Sandman Slim

June 8, 2009
Kadrey (Butcher Bird
) provides biting humor, an over-the-top antihero and a rich stew of metaphoric language in this testosterone- and adrenaline-charged noir thriller. James Stark spent 11 years killing monsters in Lucifer's arena for the entertainment of fallen angels, but now he's back in seedy, magic-riddled L.A., trying to avenge his girlfriend's murder and hunt down Mason Faim, the black magician responsible for getting him sent “downtown.” He meets with some initial success, beheading second-rate magician Kasabian (whose head becomes Stark's smart-mouthed sidekick), but he can't find Faim. Instead he encounters Homeland Security agents, a near-psychotic angel and some odd nonhuman, nonangelic beings called the kissi. Darkly atmospheric settings, such as a posh gentlemen's club where angels are tortured in an attempt to bring about Armageddon, bring this violent fantasy into sharp, compelling focus.

July 1, 2009
Raffish magician James Butler Hickok Stark is back from hell and gunning for the Circle that sent him there. Moreover, after 11 years of slaughtering monsters to amuse demons and offing some of Lucifers generals for their jealous rivals, hes become pretty much unkillable. First stop, after relieving a Brad Pitt clone of his stun gun and cash, is the video store run by the Circles saddest member. With a shiv from hell, Stark decapitates but doesnt kill the guy (he pumps the head for info) and turns operations over to appealing semigoth Allegra, while he locates his one sure friend, Vidocq (whos 200 but doesnt look much over 40), in a Hollywood thats had a nervous breakdown while hes been gone. The subsequent 300-plus pages, paced like greased lightning (watch out for friction burns on your turning finger), blend the movie-ish delights of tough guy noir and such smart-mouth gore-fests as Reanimator and Army of Darkness, seasoned by soupons of Gaimanian romanticism and Koontzian sentiment. Delish, and sequels are heavily implied.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)