Order FIREPROOF here
Order WEE ROCKETS here
"I told you to call me Master!"
The sonic boom burst Mike's eardrums and peeled back his eyelids. But he heard the entire command in his mind and so all the confusion was avoided. Mike resolved to show respect to this guy at all times. It was, in his opinion, the most sensible thing to do.
"Sorry, Master," Mike said. "Can I please have a new body now? This one seems to have outlived its usefulness. Please I really am in a huge amount of agony."
I'm not big on paranormal novels. My reasoning goes as follows: you come off as a huge raisin if written too seriously and you come off as a huge raisin if it's not. It's a variable to handle with care and most times, it's handled like porcelain on a strung out bicycle courier's bag. The idea of Gerard Brennan writing a bizarro novel about the birth of true Satanism was intriguing to me because he has already written a novel full of texture and nuances, which leads me to think he has the necessary subtlety to write a paranormal novel that works. So did he? Yes, he did...or somewhat. FIREPROOF is crammed full of terrific ideas, but the delivery isn't always efficient.
Protagonist Mike Rocks was dead and rotting in hell, being devoured everyday by a giant demon worm. Satan realizes there is an issue when the terror and agony are wearing off on Mike's damned soul. There is only one reason why this would happen. Mike isn't supposed to be there. So the Prince of Darkness takes a drastic decision and sends him back to Earth with a purpose: Establish true Satanism. This seems simple enough, but Mike being a straightforward, good and earnest soul, it's not easy for him to be that guy and taking over the religious realm quickly devolves into a trial-and-error journey. But the thing with religion is that it's something human. Therefore nothing about it is black and white, good or evil, automatically successful or bound for failure. Mike isn't perfect, but he's a good-natured workhorse and his efforts go a surprisingly long way.
FIREPROOF isn't really a bizarro novel. It's more of an absurd, politically-loaded comedy, thinly veiled as bizarro. There is no real desire to confuse or to create surreal, haunting imagery for an aesthetic purpose alone. Gerard Brennan is always very clear about his intent. I had my issues with how the novel was structured as it has a clear point of entry, yet it stops, rather than finishes. I'm aware it's a school-of-thoughts thing. Brennan did the same thing for WEE ROCKETS, yet it worked better there, since it was a novel more literary in its nature. I think FIREPROOF would've benefited from a more classic genre structure because it banked on genre elements a lot more, namely comedy and paranormal. Having a clear, maybe even predictable structure would've free'd the ideas vehicled by the novel from any narrative purpose and would've stood out for what they really were. Ideas.
Mike twitched violently and threw a punch over his right shoulder. He twisted his body at the waist as if the punch had carried him around.
"There's an imp on my shoulder!"
Mike voice cracked. He sobbed dramatically although in reality he was overjoyed. He'd silenced the imp with the awkward punch.
But let's leave aesthetic considerations aside and be fair to FIREPROOF. It's a novel of ideas, so let's review it as such. Because the ideas carried by the novel are great. Gerard Brennan has something to say about the nature of religion. The relationship between Mike and his minion Jim, in particular, was loaded with meaning as Jim starts changing and improving as he starts to believe in Satanism. But the religion, as Mike designed it, is just a set of values, the very base of spirituality. That puts an interesting perspective of the idea of faith, I thought. Whatever you believe in, it anchors you and defines you. Whether it's a big bearded man in the sky or just a behavior, it's going to give you a baseline for your ambitions. This idea also transpired through a beautiful discussion between Mike and a bishop, that has nothing religious or confrontational about it.
FIREPROOF is subtle, inquisitive and respectful of its readers' beliefs. Like the great works of narrative arts, its main intent is to tell a story, rather than burn an ideology to the ground. That's this gracefulness of intent that makes the novel come alive. Brennan deconstructs the concept of values through his narrative and demonstrate its obvious potency as a motor for human nature. Having values, choosing your side and standing for something makes you a better and more relevant human being than if you stand for nothing outside yourself. That's the main statement that FIREPROOF examines and it makes quite a good point for its argument. I thought the story could've been told better, but it carries its point across anyway and does it rather beautifully. FIREPROOF is a thorough examination of values in an era where they tend to disappear.
THREE STARS