Dear Devil is Fine,
I don't really even know how to start this letter. You are beautiful and lyrical and completely otherworldly. Just your concept was striking and beautiful. I was so touched by the journey that the unnamed narrator goes through. He found himself questioning who is is, where he belongs in this world and what his contribution is to his son, and his family and the world as whole. Your story left me wondering and speechless. You are a thing of beauty and I lost myself in your world.

Do our stories write us or do we write our stories? A self aware, meta, deep, thought provoking story about a struggling Black author who looses his son and then inherits a piece of land - that turns out to be a plantation with skeletal remains of both enslaved people as well as plantation owners - from his white grandfather. The author struggles with his own present as well as coming face to face with his historically difficult past. This book was beautifully told and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with it. Only issue was the ending was not my favorite - but that’s just me.

"Devil Is Fine" by John Vercher is a Blend of Family and Literary Fiction with Touches of Magical Realism!

Our unnamed narrator is a biracial American author who leads us through this story speaking in his head to his recently deceased teenage son, Malcolm. He is ravaged with grief, resulting in debilitating panic attacks.

Days after the funeral, he receives a letter from an attorney concerning beachfront property Malcolm inherited from his estranged white maternal grandfather, Malcolm's great-grandfather. As his son's next of kin, this property now falls to him.

What begins as a quick trip south to view and sell the property, ends with unexpected news from an on-site inspection. Our unnamed narrator feels himself spinning in the aftermath of the tragic death of his only child and the shock of what is on this inherited land...

"Devil is Fine" is the first book I've read by this author and there is much to love about Vercher's beautiful writing, choice of sensitive topics, and flawed characters. This is one of the best books I've read this year and, at less than 300 pages and 9 hours, it's a perfect choice as an immersion read. The audiobook, magnificently narrated by Dion Graham and one of the best narrations I've experienced, was my preference, but either format will deliver a memorable read.

I felt compassion for our unnamed narrator who struggles with his biracial identity, his intense grief, and the bridges he's burned in his relationships. His spiral was hard to witness as he continued making poor choices, yet, I was mesmerized by the author's use of Magical Realism which left me questioning what was real, imagined, or mystical, and feeling much like the unnamed narrator felt.

If you enjoy a blend of Family and Literary Fiction with touches of Magical Realism that leave you wondering, "Devil is Fine" is a satisfying option I highly recommend!

5⭐

Thank you to Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and John Vercher for a DRC and an ALC of this book through NetGalley. It has been a pleasure to give my honest and voluntary review.

Devil is Fine is a slightly crazy story but one that does an impressive job of exploring the relationship between Black men and their sons. The narrator, a biracial author, serves as both the son and the father in the story. The events take place in the aftermath of his son’s death, and he spends much of the book talking to his son as he attempts to reconcile his parenting and the events unfolding around him. I don’t envy the balance of raising a child with the awareness of the unfairness the world will treat them with, especially when you’d rather treat them as the most precious thing in the world to you. The narrator experiences this with his own father, and then becomes the father imparting the same lessons to his son. Their relationship not on the best of terms when Malcolm dies leaves the narrator bereft and struggling to cope. Then an inheritance left to his son by his white grandfather creates a whole new problem he was never expecting to deal with. And I haven’t mentioned the book he’s written that neither the university he works for or the publishing world is thrilled with. Amongst all the stressors in his life he begins mixing his anti-anxiety medication and alcohol, and that mixed with a jellyfish sting takes him and the reader through some pretty trippy moments. It’s at some of these moments that the book got a little weird for me, but I enjoyed the overall messages about relationships, taking a stand for your beliefs, and the struggle to find yourself.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the read.

It's a slow book, but it picks up a bit with its wry humor and strange but compelling imagery. I struggled a bit with the audiobook narrator but the interesting writing style made me push through.

John Vercher writes such discomfiting, surreal, compelling books...ones I cannot help but absolutely plow through despite the intense wish to put the story down and take a breath. I'm still thinking about it, and I doubt that will end soon. Another author added to my "no info needed--just preorder anything the publish" list.

The story reveals itself at its own speed and, while it did feel confusing at times, ultimately puts you deeper inside the narrator's experience of losing his son, coming to terms with his relationships, and reckoning with his own past[s]. What is real? What is right?

Listening to Dion Graham narrate the audiobook might honestly be the best way to experience this book. He performs rather than reads, and listening to him made the musicality of Vercher's language stand out all the more against the violence of the story. Truly an excellent format and narrator for Vercher.

4.5⭐️


With exquisite prose, dark humor, complex characters and a gripping narrative that revolves around themes of grief, trauma, fatherhood, racial identity and legacy, I found Devil Is Fine by John Vercher hard to put down.

As the novel begins, we meet our unnamed narrator/protagonist, a biracial author born to a White mother and Black father, grappling with the recent loss of his teenage son Malcolm. When he inherits a plot of land from his estranged maternal grandfather, he wants nothing to do with the property and travels south to initiate all necessary formalities for its sale. However, a routine inspection of the land leads to a shocking discovery. As the dark history of the land and his ancestors is gradually revealed, our protagonist is traumatized by the implications.

Adding to his grief and pain are his strained personal relationships and the stress brought on by the fact that his latest manuscript isn’t generating much interest among publishing houses and that his inability to publish in recent years might make it difficult for him to hold on to his teaching position.

As our narrator slips back into old habits, triggering a downward spiral, what follows is a fever dream-like journey wherein the lines between reality and imagination begin to blur, past and present collapses into a hallucinatory series of events that force our protagonist to confront his complicated feelings about his legacy and explore how the same has impacted the most important aspects of his life.

The narrative is shared from the PoV of our unnamed protagonist in the form of a one-sided conversation with his deceased son. The author has deftly woven an element of magical realism into the narrative, creating a tension-filled almost claustrophobic vibe but also injects enough dry humor into the narrative so as not to overwhelm. The strength of this novel lies in its in-depth exploration of the protagonist's psyche – his beliefs, his motivations, his inner conflict and his worldview - as he wavers between moments of lucidity and phantasmagoria. The supporting characters are well thought out, and from their interactions with our narrator we are provided an insightful look into how he is perceived by those who know him/ come to know him as opposed to his self-perception. We might question our narrator's choices, because at times, his motivations are difficult to understand, but at no point do we stop rooting for him to emerge from his traumatized state and embark on a journey of self-acceptance, forgiveness, healing and redemption.

I appreciated the significance of the cover art - which is indicative of the symbolism of the jellyfish, which is integral to the narrative - more after reading the book. I only wish that we were given a bit more insight into past events and the history of the plantation.

I paired my reading with the incredible audio narration by Dion Graham who brought this story, the setting and the characters to life making for an intense immersion reading experience.

Overall, I thought this was a brilliantly crafted work of literary fiction that I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy character-driven narratives with an element of magical realism.

Many thanks to Celadon Books for the digital review copy and Macmillan Audio for ALC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was a little stunned after reading this book. It was so beautiful, unique, and mesmerizing. I kind of felt like I had woken up from a trance when I was done; the writing was so beautiful. With the added layers of magical realism to this story, and the slight sarcasm and dry humor, the heavy subjects of grief and racism are tackled in a non-heavy hitting way. It still makes your heart hurt, but with the feeling that everything is going to be okay.

I did a tandem read & listen to this book, and while I LOVED the narrators voice, I preferred to go back and read what I had listened to so I could recapture some of his writing. I don’t know how to explain it, but seeing the words written out helped his writing really sink in.

Overall a fantastic book. If you’re a fan of literary fiction and beautiful prose, with a light dose of magical realism, you’ll love this book.

Wow. I had the double good fortune of receiving both the Kindle ARC from Goodreads and the Audio ARC from NetGalley, and my only hesitation is about which to recommend more strongly. If you're able, I loved the ability to to switch between them - the audio narrator is AMAZING (like to the point that you feel sorry for anyone who will have to follow that in a future film/TV adaptation), but being able to read the emails, articles, and comment sections in their natural habitat of a digital screen gives them the context they deserve.

This absolute masterpiece deserves to be unraveled as it's read, so I don't want to give away more than the synopsis already does. My only caveat is that if you do not enjoy meta storytelling in which the telling is part of the story, you may be frustrated or find later parts of the narrative a bit fussy - but push past that, because this is a story that needs to be heard.

You will giggle like a nine year old finding the hidden adult section of a gift shop, sob like someone who's lost everything they ever cared about (or was told they should care about) right down to their literal body and soul, punch the wall like you've just realized how the systems of oppression are built into public policies you've never even had a reason to think about (unless you've inherited an unexcavated historical site), and be filled with the joy of finding a fellow Different World fan all these years later.

You'll also rarely go a full page without tingling with joy at the wordplay, dialogue, commentary, and literary industry jargon that recalls everything from mid-century pulp fiction to 90's Pulp Fiction and leaves you with a desire to paint the best quotes onto every surface in your sight line.

And also buy a box of horny toads.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Goodreads and NetGalley for this one.

3.5⭐️s This book hits on mental health, grief and struggles with identity and so many more relatable problems. This story is about a man who loses his son and while struggling with that loss inherits an old plantation. The man is mixed and the land came from his white side of the family. During a soil test they find remains, some were children and with that brings more grief and guilt from a past that he feels ashamed of. Then we see our MC struggle with his mental health and what’s real and what’s not.
The writing is beautiful. There are parts that I felt confused by but I think that was kinda the goal, our MC is confused too. The last 10% of the book gave me chills multiple times. I enjoyed it.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audiobooks for granting me the opportunity to have this book in exchange for an honest review.

John Vercher's writing is strong in "Devil is Fine," drawing you straight into the complicated heart of the main character, a biracial father grappling with the loss of his teenage son. After recently inheriting a plot of land from his white relatives and feeling unmoored from his family's tragedy, he travels to the south to prepare the land for sale. While there, he begins to experience strange visions and comes to realize that the land was once the site of a former slave plantation.

The main character is at times unlikeable — he hasn't made the best choices and his life reflects that. Still, you can't help but feel for him and cheer him on. This book was unique, compelling, and somewhat dreamlike as Vercher explores themes of family, loss, racial inequalities, slavery, justice, father-son relationships, forgiveness, and redemption — all in a complex, subtly nuanced way that feels relatably human.

While I will admit that the cover didn't initially attract me (though others are drawn to it just fine), I can see how it's a perfect illustration of the story. My only wish in an otherwise striking reading experience was for more of the back story for the slaves who once inhabited and died with the land. I felt there could have been a much larger theme and emotional statement in this area — though the man's own grief packs a sufficient punch.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and John Vercher for an advance copy for honest review. This was my first John Vercher novel and I'll definitely be seeking out more.

Wow, this was incredible on audiobook. The narrator did an incredible job! The story itself is also very interesting, layering a building sense of mystery with smart commentary on race, grief, and identity. At no point did I guess what was coming next! After this I'll be sure to look for more of Vercher's writing.

Damn this book was amazing. I love an unreliable narrator and the MC of this book cannot trust their own mind. Are they being haunted? Are they going insane? Are they turning into a jellyfish?
As a biracial author living in America, I myself, related to this story so much. The angst *chefs kiss. The beautiful writing *chefs kiss.
If John Vercher writes another novel I will DEFINETLY read it.

“Devil is Fine” by John Vercher was an unexpected treasure for me last week. Approaching it with no expectations, I discovered a beautifully raw and unapologetic exploration of grief.

The narrative follows a biracial man, an author, who is mourning the loss of his son while inheriting a plot of land from his estranged white grandfather. From the very first chapter, I was captivated; my heart raced as the story unfolded.

The book seamlessly transitions between past and present, with parts written in a monologue form, alternating between the narrator’s perspectives as an adult father and as a son. This structure effectively conveys a heartbreaking journey filled with self-reflection and gut-wrenching discoveries.

The complexities of father-son relationships and the nuances of parenting are exquisitely depicted. The novel delves deeply into themes of grief, identity struggles, guilt, racial issues, and reconciling with a painful past. Elements of magical realism, mystery, and tragedy are interwoven so skillfully that they sent shivers down my spine. The poetic prose provided a stunning backdrop to this deeply moving story.

“Devil is Fine” is profoundly thought-provoking, and the narrator’s pain resonated through every page. One particular part moved me to tears, especially as a parent, overwhelming me with emotion.

I was fortunate to receive both an audio ALC and an electronic copy of “Devil is Fine,” which I read in tandem. Dion Graham’s narration was spectacular. I extend my thanks to @macmillan.audio @celadonbooks and @jverchwrites for providing these copies in exchange for an honest review. Vercher’s accessibility and willingness to answer some of my questions were greatly appreciated.

I highly recommend this book. If you get the chance, be sure to pick it up.

Thank you to the author, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

First and foremost, I want Dion Graham to narrate all audiobooks forever, That was amazing. He brought this grieving father to life and held my attention even during, maybe especially during, the most sorrowful parts of this story.

Devil Is Fine is a beautiful story of grief as experienced by a biracial man. Its exploration is poignant and important and I highly recommend this book to all readers.

This was a heartbreaking moving and beautiful written story that deals with loss and race and so much more.

The lyrical writing and characters that faced adversity but kept their humor a times made this book a fantastic read. It had my emotions on a roller coaster as I read.

I will definitely be adding Vercher to my list of need to read authors.

Read if you like:
⏳ Historical Fiction Vibes
🖤 Discussions on Race
😭 Grief
🥂 Alcoholism
✨ Magical Realism

This book is one that absolutely will make you immersed in the story telling and be hard to put down because of the style it was written with.

The book felt like a memoir and like I was sitting having a story told to me at a bar with friends all while delivering a fictional story with elements of magical realism that truly delve into the emotional and mental state of the main character further.

The way that race and racism in America was discussed truly laid out feelings that I have as a white woman in a way that was so much deeper and more involved than my own anger because of my lack of lived experiences to feel it deeper because I personally haven’t been effected by performative DEIA trends that have moved as being in trend to now being out of trend, this was further deepened by the use of the words “I can’t breathe” while our main character was being pinned down by the police in once scene, this one scene alone was so triggering and visceral and so important.

The discussion of being lost, not knowing who you are, all while struggling with depression, loss, anger, and addition were so well done and these heavy topics were covered with care, and truly the use of the imagery with the jellyfish further pushed these difficult conversations and topics home even harder for me as the reader.

If you are looking for your next read, you truly can’t go wrong with this book, especially with the timing of it’s publication being the day prior to Juneteenth on the 4th anniversary of being a recognized federal holiday in America.

Thank you so much to Celadon for my ARC and to Macmillan Audio for my ALC in exchange for my review. This is a book I’ve already recommended and will continue to think about for a while to come.

I’m struggling with just how to describe this phenomenal book. Devil Is Fine is far more than just fine. Featuring lyrical prose, incredibly timely themes, and a sympathetic narrator, I was moved from the first page to the last as I read this indescribable book.

Our narrator is a grieving father who’s just lost his only son. He’s also a biracial man who finds out he’s inherited a plantation. Either of these two themes would have made for an excellent story, but together they weave an even more complex tale. Add in an additional element of magical realism and wow. This last at first blush seemed almost absurd in this context, but it became much more compelling if also perplexing as the story progressed. It worked like a sort of poetry, pulling together the difficult personal and social issues this story explored so exquisitely.

Dion Graham did an excellent job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you John Vercher, Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Devil is fine was a really surprising and moving story about identity. The way this story comes together is entirely unpredictable and gripping. Beyond that, the way that the story is written to "you" really continued to draw me in.

I was granted access to an audio ARC of Devil is Fine and I thought the narrator was very well done, it felt like listening to a movie! Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

Devil Is Fine opens as an unnamed narrator is driving to his son’s funeral. The biracial father is an author and professor who never got to mend his rocky relationship with his teenaged son. He’s definitely lost, depressed, and regretful as he wonders his next steps. He soon learns that his maternal grandfather on his mother’s white side left beachfront land for his son that has now fallen into his lap. He travels to the beach town that he has mixed emotions and memories toward to decide what to do with the property. He expects it to be a quick trip but the history of the land proves to be troubled, leaving him to be much more involved. Throughout the book, he is in conversation with his late son as well as his ancestors. He struggles with his grief through alcohol and begins having visions, adding a magical realism element that really elevated the story. I’m leaving a lot out in the hopes that you all will add this one to your TBR and check it out for yourselves! I’m so glad to have discovered this author (thanks to NetGalley) and I can’t wait to read more by John Vercher! After finishing this, I also had to add more audiobooks read by the narrator, Dion Graham, to my TBR!