The Devil's Rose is a 2007 illustrated novel by the artist and writer known as Brom.
Escapees from the fiery underworld fill the richly illustrated pages of this novel set in modern-day Texas. They terrify and slay the living while trying to elude the guards who have been sent to round them up. Cole, one of the undead, has been sent to reclaim these souls in flight and return them to the fiery depths. But one escaped soul is not like the others: Rath, who in fact wants to return to Hell. But why? And why does Cole, a tormented soul from hell, strive to capture his fellow hellmates? It has to do with a woman named Rose—a woman he has wronged—and a pact he made with the devil.
Provides examples of:
- All Myths Are True: While the Christian God and Satan exist, it is mentioned that the Gods of other religions and mythologies have also existed, Rath being one of them.
- Driven to Suicide: After being chased away by both Cole and the priest she was in confessional with, Rose slit her own wrists and bled out before Cole could apologize and propose to her, causing his Start of Darkness.
- Easy Road to Hell: The exact parameters of damnation are never expressly given, but killing another seems to be the main clicker. Jana killed her husband after being beaten by him for eight years to the point of going blind in one of her eyes, Jeb shot a man who tried to steal his mule (and his livelihood by proxy), Billy (who was fifteen) ended up killing a man in a panic in a financially desperate situation and Rath was a pagan god who died when all of his believers were killed by Christians and Cole, a Texas ranger out for revenge for Rose's death, burned down a church. Oddly enough, suicide is apparently not bad enough, Rose somewhere among the settlements in the afterlife away from Hell.
- From Bad to Worse: As bad as Hell is, those who try escaping it are hunted down, brought back and thrown into the Pit of Fire where they will burn non-stop for all of eternity.
- The Ghost: While he is never actually seen, it is strongly implied that Satan actually does rule Hell to some capacity.
- Good All Along: Despite using the damned souls he freed as a distraction, it turns out Rath wasn't that bad a guy all along. All he wanted was to escape Hell's torment via oblivion. Even after Cole shoots him with the intent of taking him and the souls he freed back to Hell, before he sinks into the River Lethe and wiping himself from existence, Rath removes the shackles from Cole, freeing him of his leash.
- The Nothing After Death: The only hope for anybody to escape the eternal torment of Hell is through the River Lethe, a river within the nether realm that destroys the soul permanently.
