Mal and his friends are just your regular average kids from hell. The suburbs that is, not the fiery pit part. But when Hell’s Bells ring out—signaling that a soul has escaped from one of the eternal circles, Mal and his friends can’t help but take the opportunity for a little adventure.
Before they know it, they’ve somehow slipped through the veil and found themselves in the middle of Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night. And what’s even worse, they’ve managed to bring the escaped soul with them! As the essence of one of history’s greatest manipulators gains power by shifting the balance on Earth, Mal and his squad-mates—along with some new friends that they meet along the way—work desperately to trap the escapee, save the people of Earth from the forces of evil, and find the portal back to their own dimension.
If they can’t manage it before their parents realize they’re gone, they’ll be grounded for an eternity. And an eternity in hell is a very, very long time.
The book was followed by a sequel, The Afterlife of the Party, in 2023.
This book includes examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: As Malachi points out, the grownups only make things worse throughout the story. The guardians of the Pit let Samuel Parris escape and fail to recapture him, and when he's set loose in Salem, the best solution from Heaven is to simply destroy the town to prevent his influence from spreading. Cassandra is more concerned with dragging the kids to Heaven instead of helping them stop Parris and save the town up until near the end. Even after the kids successfully recapture Parris, the adults are too busy arguing with each other to notice, with Sean's dad scoffing at the idea that the kids could fix the problem and the thrones still attempting to go through with cleansing the town.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: Both Celestial and infernal forces, and others beyond that, are responsible for maintaining the balance that keeps Chaos, the being, locked away and preventing all of existence from falling to its influence. Parris tipping the balance threatens to undo all of that.
- Big Bad: Samuel Parris is the escaped soul responsible for plunging Salem into chaos and tipping the balance between good and evil.
- Bisexual Love Triangle: Downplayed. Malachi is shown to express mild crushes on both Lilith and Sean, but it's not a particular source of conflict for him.
- Circles of Hell: The Pit is divided into nine circles, with souls sent to whichever circle best fit their most predominate evil trait. The first pit is for apathy, the second jealousy, the third theft, the fourth greed, the fifth wrath, the sixth liars, the seventh violent, the eighth manipulators, and the ninth holds the Cage. Samuel Parris is from the eight circle.
- City of the Damned: The "normal" residents of Hell reside in a suburban area, with only human souls imprisoned in the Pit.
- The Corrupter: Samuel Parris plunges Salem into chaos by influencing its residents into engaging in wicked and harmful acts, such as mugging and assault, all the while using the chaos to strengthen himself.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The powers reside in Hell, are considered Fallen Angels by the residents of Heaven, and have large, black wings. However, they play an important role in guarding the souls of the Pit and keeping all of creation safe from its evil.
- Escaped from Hell: The plot is kicked off when Samuel Parris escapes from the Pit and is unwittingly brought to Salem by Malachi and his friends, forcing them to have to recapture him.
- Fallen Angel: The powers, aka Hell's angels, are considered this by Heaven's residents.
- Fish out of Water: Malachi and his squad quickly find themselves out of their element upon arriving on Earth, though Lilith, as the squad's Intelligence, is more knowledgeable when it comes to Earth's customs.
- Five-Man Band: The main group is composed of the three powers, leader Malachi, intelligence Lilith and magician Crowley, and their two witch allies, Sean and Charity.
- Food as Bribe: Imps can be bribed with nougat into letting people cross the gate without logging them, something Malachi and his friends take advantage of.
- Godhood Seeker: Parris' goal, once he's obtained enough power, is to do away with Heaven and Hell entirely and turn the world into his Kingdom Come.
- Hate Plague: Parris' influence has this effect on the residents of Salem. While it initially only manifests as mere losses of inhibitions, as he gains power, he begins to more overtly take control of the townsfolk and turn them into an Ax-Crazy mob out to kill the heroes.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Samuel Parris is an evil soul who escapes from Hell to wreak havoc in Salem, Massachusetts and tips the balance between good and evil out of order. He's also depicted as having near-singlehandedly orchestrated the Salem witch trials out of greed.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Parris is released on Halloween night, or Samhain as Hell's residents refer to it as. Justified as that's when the veil between dimensions is thinnest.
- Infernal Fugitives: When Parris escapes from the Pit, the powers are tasked with tracking him down. The responsibility ends up falling upon Malachi and his friends when they unwittingly return him to the mortal coil.
- The Kindnapper: Cassandra the seraphim attempts to drag Malachi and his friends to Heaven against their wishes, both to save them from Salem's destruction and out of a misguided belief that they would be happier there. She doesn't grasp that Hell is their actual home and that she'd be separating them from their loved ones until it's pointed out to her.
- Loss of Inhibitions: Parris initially influences the town by removing peoples' inhibitions and causing them to act on impulse.
- Manipulative Bastard: Samuel Parris' defining trait is his manipulativeness, to the point he was imprisoned in the eight circle of Hell, which is reserved for manipulators. In life, he orchestrated the Salem witch trials to take his victims' property, and upon returning to Salem as a spirit, uses his influence to subtly, and later overtly, manipulate its residents into causing havoc in order to gain power.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Parris wouldn't have gotten loose in the mortal coil had Malachi and his friends not strayed towards the veil. While he had escaped from the Pit, he was still barred from entering the earthly realm, as souls can only travel there with a power. The kids sneaking towards the veil allowed him to cross through with them and enter the mortal coil.
- Not Now, Kiddo: After the kids have captured Parris, they attempt to explain to their parents and the thrones that the threat has been neutralized, only to be initially dismissed by the adults, who are too busy bickering with each other to notice.
- Our Demons Are Different: They're human souls who've been corrupted by their own evil into something new, as is implied to be what's happening with Parris.
- Our Imps Are Different: They're residents of Hell and serve as gatekeepers between the interdimensional voids.
- Papa Wolf: Malachi's dad threatens to kill Sean's dad if he harms his son.
- Purgatory and Limbo: Purgatory is one of the great hereafters and is reserved for those who seem redeemable. Malachi mentions that repentant souls in the Pit can earn time and be sent to Purgatory for a more peaceful existence.
- Salem Is Witch Country: The witch coven Sean and Charity's parents are from use Salem as a base of operations and frequent it regularly, though they don't live there full-time.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The human witches the squad befriends consist of the down-to-earth Sean and the enthusiastic Charity.
- Screw Destiny: Malachi despises his predestined role as a guardian of the Pit, especially as he fears it will ruin his friendship with his assigned squad. This leads him to seek out a spark of creation, hoping it will change his fate. By the end, Malachi has come to accept his future role, resolving to do it his way.
- Sinister Minister: Samuel Parris was the reverend of Salem centuries in the past, and used his position to orchestrate the Salem witch trials. Upon taking over the town in the present, he takes up this position once more and has his followers attempt to kill the heroes.
- Summoning Ritual: The kids and Cassandra perform one in order to summon the soul of Sarah Good, one of the falsely accused during the Salem witch trials and someone with a personal history with Parris, to help capture him.
- Trapped in Another World: Malachi and his friends find themselves in this predicament when they enter the mortal coil, as they're magically barred from returning to Hell until they recapture Parris.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Malachi and his squad friends, Crowley and Lilith.
- Unfeeling Heavens: Downplayed. Heavens' solution to Parris escaping into Salem is to simply smite the entire town to keep his influence from spreading, and attempt to go through with this even after the threat has been neutralized.
- Upsetting the Balance: Parris tipping the balance between good and evil tears veils between the dimensions and threatens to bring down all of creation.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Malachi's squad call him out upon discovering that not only does he have a spark of creation, an object of near infinite possibilities, and didn't use it earlier to stop Parris, but that he was planning to use it to escape becoming a guardian of the Pit.
- Malachi calls out the thrones for attempting to wipe out an entire town just to prevent Parris' influence from spreading.
- Winged Humanoid: All angels have wings, with powers, such as Malachi and his friends, having black-feathered ones.
- Witch Hunt: In the past, Samuel Parris orchestrated the Salem witch trials, primarily to profit off the mass hysteria. Upon taking over Salem in the present, he briefly restarts them, having his followers capture Charity and attempt to execute her.
- Women Are Wiser: Lilith is the squad's Intelligence and is the most knowledgeable of Earth's customs.
- You Are Grounded!: What the kids fear will happen to them if their parents find out that not only did they sneak out while the neighborhood was under lockdown, but they brought an evil soul to Earth with them. Even after they capture Parris, they ultimately do end up getting grounded, anyways.
