After thinking more about it, I have to give this 5 stars. I am stingy with 5 stars, but there it is.

I received the audiobook from NetGalley. The audio was released on Christmas Eve (after the September book release) and I fear this book may have been forgotten in the whirl of Holidays, Best Ofs, recaps, and future projections. Which is a shame, because this book is riveting, and unlike anything else I’ve read. The book narration is the best I’ve ever heard (more on that at the end).

This is a quiet book with hidden ambitions and an impact that lingers long after its final word. It is character-driven, and good god does Quatro write authentic voices. The first half is told from the POV of an old man, The Prophet, and its pace matches the old man’s—it is insular, dreamlike, almost languid. The second half of the book switches POVs to the girl, Michael, and the tone becomes desperate and jittery. Emotionally, this part of the book felt like the first 3/4s of Native Son. You have been warned.

But like I said, this book has ambitions, they’re just not yapping at us at the start. The book deals with religion, misogyny and class, of course. But also: isolation, friendship, and zealotry. Circumstance and complicity. Authenticity, free will, and “the self.” Is everyone really just playing a part, slaves to biology/desires/personalities? (The character who most typifies escape from circumstance and the courage to be his authentic self is The Prophet’s son, who escapes insular mountain life to create a cushy new life for himself in Nashville. He works as a Johnny Cash impersonator. Tricky, tricky, Quatro.)

The climax of this book, sandwiched between Michael’s chapters, is told in play form. And it was here that I thought the book may have jumped the shark. Why tell the story this way? I can only come back to the book’s focus on free will and complicity. Told this way, the reader sees the characters at a remove, a much different experience than previous chapters. The characters indeed are just playing parts, and the reader can judge them accordingly. But then Two-Step, our impish apparition, addresses the reader directly. The reader is now part of the story, complicit, and their judgements, rationalizations, backgrounds and inclinations will resolve the story especially for them. This is no different from the way reading any other book works, of course. But its impact is greater given the subject matter and is made flagrant with this narrative trick, the literary equivalent of the camera in Peeping Tom.

So that’s how my story resolved: a clever narrative trick charmed the shit out of me, who is prone to intellectualizing. I no doubt missed some things because this book is chock full to bursting, and my audio-processing is inferior to my language-processing. At some point I will read the book book. In the meantime, I’ll likely be disappointed with most of the books I read in comparison.

A note about the audio: narrator Christine Delaine is phenomenal. I hate unqualified praise like that (it is a difficult sentence for me to even write, despite being true), because it’s usually bullshit. But she is truly phenomenal. I am not the Appalachian kind of Southern, but I fully expected her to be from the South. I googled her, and while the results are inconclusive, I would hazard a guess that she is not. Just supremely talented and dedicated. Someone give her more novels to read.

Narrator kept me interested but the story itself was like a fever dream, pieces of story that fit into each other but not after stopping and reassessing yourself. If someone asked what the story is about, I couldn't give a summary, but fragments of scenes and questions - is Prophet the same as Two-Step? Was he having an episode? What happened to the baby? Overall, ambitious but not for me. 2.5 stars ⭐️

When I first started reading this book, I thought I was going to love it. I continued to think I was going to like it throughout the first half.... maybe even the first 3/4s of the book.

But then, it just all fell apart.

The characters started out so.... intriguing and impossible to put down. But the ending... it just.... it really went off the rails for me. I don't want to talk about plot points or things that happened because for those who enjoy this book, anything I say here could be a spoiler. This is definitely one of those books where it's better to go into it with a completely blank and open mind.

But in the end, this one just fell WAAAAAAAAY flat to me. I couldn't give it more than 2 stars.

I am going to read this actual book because I have heard wonderful things about it, however, the narration was not enjoyable, I almost wish for a southern man or honestly someone who sound like someone speaking of the prophet. Didn't help that had an idea in my head for how it sounded and I expected a slower read but narration was missing something.

I can see this book being popular is certain circle but I didn't love it. I found a lot of the religious stuff to be a bit to dense. You definitely need a knowledge of Christian religion for this book to make any sense. I grew up in a religious family so I knew enough to get by but I still parts of this really hard. Also this book was pretty slow. Overall I can see the appeal it just isn't for me.

Description
From a New York Times Notable "writer of great originality" comes a bold new novel about love, faith, and two societal outsiders whose lives converge in the contemporary American South In 2014, in Lookout Mountain, Alabama, the Prophet-a seventy-year-old man who paints his visions-lives off the grid in a cabin near the Georgia border. While scrounging for materials at the local scrapyard, the Prophet sees a car pull up to an abandoned gas station. In the back seat is a teenage girl with zip ties on her wrists, a girl he realizes he must rescue from her current life. Her name is Michael, and the Prophet feels certain that she is a messenger sent by God to take his end-time warnings to the White House. Michael finds herself in the Prophet's remote, art-filled cabin, and as their uncertain dynamic evolves into tender friendship, she is offered a surprising opportunity to escape her past-and perhaps change her future. Moving through the worlds of the Prophet, the girl, and a beguiling devil figure who dances in the corner of their lives, Two-Step Devil is a propulsive, philosophical examination of fate and faith that dares to ask what salvation, if any, can be found in our modern world.
Wow. This book blew me away. This story is wildly creative and has such a captivating narrative. The characters are engrossing and deeply compelling. What starts out as a gut wrenching, tragic story, turns into a many layered deep dive into the truth and fallacies of our perceptions of good and evil. The narration of this audiobook was great. Watch trigger warnings including drug abuse, child sex abuse, child prostitution, physical abuse, loss, religion, art, sex trafficking and mental health.

Thank you to NetGalley HighBridge Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

Wow wee! I was not expecting that! I don’t even know how to write a review for it. I listened to the audiobook and was just mesmerized the entire time. When I finished, I had to look up who narrated because they were just so spot on. The author is the narrator! One of the best audiobook narrations I’ve heard and I listen to a lot of audiobooks. From her writing along with her narration, I could tell how deeply connected she felt to her characters as she wrote this work of art. The subject matter wasn’t joyful - I actually cried a few times while listening - but it was so wonderfully refreshing to read something so unique! I’m going to be nominating this for my book club read choice!
Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for letting me listen!

I am going to read this in ebook form, because I have heard wonderful things about it, however, the narration was not enjoyable.

I loved the writing and storytelling in this. I felt creeped out, invested in the story and entranced with the characters.

DNFing at 6%. This one didn’t work for me, but I can absolutely see that it has an audience.

The vibes of this remind me of The Summer That Everything Melted by Tiffany McDaniel and the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? There’s something country and fable-like about it. If that sounds appealing, definitely give it a shot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

3.75 stars

Briefly, this novel follows The Prophet, an old man living alone with religious visions, who rescues a teenage girl named Michel from sex traffickers.

I really enjoyed the first 75% of this book and found the interaction between the main two characters fascinating. We get a couple POVs in this work and each character felt distinct with a unique voice. The last 25% lost me a bit and I felt unsatisfied by the end. I wish it had ended a bit early or gone on a bit longer and expanded upon everyone’s outcomes. I still think this is one of the best covers of the year though!

The audiobook narrator did a great job bringing The Prophet and Michael to life - highly recommend the audio version of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

Two-Step Devil is a very evocative story, with deep connections to the rural south and the desperation and isolation that can come with it. The former Winston, now considering himself a Prophet due to visions that cause him to paint a donkey in various states and converse with a devil, lives a mostly reclusive life, until he runs across a teenage girl that he suspects is being trafficked. He takes it upon himself to intervene, and despite her clinging to the only life she knows, manages to take her to his remote home and detox her. His only request in return is that she deliver his muddled prophecy to the president in DC. She has her own reasons to want to get there, so accepts.
From there, we see some alternate paths as the devil tempts us to various realities, as well as sharing his perspective on his brother, Jesus, deciding to live among humans and how that worked out for him in experiencing the human condition.
This is a compelling book, with great dialog and characters from a very unique voice.

My thanks to #NetGalley, #GroveAtlantic, & #HighbridgeAudio for the opportunity to experience this unique and powerful novel by Jamie Quatro. This is a novel of depth and substance that I know will stay with me indefinitely. There are not many characters--three primary--and the landscapes that Quatro paints are vivid: hot and bleak and disparate. There are many shadowy figures in the wings as well; those who prey on the “lost” (like children in the foster system) but all of the main characters are created with a range of attributes (esp The Prophet) and even the Two Step Devil (whether a hallucination, illusion, vision, or delusion) is not portrayed as all dark.

Of course we are hearing about his more “relatable” aspects by his own report and devils are not necessarily honest nor straightforward historians, right? Winston, himself, has his own dark past before his seeming rebirth — the visions he has been gifted to “save the world” -- and these visions are written with phenomenal detail and care. The "Ezekial Machine" and its presence, in various iterations, throughout the novel is an awesome example. Jamie Quatro is an incredible writer.

I was not able to obtain this in print and it worked out to my advantage that the #audiobook became available through Net Galley recently (being due for release on 12/24/24). The book, itself, was released in early September of this year. The audiobook narrator, Christina Delaine, does a marvelous job narrating the characters of Winston "The Prophet" and 14-year-old Michael, a girl dropped into the foster care system after her tormented mother died by suicide, and then preyed upon by dispicable sex traffickers who drug her and pimp her out to a fairly well-heeled clientele aboard a formerly famous riverboat. Winston rescues Michael from this life after seeing her as a vision of the “big fish” he needs to save in service to God.

And finally there is the devious dancing "figment" -- the Two Step Devil. The narrator does an especially great job with the Prophet and Devil characters as the novel progresses through various POVs (third person, first person, and finally a third "act" which takes the form of a play == a conversation between the ailing and exhausted Prophet who still holds out hold that Michael, whom he rescued and helped to rehabilitate, will deliver a "world saving" message directly to the president in Washington, DC. Meanwhile the devil taunts him and the other human "fleshbags" who are rapidly losing their very existence. The juxtapositions of good and evil, rich and poor, truth and lie are constants throughout the novel. The POVs move like cameras through time, across characters, and the reader is taken right along.

The novel is filled with religious and spiritual iconography (specifically art created by The Prophet who makes things to depict the visions he has been receiving for years). He alludes to his complicated past with alcohol and later with a prostitute and, when the novel begins in present day 2014, he is slowly dying of cancer and working against time to fulfill what he feels is his obligation to God to save the world (the very earth) from humanity itself.

The reader is provided excellent background on the Prophet -- his raucous "former" lifestyle, his past and present family including his grown son, Zeke, and grandaughter, Sullivan, and these components (along with WInston's tender care of Michael) give him an incredible depth of character. I fell in love with them and rooted for their success though I wasn't even sure, in some ways, what I was rooting for. Ultimately, it’s up to the reader to decipher (in the final act) what it all means. Two Step narrates a variety of scenarios (much like a “choose your own adventure”) and we realize that we can’t really believe a word he says. Or can we? What about The Prophet? And what about the most minor characters -- Sully and Charlie? What comes next?

Very relatable in this current world. I’m SO grateful to have read this gorgeous, disturbing, and mysterious novel. Crafted with such care and vision. Thank you, Jamie Quatro!

4.5 stars for this weird little book about found family and faith. This would make for an excellent book club discussion to unpack it!

Two Step Devil is unlike anything I’ve ever read.

This was first put on my radar by Annie B. Jones and one of her Monthly Recaps on From the Front Porch… I jotted the title down to remember later. A few weeks later Sara @Fictionmatters shared over on her substack an interview with Jamie Quatro and I immediately knew I need to bump this book up on my TBR.

I feel like I’m not smart enough to dive into the nitty gritty meanings within these pages but appreciate all the author has created and curious about her backlist. I thought the audio was unforgettable and need revisit one day and maybe with a friend to be able to chat about this compelling read.

Thank you HighBridge Audio

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