Life sucks and then you die. Or, if you’re James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.

Now Stark’s back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you’d expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future. 

Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse. I’m sure I’ve started more than a few reviews this year (I’m not checking) talking about how I’m gonna really buckle down, dig deep, and finish more series/trilogies, as opposed to starting new ones. But whatever, it’s a fucking pandemic. I don’t make the rules, but there are no rules any more.

START EVERY BOOK SERIES YOU WANT AND EMBRACE THE HORROR OF YOUR ENDLESS TBR!!!

The Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey is one I’ve been super eager to get started on. First of all, those sort’ve faux vintage movie poster covers are super fucking eye catching, and also the size of the paperbacks makes these books really stand out. I’m sure someone with a firmer grasp of publishing terminology than me could describe them better, but yeah…they’re neither mass market paperback size nor (traditional) trade paperback size, but somewhere sort of…in between?

Anyway, the books jump out at you, for sure.

Kadrey seems to be sticking to a pretty consistent pace with these books, publishing (I believe) one per year since beginning the series, similar to how Seanan McGuire rolls with the October Daye books. And so, like with the October Daye series, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

After spending eleven years working as a hitman in Hell, James Stark returns home to Los Angeles with a singular focus: revenge against those that sent him to Hell in the first place. The only woman he ever loved is dead, his former magician friends essentially tried to kill him, and now everyone is using cell phones for every last thing. Stark feels like a fish out of water.

In short, this is one pissed off individual. And his time in Hell has left Stark with some “gifts” he doesn’t fully understand, including supernatural strength & healing ability.

I’ve only ever spent a couple of days in Los Angeles, but holy fuck, Sandman Slim captures the feel of that city (at least the parts I visited) so completely. This is the grimy underbelly of Los Angeles, the parts with great used record stores & taco joints, and also the parts where you might get mugged.

Kadrey does some amazing work in establishing this version of our world, giving you just enough background on Stark & his time in Hell to know there’s a whole lot more story there. Many secondary characters are introduced, populating Stark’s life with plenty of unique personalities for him to interact with. Candy in particular grabbed my attention…she’s a jade, which I think is not dissimilar from a vampire. Kind of. Either way, Candy is rad as hell, and possibly terrifying in a way? I’m excited to see more of her in this series going forward!

This is a fucking killer start to a series, and I was hooked right away. Hardboiled urban fantasy with plenty of horror…sign me the fuck up. This book is explosively violent, funny, and maybe even a little deranged. I loved it so much.

Oh! I can’t not mention that Sandman Slim has no chapters! It definitely took me a minute to get used to that concept, but once I got rolling, I was ok. Just leave your “one more chapter” mentality behind, and you’ll be good.