My Ex, the Antichrist

Outré even by the standards of supernatural horror fiction, DiLouie’s ostentatious, 1990s-set latest (after How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive) proposes that the Antichrist is the front man for a Pennsylvania art band and that the apocalypse he threatens can only be averted through the intervention of a punk pop group headed by his ex-girlfriend. Presented as an oral history, the tale unfolds through interviews mostly with members of the Shivers, a small-town ensemble whose seductive live shows, led by guitarists Lily Lawless and her charismatic partner, Drake Morgan, compel attendees to riot and kill. After Lily comes to suspect that Drake and his music are unholy and splits from him, Drake—who eventually admits to being less than human—goes on to found the infernal band Universal Priest, setting the stage for a showdown with the Shivers at the Armageddon Battle of the Bands, with the fate of the world on the line. DiLouie seeds the narrative with enough pop theology to undergird its tongue-in-cheek excesses, which include a cabal of rogue clergy wielding rocket launchers and a Universal Priest stage performance that unfolds like a mash-up of The Omen and This Is Spinal Tap. It’s a wild ride. (May)