary kind of guy. He’s got a nagging wife and two kids, both annoyingly gifted. No matter what he does, there is no end to what his family needs. What’s a regular, everyday guy to do? Well, he cuts a few corners, obviously – one very big corner. He sells his soul to the Devil.
Maybe it’s not the actual Devil, but Larry is ready to make a deal with one of the Devil’s minions. He meets some demon whose name he can’t remember. Funny, it was right on the tip of his tongue, a name of something you step on. Roach the Demon has sort of good intentions. He just wants a re-write of Dante’s Inferno with himself as the star.
Roach goes after Larry as a rogue operation. He needs to make a point to his boss, Satan, so he uses the body of a human to follow Larry around and stir up trouble. He offers Larry an airtight guarantee that nothing could possibly go wrong. After all, Larry does not feel like he has much to lose – or does he? Even Roach might be in over his head this time.

Publication date : 16th May 2018

Publisher : Lulu Publishing Services

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/our-frail-disordered-lives-mary-m-schmidt/1128893351?ean=9781483485102

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40242779-our-frail-disordered-lives?ac=1&from_search=true

Lulu
http://www/lulu.com/content/paperback-book/our-frail-disordered-lives/22913129