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Two-Step Devil
From a New York Times Notable "writer of great originality" comes a bold novel about love, faith and two societal outsiders whose lives converge in the contemporary American South.
It's 2014 in Lookout Mountain, Alabama, where the Prophet—a 70-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 dump, 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 his Big Fish, a messenger sent by God to take his apocalyptic 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.
It's 2014 in Lookout Mountain, Alabama, where the Prophet—a 70-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 dump, 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 his Big Fish, a messenger sent by God to take his apocalyptic 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.
269 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 2024
About the author
Jamie Quatro
10 books201 followersJamie Quatro’s debut novel, FIRE SERMON (Grove, Jan 2018) is a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick and an Indie Next pick for spring 2018. Her 2013 collection I WANT TO SHOW YOU MORE was a New York Times Notable Book, NPR Best Book of 2013, Indie Next pick, O, The Oprah Magazine Summer Reading pick, and New York Times Editors’ Choice. The collection was named a Top 10 Book of 2013 by Dwight Garner in the New York Times and a Favorite Book of 2013 by James Wood in The New Yorker, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize.
Quatro’s fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in Tin House, Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, Vice, The New York Times Book Review, and elsewhere. Her stories are anthologized in the O.Henry Prize Stories 2013, Ann Charters' The Story and Its Writer, and the 2018 Pushcart Prize Anthology. A contributing editor at Oxford American magazine, Quatro teaches in the Sewanee School of Letters MFA program, and lives with her family in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
October 16, 2024
A devilishly ambitious book.
Watch my BookTube video featuring books with Satan & demons .😈
"You cannot stand for the horrific and the beautiful to touch, cannot fathom a system in which one person benefits from the suffering of another. But it is so."
Two-Step Devil explores the carnal and the divine in daily life through the story of a seventy-year-old man called the Prophet, who transforms his prophetic visions into art pieces, and a teen girl named Michael, who the Prophet first sees trapped in a car with her wrists zip tied. He believes she's a messenger sent by God to take his visionary warnings of the coming end-times to the White House, so he contrives to rescue her.
Thus begins a story of an unlikely friendship between two strangers who live on the margins of society. While the Prophet’s backstory is unveiled, Michael’s future unfolds. Meanwhile, the devil emerges from the shadows to taunt the Prophet, and eventually, the reader.
I applaud Jamie Quatro for taking risks in this book. The structure is playful and roguish. The story is complex and gritty. The writing is sinuous and alluring. I never quite knew where Quatro was taking me, but curiosity compelled me forward.
Highly recommend if you're in the mood for an unusual and surprising read.
My heartfelt thanks to the generous folks at Grove Atlantic for sending me an early copy of this surprising book.
--
ORIGINAL POST 👇
📢 New book coming from Jamie Quatro! 👀
Two-Step Devil concerns the Prophet (a seventy-year-old man who paints his visions) whose life is upturned when he sees a car at an abandoned gas station and spots a teen girl inside with zip ties on her wrists.
And just like that, I'M HOOKED!
Some of the lines in Quatro's previous novel, Fire Sermon, took my breath away, so I'm very curious to explore her writing further in her upcoming book.
Two-Step Devil is said to be a propulsive story of an unlikely relationship between two strangers. I'll be reading it soon because I was generously sent an uncorrected proof by Grove Atlantic. ❤️
I'm looking forward to this book so much!
Watch my BookTube video featuring books with Satan & demons .😈
"You cannot stand for the horrific and the beautiful to touch, cannot fathom a system in which one person benefits from the suffering of another. But it is so."
Two-Step Devil explores the carnal and the divine in daily life through the story of a seventy-year-old man called the Prophet, who transforms his prophetic visions into art pieces, and a teen girl named Michael, who the Prophet first sees trapped in a car with her wrists zip tied. He believes she's a messenger sent by God to take his visionary warnings of the coming end-times to the White House, so he contrives to rescue her.
Thus begins a story of an unlikely friendship between two strangers who live on the margins of society. While the Prophet’s backstory is unveiled, Michael’s future unfolds. Meanwhile, the devil emerges from the shadows to taunt the Prophet, and eventually, the reader.
I applaud Jamie Quatro for taking risks in this book. The structure is playful and roguish. The story is complex and gritty. The writing is sinuous and alluring. I never quite knew where Quatro was taking me, but curiosity compelled me forward.
Highly recommend if you're in the mood for an unusual and surprising read.
My heartfelt thanks to the generous folks at Grove Atlantic for sending me an early copy of this surprising book.
--
ORIGINAL POST 👇
📢 New book coming from Jamie Quatro! 👀
Two-Step Devil concerns the Prophet (a seventy-year-old man who paints his visions) whose life is upturned when he sees a car at an abandoned gas station and spots a teen girl inside with zip ties on her wrists.
And just like that, I'M HOOKED!
Some of the lines in Quatro's previous novel, Fire Sermon, took my breath away, so I'm very curious to explore her writing further in her upcoming book.
Two-Step Devil is said to be a propulsive story of an unlikely relationship between two strangers. I'll be reading it soon because I was generously sent an uncorrected proof by Grove Atlantic. ❤️
I'm looking forward to this book so much!
September 9, 2024
Wow. This book blew me away.
The Prophet has had a life full of suffering, much of which he has drank his way through. For nearly as long as he can remember, he has received visions from God. Now, he’s old and isolated, lonely in his cabin in the backwoods of Alabama, spending his days sketching his visions down on whatever he can find. When he’s out at the abandoned junkyard one day, the Lord sends him a real-life vision—a calling to be a real-life prophet—when he witnesses an Innocent being kidnapped and takes it as a sign that he is the one who is destined to rescue her. The girl—Michael—joins the Prophet on his destiny, the two forming an unlikely alliance filled with surprising tenderness.
This story is wildly creative and has such a captivating narrative. The characters are engrossing and deeply compelling. The Prophet, specifically, makes for a complex character study. With meditations on faith, religion, and redemption, Two-Step Devil is a bold, weird, and intensely gripping read; I will recommend it to readers far and wide.
I will be really interested to see readers' thoughts and interpretations, as well as the author's discussions, once this releases. Hovering between four and five stars because the ending threw me for a loop so I still need to sit and ponder it but overall, I was very taken with this novel so I'm rounding up. I don't think that I grasped everything that Quatro laid out during my first read through so I definitely want to return to it again with a closer eye but even still, there is a clear-cut brilliance in this novel and a uniquely fascinating narrative voice that is hard to deny.
Thank you Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 09/10/2024!
The Prophet has had a life full of suffering, much of which he has drank his way through. For nearly as long as he can remember, he has received visions from God. Now, he’s old and isolated, lonely in his cabin in the backwoods of Alabama, spending his days sketching his visions down on whatever he can find. When he’s out at the abandoned junkyard one day, the Lord sends him a real-life vision—a calling to be a real-life prophet—when he witnesses an Innocent being kidnapped and takes it as a sign that he is the one who is destined to rescue her. The girl—Michael—joins the Prophet on his destiny, the two forming an unlikely alliance filled with surprising tenderness.
This story is wildly creative and has such a captivating narrative. The characters are engrossing and deeply compelling. The Prophet, specifically, makes for a complex character study. With meditations on faith, religion, and redemption, Two-Step Devil is a bold, weird, and intensely gripping read; I will recommend it to readers far and wide.
I will be really interested to see readers' thoughts and interpretations, as well as the author's discussions, once this releases. Hovering between four and five stars because the ending threw me for a loop so I still need to sit and ponder it but overall, I was very taken with this novel so I'm rounding up. I don't think that I grasped everything that Quatro laid out during my first read through so I definitely want to return to it again with a closer eye but even still, there is a clear-cut brilliance in this novel and a uniquely fascinating narrative voice that is hard to deny.
Thank you Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 09/10/2024!
August 14, 2024
3.5/4
Two-Step Devil is a strange and disturbing novel that tells the story of Winston (The Prophet), his strange companion, Two-Step who appears from time to time and Michael, a young girl who Winston rescues from sex traffickers.
In the first part of the book we see into Winston's previous life. His wife has died from cancer and he is estranged from his son's family. Winston is also dying slowly from cancer but has refused treatment possibly because it interferes with his visions. And it is the visions that keep him going. He has had them for decades and now paints what he sees, much to the amusement of Two-Step.
The second part of the novel gives us Michael's horrible story from seduction to being forced into prostitution. Winston enlists Michael to help him take his vision to the White House but Michael also has other plans.
I chose this book because of the title, which intrigued me although I can't honestly remember why Winston has christened his vision of the devil as Two-Step. There are parts of the book that I found baffling but otherwise it was an interesting story but with some heavyweight issues including drug abuse, child sex abuse, child prostitution, physical abuse and mental health.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.
Two-Step Devil is a strange and disturbing novel that tells the story of Winston (The Prophet), his strange companion, Two-Step who appears from time to time and Michael, a young girl who Winston rescues from sex traffickers.
In the first part of the book we see into Winston's previous life. His wife has died from cancer and he is estranged from his son's family. Winston is also dying slowly from cancer but has refused treatment possibly because it interferes with his visions. And it is the visions that keep him going. He has had them for decades and now paints what he sees, much to the amusement of Two-Step.
The second part of the novel gives us Michael's horrible story from seduction to being forced into prostitution. Winston enlists Michael to help him take his vision to the White House but Michael also has other plans.
I chose this book because of the title, which intrigued me although I can't honestly remember why Winston has christened his vision of the devil as Two-Step. There are parts of the book that I found baffling but otherwise it was an interesting story but with some heavyweight issues including drug abuse, child sex abuse, child prostitution, physical abuse and mental health.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.
May 24, 2024
What begins as a novel reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor, eventually evolves — or perhaps devolves — into something different.
This novel might be a lot of things, but first and foremost it is just plain ol' creative. Quatro has a hell of a narrative voice, and more or less seamlessly works in changes in form and point of view, each which serves the story and pushes it to another level. I really appreciate that she is not afraid to go there, if there is indeed where she needs to go.
Two-Step Devil is a powerful novel about the world we live in today. It is tragic, but not without a sense of humor. Put this one on your list for September.
This novel might be a lot of things, but first and foremost it is just plain ol' creative. Quatro has a hell of a narrative voice, and more or less seamlessly works in changes in form and point of view, each which serves the story and pushes it to another level. I really appreciate that she is not afraid to go there, if there is indeed where she needs to go.
Two-Step Devil is a powerful novel about the world we live in today. It is tragic, but not without a sense of humor. Put this one on your list for September.
May 14, 2024
It is a master novel and a hopeful gut punch about the world right now. It will take me a while to digest the meatiness of it. A strategic yet winding story that makes you think about faith/doubt, sexuality, abortion, hope/hopelessness, crime, religion and childhood/parenthood. I simultaneously wanted to rush through to the end to understand where the author was taking me, while wanting to reread for the nuances. I loved that I had no idea what was going to happen in the end. It reminds me that the left and right in politics are closer in their ideologies than we might originally think and that there is too much nuance behind some topics to make overt judgements.
November 1, 2024
In ‘Two Step Devil’ by Jamie Quatro, we meet Winston, a seventy-year-old man who lives off the grid in Alabama and goes by The Prophet. A lot of loss and loneliness marks his life. Two Step Devil is his only companion whose visits are announced by smoke appearing, and he spends his time painting visions he receives [“the movie screen dropped in front of him, same as always when a vision cut in. Clean-sheet white, five feet square”]. One day, when searching for materials for his next art piece, he sees a car pull up at an abandoned gas station. In the back seat, he sees a girl with zip ties on her wrist. He believes she must be an angel sent from God and is his Big Fish to help get his message to President Obama. What ensues is a journey I couldn’t predict.
This was as clever as it was captivating because Jamie utilizes different forms and the voices of The Prophet, Michael (the girl), and Two Step Devil. At first, I was apprehensive about The Prophet, as I assume many readers will be. The book's tone feels unsettling initially, and you're unsure where this journey will take you, which should excite anyone who picks this up. Rest assured, it's a thoughtful exploration of loss, religion, art, sex trafficking, good vs. evil, substance abuse, redemption, and more.
"The way to get the bad things out of your head was to draw them. Over and over, you could empty your head by getting what you saw out on a piece of paper."
As much as the plot drives this, the writing places you in The Prophet's POV so you empathize with him and perceive the world through his eyes. We live in his confusion, speech, and understanding of the world, which sometimes feels childlike but is genuine. Jamie does a great job making him feel real, and I loved how she portrayed the visions. I saw each with one clarity.
"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. And had I not shown up to oppose you, your story would have been a different one.
The less you know, the better, but I also really loved the purpose Two Step served and seeing Michael's POV. There’s a lot of meaning in this story, and I am really interested to see how readers respond. A commonality among the reviews I’ve read is how original and singular this story is, which I also fully echo. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a thought-provoking and surprising reading experience. Now that I know how this story ends, I’m already itching to re-read it closely.
Thank you, Grove Atlantic, for the gifted copy!
This was as clever as it was captivating because Jamie utilizes different forms and the voices of The Prophet, Michael (the girl), and Two Step Devil. At first, I was apprehensive about The Prophet, as I assume many readers will be. The book's tone feels unsettling initially, and you're unsure where this journey will take you, which should excite anyone who picks this up. Rest assured, it's a thoughtful exploration of loss, religion, art, sex trafficking, good vs. evil, substance abuse, redemption, and more.
"The way to get the bad things out of your head was to draw them. Over and over, you could empty your head by getting what you saw out on a piece of paper."
As much as the plot drives this, the writing places you in The Prophet's POV so you empathize with him and perceive the world through his eyes. We live in his confusion, speech, and understanding of the world, which sometimes feels childlike but is genuine. Jamie does a great job making him feel real, and I loved how she portrayed the visions. I saw each with one clarity.
"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. And had I not shown up to oppose you, your story would have been a different one.
The less you know, the better, but I also really loved the purpose Two Step served and seeing Michael's POV. There’s a lot of meaning in this story, and I am really interested to see how readers respond. A commonality among the reviews I’ve read is how original and singular this story is, which I also fully echo. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a thought-provoking and surprising reading experience. Now that I know how this story ends, I’m already itching to re-read it closely.
Thank you, Grove Atlantic, for the gifted copy!
September 11, 2024
Just like when I read The Satanic Verses - I had to read Two - Step Devil twice to capture how outstanding this novel really is By no means am I comparing the two novels but showing sometimes as a reader when you put a little more effort into what you're reading it really pays off.
Winston, otherwise known as the Prophet - is a seventy - year - old - man who receives visions from God - who in turn paints these visions on anything he can find in his remote cabin near the Georgia border.
On a side note: My opinion of the Prophet is he is a bad ass who has been through hell and back and nothing can kill the Prophet but the Prophet himself.
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 named Michael - The Prophet feels certain she is a messenger sent from God to take his end - time warnings to the White House. Furthermore the Prophet realizes he must rescue her from her current life.
Michael finds herself in the Prophet's remote, art - filled cabin and as the relationship evolves into tender friendship, she is offered an opportunity to escape her past and perhaps change her future.
What really worked for me is the Author divides the book in two parts so you hear the Prophet's story and Michaels story in their perspective.
Winston, otherwise known as the Prophet - is a seventy - year - old - man who receives visions from God - who in turn paints these visions on anything he can find in his remote cabin near the Georgia border.
On a side note: My opinion of the Prophet is he is a bad ass who has been through hell and back and nothing can kill the Prophet but the Prophet himself.
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 named Michael - The Prophet feels certain she is a messenger sent from God to take his end - time warnings to the White House. Furthermore the Prophet realizes he must rescue her from her current life.
Michael finds herself in the Prophet's remote, art - filled cabin and as the relationship evolves into tender friendship, she is offered an opportunity to escape her past and perhaps change her future.
What really worked for me is the Author divides the book in two parts so you hear the Prophet's story and Michaels story in their perspective.
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September 1, 2024I didn’t fully understand this, but I’m definitely in awe of it
November 1, 2024
Mind blown. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. 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. This fully took hold in the last quarter of the book and didn't let go. My brain hurts, and I need a book club or lit class to discuss this hard-hitting work of art.
April 27, 2024
Made me feel things again
September 27, 2024
Wildly experimental in form and structure, this book displays an explicit desire to connect with its audience, but unfortunately it missed me. The characters were compelling, and the story was unique enough to keep me engaged while reading, but I didn’t necessarily have an overwhelming drive to pick it back up. This is one of those books where I acknowledge and appraise why others thoroughly enjoy it, but it simply wasn’t for me.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the e-arc!
———————————————————————————
“How a thing looked was important. Not just Is it useful? but Is it nice to look at? Trees made fruit, and fruit is useful, he'd said to Zeke. But before fruit comes flowers, and there's not a thing to be done with them but look.”
“Politicians were the ones at fault, setting the whites against the Blacks so they wouldn't join together to fight the real enemy: the Unholy American Trinity. Businesses taking the sweat of the poor and turning it into fancy cars and airplanes; government taking money from their paychecks to make rich neighborhoods prettier and show the world how America is better than other countries; preachers humiliating them for enjoying God-given pleasures, food and drink and women. The lady he visited at the brothel. And as long as there was a race prob-lem, the government gained power, businesses got richer, and preachers fattened themselves and their churches.”
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the e-arc!
———————————————————————————
“How a thing looked was important. Not just Is it useful? but Is it nice to look at? Trees made fruit, and fruit is useful, he'd said to Zeke. But before fruit comes flowers, and there's not a thing to be done with them but look.”
“Politicians were the ones at fault, setting the whites against the Blacks so they wouldn't join together to fight the real enemy: the Unholy American Trinity. Businesses taking the sweat of the poor and turning it into fancy cars and airplanes; government taking money from their paychecks to make rich neighborhoods prettier and show the world how America is better than other countries; preachers humiliating them for enjoying God-given pleasures, food and drink and women. The lady he visited at the brothel. And as long as there was a race prob-lem, the government gained power, businesses got richer, and preachers fattened themselves and their churches.”
November 20, 2024
Came for the cover; stayed for the writing. This book is great if at times a bit confused by itself.
October 6, 2024
A wild story that explores some crazy scenes around the Chattanooga area. So many details about setting that I knew exactly what they looked like.
Every character is compelling. The idea of how evil in the world has opportunities to imbue goodness is a telling theme. But the ending just didn’t quite sit with me
Every character is compelling. The idea of how evil in the world has opportunities to imbue goodness is a telling theme. But the ending just didn’t quite sit with me
October 6, 2024
A beguiling novel-in-hallucinations that’s a looking-glass refraction of America through the prism of some messed-up version of Evangelical fanaticism. There’s some real form-fuckery towards the end that will probably not work for a lot of readers–I’m still undecided myself. The language is often stunning, but I found myself more passively observing than actively invested in the story. Heavy, dark, brainy, and just so, so strange.
July 18, 2024
Voice.
Voice, voice, voice.
In “Two-Step Devil” by Jamie Quatro, the main character, known principally as The Prophet, speaks with a voice that you’ve heard all your life and that you’ve never heard before.
On vomit: “That’ll clean.”
On hens: “I used to let them roam but it was feeding the coyotes, is why I'm down to five.”
The reader hears the kudzu wrapped around each word, the tomatoes swelling, the chickens scratching. Quatro has so wholly embodied the Prophet, or rather, the Prophet has so wholly embodied her, that the Prophet’s speech is effortlessly authentic: “God weren’t ashamed to be a baby in a trough, and he ain’t ashamed to use a vegetable as his messenger.”
Even though I grew up far north of the book’s Lookout Mountain setting, I heard my grandpa in the Prophet’s voice, other ancestors, generations who lived off the soil and with animals. Their voices rose from the page like smoke. The book conjured them, much like the Prophet conjures his own spirit being, the Two-Step Devil, whose visits are announced by smoke seeping through the cabin’s walls. When heard through the Prophet’s point of view, Two-Step’s voice mirrors the Prophet’s: “Look at you. Third-grade educated, a-fooling yourself with all this vision talk.” However, in the second half of the book, the reader experiences Two-Step outside the Prophet as intermediary, and his voice is condescending, flowery, at one point listing more than twenty names for Satan. And the reader realizes that Two-Step might be more than a figment of the Prophet’s imagination.
Visions drop before the Prophet on a five-foot screen, warning of future calamities. One seems to predict 9/11. He is driven to recreate them, painting the scenes on scraps of wood, on the walls and ceiling of the cabin, window glass, objects found in a nearby junkyard. His wife has died, but his son, Zeke, remains. Zeke sings with “a throat full of wonders,” and the Prophet is sure the gift was God’s purpose for the boy, to use his silver voice to share his father’s visions with the world outside their remote cabin. But Zeke rejects his father’s visions and refuses to use his voice, opting instead for the suburbs, his stomach growing large and soft.
Given the emphasis on voice throughout the book (Indeed, the Prophet claims that his voice can actually heal, and visitors pay him for this cure), I was disappointed initially in the scenes written in the point of view of Michael, a girl who comes to stay with the Prophet. These scenes are coated in drug use, so her narrative is grainy, muddled with painful memories that are also steeped in drugs. When other characters’ voices are so prominent, hers is bleary. At one point, the Prophet even asks her to serve as his voice. As I thought on this, it occurred to me that this lack of voice is representative of her lived experience. Like other women and girls in her situation, she has little agency, so I don’t begrudge her the comfort of drugs. I no longer want her to use her voice. I just want her to survive.
Big thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the eARC of this unusual, unforgettable book, one that I will continue to think about for the days and weeks to come, maybe longer.
Voice, voice, voice.
In “Two-Step Devil” by Jamie Quatro, the main character, known principally as The Prophet, speaks with a voice that you’ve heard all your life and that you’ve never heard before.
On vomit: “That’ll clean.”
On hens: “I used to let them roam but it was feeding the coyotes, is why I'm down to five.”
The reader hears the kudzu wrapped around each word, the tomatoes swelling, the chickens scratching. Quatro has so wholly embodied the Prophet, or rather, the Prophet has so wholly embodied her, that the Prophet’s speech is effortlessly authentic: “God weren’t ashamed to be a baby in a trough, and he ain’t ashamed to use a vegetable as his messenger.”
Even though I grew up far north of the book’s Lookout Mountain setting, I heard my grandpa in the Prophet’s voice, other ancestors, generations who lived off the soil and with animals. Their voices rose from the page like smoke. The book conjured them, much like the Prophet conjures his own spirit being, the Two-Step Devil, whose visits are announced by smoke seeping through the cabin’s walls. When heard through the Prophet’s point of view, Two-Step’s voice mirrors the Prophet’s: “Look at you. Third-grade educated, a-fooling yourself with all this vision talk.” However, in the second half of the book, the reader experiences Two-Step outside the Prophet as intermediary, and his voice is condescending, flowery, at one point listing more than twenty names for Satan. And the reader realizes that Two-Step might be more than a figment of the Prophet’s imagination.
Visions drop before the Prophet on a five-foot screen, warning of future calamities. One seems to predict 9/11. He is driven to recreate them, painting the scenes on scraps of wood, on the walls and ceiling of the cabin, window glass, objects found in a nearby junkyard. His wife has died, but his son, Zeke, remains. Zeke sings with “a throat full of wonders,” and the Prophet is sure the gift was God’s purpose for the boy, to use his silver voice to share his father’s visions with the world outside their remote cabin. But Zeke rejects his father’s visions and refuses to use his voice, opting instead for the suburbs, his stomach growing large and soft.
Given the emphasis on voice throughout the book (Indeed, the Prophet claims that his voice can actually heal, and visitors pay him for this cure), I was disappointed initially in the scenes written in the point of view of Michael, a girl who comes to stay with the Prophet. These scenes are coated in drug use, so her narrative is grainy, muddled with painful memories that are also steeped in drugs. When other characters’ voices are so prominent, hers is bleary. At one point, the Prophet even asks her to serve as his voice. As I thought on this, it occurred to me that this lack of voice is representative of her lived experience. Like other women and girls in her situation, she has little agency, so I don’t begrudge her the comfort of drugs. I no longer want her to use her voice. I just want her to survive.
Big thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the eARC of this unusual, unforgettable book, one that I will continue to think about for the days and weeks to come, maybe longer.
November 3, 2024
Look, can I tell you *exactly* what this novel is about? No. But I can tell you that the vibes are impeccable. The voice is astounding. The characterization so creative and captivating. The sense of place immersive.
The Prophet, an old man from Alabama who paints his visions, rescues a young girl who is a victim of sex trafficking, and the two, strangely, become companions before they have to part ways as each confronts an inevitable next step in their own life stories.
We also get flashbacks of the Prophet’s life as well as his relationship with his son, who doesn’t believe in his father’s visions. This story explores religion, politics, abortion, family, illness and death, and so much more.
The title references the devil figure that appears to the Prophet, who is named Two-Step and wears cowboy boots and a hat and might be my favorite character of the whole book. If you hear me start to greet people with “Greetings, fleshsacks!” just know it’s from him.
Thank you so much to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the eARC. I know I’ll be thinking about this unique, creative, powerful story for a long while.
The Prophet, an old man from Alabama who paints his visions, rescues a young girl who is a victim of sex trafficking, and the two, strangely, become companions before they have to part ways as each confronts an inevitable next step in their own life stories.
We also get flashbacks of the Prophet’s life as well as his relationship with his son, who doesn’t believe in his father’s visions. This story explores religion, politics, abortion, family, illness and death, and so much more.
The title references the devil figure that appears to the Prophet, who is named Two-Step and wears cowboy boots and a hat and might be my favorite character of the whole book. If you hear me start to greet people with “Greetings, fleshsacks!” just know it’s from him.
Thank you so much to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the eARC. I know I’ll be thinking about this unique, creative, powerful story for a long while.
May 14, 2024
This book was amazing! I love reading books where I am familiar with the setting, and this so happened to be placed about 40 minutes from my hometown. Additionally, I am from several generations of pastors and a deconstructing adult, so the religious aspect was…healing almost!
I was captivated while reading and found myself getting through this in less than 24 hours! Quatro is truly talented with words and the art of storytelling.
**Possible Spoilers**
I am not usually a fan of multiple P.O.V’s because I feel like they hinder pacing, but in “Two-Step Devil” the mixture of point-of-views between The Prophet, Michael, and then the change to the outside P.O.V was articulately done. It kept me entertained and gave the novel a refreshing feeling - something that I haven’t felt from literature lately.
I found relatability in each of the characters and their developments throughout. At the end of the book, I wanted to laugh and cry and vent. Truly, I was just blown away by this book and cannot wait to recommend it to my peers and family!
I was captivated while reading and found myself getting through this in less than 24 hours! Quatro is truly talented with words and the art of storytelling.
**Possible Spoilers**
I am not usually a fan of multiple P.O.V’s because I feel like they hinder pacing, but in “Two-Step Devil” the mixture of point-of-views between The Prophet, Michael, and then the change to the outside P.O.V was articulately done. It kept me entertained and gave the novel a refreshing feeling - something that I haven’t felt from literature lately.
I found relatability in each of the characters and their developments throughout. At the end of the book, I wanted to laugh and cry and vent. Truly, I was just blown away by this book and cannot wait to recommend it to my peers and family!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2024
Compelling, richly imagined, and rendered with an eye toward nothing less than grace & salvation, this novel further establishes Jamie Quatro’s as a voice worth following anywhere.
September 9, 2024
“You cannot stand for the horrific and the beautiful to touch, cannot fathom a system in which one person benefits from the suffering of another. But so it is.”
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I picked up this book, but a deeply moving & philosophical novel was not it.
The writing style was unique, even more-so as the book reaches the end. I don’t like to give spoilers in reviews, but I will say that the ending & shift in perspectives/timelines was very well done & engaging.
This book tackles many heavy topics - death, substance abuse, sex trafficking, and child abuse, but they all served to illustrate Michael’s story, how it was shaped by “The Prophet”, & vice versa.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I picked up this book, but a deeply moving & philosophical novel was not it.
The writing style was unique, even more-so as the book reaches the end. I don’t like to give spoilers in reviews, but I will say that the ending & shift in perspectives/timelines was very well done & engaging.
This book tackles many heavy topics - death, substance abuse, sex trafficking, and child abuse, but they all served to illustrate Michael’s story, how it was shaped by “The Prophet”, & vice versa.
December 2, 2024
This might come under the heading of experimental literature. There were different styles of writing for each character, a section written as a play, two (or possibly three) endings. The themes/topics include sex trafficking, religious fanaticism, alienation, hallucinations, asbestos poisoning, creativity/art, drug addiction, the foster care system, and abortion. So…..a lot going on.
The two-step devil title? There was a good/bad, young/old, savior/victim, right/wrong duality throughout, all the way to the end.
The two-step devil title? There was a good/bad, young/old, savior/victim, right/wrong duality throughout, all the way to the end.
September 7, 2024
A beautifully written but tragic story that covers religion/faith, human trafficking, politics, mental illness, complicated family dynamics, and much more. I liked that there were 2 very contrasting endings to this book- a relatively happy, inspiring ending and a lackluster but, unfortunately, more realistic ending. Very interesting and eye opening book!
September 8, 2024
I’m deeply drawn to books that challenge how stories are told. Unique, engrossing, filled with the big questions.
October 19, 2024
One of the stranger books I've read in a while.
October 27, 2024
This was interesting for sure. At its core I really enjoyed Michael and The Prophets story, but there were some other elements that just didn’t quite hit for me in terms of style and storytelling.
November 3, 2024
Strange, unsettling and very creative. You can feel the narrative being pulled forward but have know idea where it is going.
November 4, 2024
Strange. Unsettling. Arresting. A writer in complete control of her narrative and structure. I find myself thinking about Quatro’s long after I finish them and this one will be no different.
September 9, 2024
Rating: 3 stars
A strikingly unique novel that veers off in the last quarter. I wish Quatro had steered the course better in the home stretch as the ending was lack lustre.
I was puzzled by the choice to suddenly try out new formatting (theatre scripts) in the last chapters. Handles themes of human trafficking and child abuse in a blunt way that is worth praising but overall the novel takes an unexpected and disappointing final turn.
A strikingly unique novel that veers off in the last quarter. I wish Quatro had steered the course better in the home stretch as the ending was lack lustre.
I was puzzled by the choice to suddenly try out new formatting (theatre scripts) in the last chapters. Handles themes of human trafficking and child abuse in a blunt way that is worth praising but overall the novel takes an unexpected and disappointing final turn.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2024
Unlike anything else. I'm not sure I entirely understood the biblical references, but this was so interesting. The Prophet is a surprisingly sympathetic character I won't soon forget, and this book provided one of my favorite kinds of reading experiences, where you're not quite sure what the author is doing with it until you get there.
September 29, 2024
It’s rare for a book to so expertly blend beauty in horror and sadness in joy. The style of this book is daring, you want to keep reading even when you aren’t sure if you’re about to laugh or cry in doing so. There’s no wasted space in this story and I know already that it’s going to sit with me for a very long time.
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