Soul Enchilada

Melissa Marr

"In this fun spin on the age-old danger of deals with the devil, readers will cheer and worry as sassy Eunice ‘Bug’ Smoot fights both the literal and metaphorical demons that plague her. Wonderful and unexpectedly touching, this is a book meant for re-reading. Good stuff!"

Chris Crutcher

"Soul Enchilada is smart and funny and a bunch of fun to read. For years David Gill has been a powerful voice for Young Adult literature; now he is a powerful voice of Young Adult literature…You’re gonna love Bug."

Mary Pearson

"I want you all to know you are in for a treat when David Gill’s Soul Enchilada comes out next year. It has, hands down, one of the most unique premises, setting, and voices I have heard in a long time!"

Publishers Weekly

Deep in El Paso, Tex., Eunice "Bug" Smoot is behind on the rent and in danger of losing her job delivering pizzas, but at least she's got a smooth ride-a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz bequeathed by Papa C., her grandfather. Then the repo man shows up. Turns out Papa C. financed the car with his soul but disappeared upon death. Bug's got till midnight Halloween to produce grandpa's soul or turn over her keys-and her free will. To Bug's aid comes hunky Pesto, a car wash manager who moonlights for ISIS, the International Supernatural Immigration Service. Gill's debut features hilarious dialogue-Bug and Pesto don't talk; they sling witticisms at each other. And Bug is easy to love, a tough-talking teen whose life has been riddled with loss. But some readers may tire of the grosser details of demon warfare-lots of vomiting, maggots, even vomiting of maggots-and the story goes on past several natural stopping points. Still, this updated spin on deal-making with the devil shows that Gill, president of ALAN (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents), knows what will make teens laugh. Ages 14-up. (Apr.)

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VOYA - Marla K. Unruh

Not only is Eunice, aka Bug, part Tejano and part Black, but her soul is also an enchilada for the devil-in-disguise who has come to claim it and the 1958 Cadillac that her grandfather, Papa C, left her. Apparently Papa C sold his soul - and hers - to get the car. Help comes from an unexpected source in Pesto, the handsome guy at the car wash, whose other job is with ISIS, the netherworld agency in charge of deporting illegal demons. Together, Bug and Pesto fight against supernatural heavyweights Mr. Beals (Beelzebub) and Scratch (Lucifer), to save first the car and then her soul. With the help of E. Figg, the only lawyer in the world not on Mr. Beals's retainer, a contest is arranged that will decide everything. The athletic Bug will do what she does best - play the basketball game of her life. A feisty heroine who is determined to overcome even the powers of evil is a gratifying theme. The infernal beings raged against her, drawn from several mythologies, are imaginatively and vividly drawn. This world of evil powers, however, is actually more complex than the plot, and its various denizens are more interesting than the heroine. The demonic element of the plot is not quite comedic and not disturbing enough to make it a horror novel. Recommend it to youth looking for a different read. Reviewer: Marla K. Unruh

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up

On her own and struggling to make ends meet, 18-year-old Eunice "Bug" Smoot has one cherished possession: the 1958 Cadillac Biarritz left to her by her grandfather. When she discovers that he offered not only his soul as collateral for the car, but also hers and that, somehow, his spirit has managed to evade repossession, she realizes she is in grave danger. With the aid of a cute boy who happens to be an aspiring agent of the International Supernatural Immigration Service; his mother, a spiritual advisor and witch; and an ancient lawyer specializing in conflicts between the earthly and spirit realms, Bug battles an evil djinn for her soul. Set in the Spanish-speaking neighborhoods of El Paso, Soul distinguishes itself from other recent supernatural farces such as Jonathan Bernstein's Hottie (Penguin/Razorbill, 2009) by giving voice to ethnic and economic minority characters. Indeed, Bug's first-person narration is feisty and knowing in the ways of class and prejudice ("Growing up half Tejana and half-African American," Bug claims, "I learned real quick that folks were going to put you down because of the color you were, no matter what color they were"). However, the increasingly dramatic confrontations and competitions pitting Bug and company against the djinn and the recurring discovery that yet another El Paso citizen is, in actuality, a demon or is demon-possessed threaten to derail the willing suspension of disbelief that novels like these demand.-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston

Kirkus Reviews

Broke-down pizza-delivery heroine Eunice "Bug" Smoot's snake of a granddad sold his soul to the devil for a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz. When he flies the coop, Satan-aka Scratch-and his crony Beals (short for Beelzebub) chase Bug down for her soul faster than she can say "repo." Before she knows it, Bug is trapped in a satanic smackdown to save herself, her friends and her Cadillac. Convoluted? Completely. Bizarre? Absolutely. Hilarious and accessible? Totally! Gill scores big in this action-packed, power-punch of a debut. His dialogue slam-dunks with sass and clever wit that eases the reader into the strange, interlocking chain of events that befall Bug in the first few chapters. His characters are fully realized, intelligent, believable and lovable. The odd, Paradise Lost-like plot probably carries the least appeal of all the elements, but the dialogue and characterizations gently push-or shove, actually-the reader's suspension of disbelief over the edge. Seances! Hairspray! Basketball! Satan! All readers can do is buckle their seatbelts, close their eyes and take the plunge. (Fantasy. YA)