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42nd out of 205 books
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Kill the Dead (Sandman Slim #2)
What do you do after you’ve crawled out of Hell to wreak bloody revenge? If you’re Stark you turn to bounty hunting, tracking and decimating whatever rogue monsters you’re paid to kill. Stark hates the work, but he needs the money, especially the big bucks Lucifer is offering. In town as an adviser on a biopic of his life, Lucifer needs protection, and he wants Stark as hi...more
Hardcover, 434 pages
Published
October 5th 2010
by Eos
(first published September 23rd 2010)
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I would hate to have to pay Stark’s clothing and laundry bills because this guy can’t go ten minutes without getting his duds ripped to shreds or covered in the gore of various monsters and his own blood.
This series is making me a little nuts. In the first book, Sandman Slim, I thought the first half was a waste of a good idea and that the main character Stark came across as a whining impulsive punk who got regularly beaten like a rented mule rather than the super-tough anti-hero h...more
This series is making me a little nuts. In the first book, Sandman Slim, I thought the first half was a waste of a good idea and that the main character Stark came across as a whining impulsive punk who got regularly beaten like a rented mule rather than the super-tough anti-hero h...more
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What do you say about a book that stars a nephalim who believes that Lucifer may be his father, and who has a head for a roommate/sidekick? It's like Terry Pratchet met up with Anne Rice and then had a date with Buffy!
Not having read the first Sandman Slim book probably won't matter - the backstory is exposited in drips and drabs, and knowing might not make the plot any easier to follow. That's not a bad thing, mind you. Learning about the different types of zombies (apparently th...more
Not having read the first Sandman Slim book probably won't matter - the backstory is exposited in drips and drabs, and knowing might not make the plot any easier to follow. That's not a bad thing, mind you. Learning about the different types of zombies (apparently th...more
Kill the Dead is the second book in the Sandman Slim novels. You can find the review for the first book, Sandman Slim here. As with the first book, Kill the Dead involves Angels and Demons but this time the threat the walking dead, otherwise known as various types of zombies. The problem however is that the reader is not really made aware the the zombies are indeed the "big bad" in this book until Stark suddenly had to deal with them.
Unlike Sandman Slim, Kill the dead, is...more
Unlike Sandman Slim, Kill the dead, is...more
Alan
rated it
Recommends it for:
Angels and devils who like to hang out in seedy bars
Recommended to Alan by:
Slim's first outing
Explosive and profane like its predecessor, Kill the Dead is our second first-person glimpse into the absurdly-complicated second life of one James Stark, a wisecracking and dissolute demigod of sorts who was raised on Earth by his human mother, went to Hell and back again like some latter-day Orpheus, and lives again in Los Angeles, California (not so much of a step up as a lateral move, perhaps) where he... runs a video store?
Yeah, among other things, Stark manages a video store name...more
Yeah, among other things, Stark manages a video store name...more
This is the second book in the Sandman Slim series; you wouldn't have to read the first book to read this one, but the first one gives a lot of great background and is a wonderful book so I would recommend reading it. I actually listened to this on audio book; the audio book was exceedingly well done.
Stark (Sandman Slim) is whiling away his time drinking, doing miscellaneous work for the Golden Vigil, and wishing he could kill Mason (the evil man who sent him to hell for eleven years)...more
Stark (Sandman Slim) is whiling away his time drinking, doing miscellaneous work for the Golden Vigil, and wishing he could kill Mason (the evil man who sent him to hell for eleven years)...more
Kill the Dead is the sequel to Kadrey's Sandman Slim - the story of James Stark narrowly averting the end of the world. Or, at least, the end of L.A.
In Kill the Dead Stark is back. He's working freelance for the Golden Vigil (Homeland Security meets a the Christian Coalition - headed up by one serious b*tch of an angel) and Satan. Some might consider this a conflict of interests...not Stark. He's killing monsters and getting paid for it, no matter where the check comes from (or how many tax...more
In Kill the Dead Stark is back. He's working freelance for the Golden Vigil (Homeland Security meets a the Christian Coalition - headed up by one serious b*tch of an angel) and Satan. Some might consider this a conflict of interests...not Stark. He's killing monsters and getting paid for it, no matter where the check comes from (or how many tax...more
Not a lot needs to be said on this one. If you haven't read Sandman Slim, then read that one first, before you tackle this one. If you liked it, then you'll like this one, perhaps even more. As always with the second in a series, the author's got some more freedom in one sense, because you already know the characters and have some background, so that doesn't need to be covered again. On the other hand, there's perhaps a bit less freedom for some of the same reason, but Kadrey manages to take Sli...more
A great follow-up to Sandman Slim! Kill the Dead didn't grab me quite as quickly as the first novel, but it was still fantastic. It delivered the harsh, crass, sarcastic Stark that we expect, with a little extra thrown in just for fun. I loved Lucifer, and Kasabian was hilarious, as always. Bring on the next one!
"I'm McGyver, baby. Stick around. I'll make you a philosopher's stone from Barbie dolls and spark plugs." ~ Allegra
"Eugene screwed up his chemistry set...more
"I'm McGyver, baby. Stick around. I'll make you a philosopher's stone from Barbie dolls and spark plugs." ~ Allegra
"Eugene screwed up his chemistry set...more
Kill the Dead takes the stupidly ridiculous plot of the first book another notch. Its redeeming grace is the -- for want of a better phrase -- "character development". Though, I suppose I really mean "world development", since Stark's character is only minutely different from beginning to end.
The standard problems with "modern monsters" are out in full effect in this book. The amount of lobotomized brain-deadedness required to believe that all this shit co...more
The standard problems with "modern monsters" are out in full effect in this book. The amount of lobotomized brain-deadedness required to believe that all this shit co...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I read Richard Kadrey's "Sandman Slim" back in June and loved it. I anticipated the next novel featuring the same main character with such excitement that I pre-ordered it twice. Both copies showed up last week. I read one. Might read the other too, it was so much fun.
I still maintain that Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim, is the R rated Harry Dresden. "Kill the Dead" is a first person, present tense, noir detective story with a thoroughly modern feel. If 'gritty' weren't...more
I still maintain that Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim, is the R rated Harry Dresden. "Kill the Dead" is a first person, present tense, noir detective story with a thoroughly modern feel. If 'gritty' weren't...more
Since he busted out of Downtown (that is, Hell) six months ago, Stark has been busting his ass to stay above water. He’s got monsters on one side of him, monster-hunting feds on the other, and has to take murder jobs from both sides to make the green. He’s still got his key, the black blade, and his Hellion hoodoo, but the scar magic he’s been relying on to keep his edge seems to be petering out on him now that he’s back in the world, which isn’t good news for a paid killer.
And then...more
And then...more
These are not perfect books, but there's something about Stark that really makes me like him. I'm obviously very attracted to this kind of tortured hero with serious identity issues. He is built much like another favorite of mine, Cal Leandros. Both are half human, both have spent time in that book's equivalent of Hell, both are very good at killing things, both struggle with the two halves of their nature, both express themselves with lots of cutting sarcasm, and so on. Cal is the emo version o...more
3.5 stars. This book suffers a little from the inevitable comparison with Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files. The wise-cracking tone and clever verbal exchanges are a strong feature of both. Like Harry Dresden, Stark (aka. Sandman Slim) provides the reader with snippets of observation and lines of conversation so good that they beg to be read aloud to someone else. Still I'm sure Kadrey is sick of hearing the comparison. If the author had been able to resist adding the disembodied head who has a...more
A blast of a read. It always shocks me when a sequel can outdo the original, and that is exactly what Kadrey has achieved with this one "Kill the Dead". This book is paced like the first, non-stop but is an adrenaline overload. Sandman Slim is one bad mutha and he is as nasty as it comes and is at his best when he is killing something or someone. I love the humor and the one liners through out this novel, a great example is the following.
“Let me make sure I have this straight....more
“Let me make sure I have this straight....more
Pon a un perfecto asesino de demonios, no, tachen eso, a un perfecto asesino de cualquier cosa, a una artista porno checa que actuará como Eva en su primera película no erótica en hollywood, película que trata sobre como Lucifer llegó al infierno pero contado desde el punto de Lucifer, hecha por un director que de hecho le vendió su alma a Lucifer, y que el mismisimo rey del infierno escribirá y producirá, ah si, y el asesino que dije al principio del párrafo, él trabaja de momento como el guard...more
I loved Sandman Slim so much, I picked this up the instant I finished it, and did not put it down until I had finished it. (In fact, I read it so quickly, I didn't have a chance to put an entry here and track progress. I devoured it in 3 or 4 days.)
Kill the Dead doesn't exactly pick up where Sandman Slim left off. Instead, it's a while later, and we get to see what Stark's been doing since we last saw him. Richard Kadrey weaves an even more sinister and complex -- but ultimately sati...more
Kill the Dead doesn't exactly pick up where Sandman Slim left off. Instead, it's a while later, and we get to see what Stark's been doing since we last saw him. Richard Kadrey weaves an even more sinister and complex -- but ultimately sati...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Kill the Dead was equally as enjoyable as Richard Kadrey's first book in this series, Sandman Slim. As the cover blurb already tells you, part of the plot involves Satan coming to Los Angeles and getting involved in a movie about his life. It's funny how certain movie actors pop in my head while reading a book, in this case, I pictured Satan as Julian McMahon (from Nip/Tuck). Satan has a wicked sense of humor and is taking a fatherly interest in Stark (Sandman Slim), who serves as his bodygua...more
As much as I'd like to dislike Kadrey's writing as much as I dislike his photography, it still on some basic level works for me. Maybe it's the smarta** attitude that fits so well with the Urban Fantasy genre. Or maybe it's the fact that - thank God! - this isn't a book about a sword-wielding woman but rather a series about a tired, grumpy guy who's been torn to shit and knows it, but still doesn't give up.
Hint hint folks - if you don't think the recent rash of Urban Fantasy along the...more
Hint hint folks - if you don't think the recent rash of Urban Fantasy along the...more
What if they threw a zombie outbreak and nobody cared? Sure, there are people dying in the streets, but they’re just humans. They don’t even know how to do magic? Who gives a damn about them?
That seems to be the concept of Kill the Dead, a book almost wholly lacking in the human element. Every character is above the mass slaughter of the citizens of their surrounds, because they’ve got bigger problems elsewhere: Heaven and Hell are far more important than the concerns of 4 million pe...more
That seems to be the concept of Kill the Dead, a book almost wholly lacking in the human element. Every character is above the mass slaughter of the citizens of their surrounds, because they’ve got bigger problems elsewhere: Heaven and Hell are far more important than the concerns of 4 million pe...more
Sandman Slim was a good book. Kill the Dead is an amazing book. Everything that Kadrey did right in Sandman Slim, he's amped it up to amazing proportions in Kill the Dead.
To those that said this book started off slow, I don't know what they were reading but right from the start the book is building up to something. Stark may just be chasing a vampire through LA, but you can feel that this is going to be important and it's going to reverberate throughout the whole story. This book's pac...more
To those that said this book started off slow, I don't know what they were reading but right from the start the book is building up to something. Stark may just be chasing a vampire through LA, but you can feel that this is going to be important and it's going to reverberate throughout the whole story. This book's pac...more
Richard Kadrey’s Kill the Dead is the sequel to Sandman Slim, and James Stark has been keeping himself busy working for various entities in order to pay the rent. The Devil is one of the entities that makes use of Stark’s services, and he wants Stark to serve as his bodyguard while he’s in town on business. Stark is forced to juggle the obligations of both Heaven and Hell, and manages to place himself in the middle of a conflict that started at the dawn of time.
Richard Kadrey’s writin...more
Richard Kadrey’s writin...more
Stark is a renegade half angel who escaped from Hell itself. He's a seriously nasty piece of work whose main purpose in coming back was to get revenge on the people who sent him there in the first place. (That all happened in the first book) Now his new hobby is working as a bodyguard for Lucifer himself and hunting down zombies in his spare time. His friends include a talking severed head and a zombie killing porn star.
Fast and fun with lots of action, calling this one gritty is a ser...more
Fast and fun with lots of action, calling this one gritty is a ser...more
A nice fun read. The story continues in mostly the same vein as the predecessor, with the main character remaining true to form, if being a bit more melancholy in places.
One thing about this that was tough is that a copious amount of material is reused from the previous book, but not a lot of explanation is given over to what significance the character or item had when it reappears. I never like a huge amount of exposition rehashing the previous book in a series, and it's even better if t...more
One thing about this that was tough is that a copious amount of material is reused from the previous book, but not a lot of explanation is given over to what significance the character or item had when it reappears. I never like a huge amount of exposition rehashing the previous book in a series, and it's even better if t...more
After having read the first novel in this series, "Sandman Slim," I approached with caution. Very excited about the concept and the setup...would this live up to what it began?
Yes, yes it did.
An incredibly well-crafted character marinated in flavors of supernatural meets pulp noir meets mystery/thriller, meets fantasy.
Gruff and seemingly unrepentant though still resonating with humanity (this is a pretty ironic statement given the subject matter) our protagonist continue...more
Yes, yes it did.
An incredibly well-crafted character marinated in flavors of supernatural meets pulp noir meets mystery/thriller, meets fantasy.
Gruff and seemingly unrepentant though still resonating with humanity (this is a pretty ironic statement given the subject matter) our protagonist continue...more
Sandman Slim está de regresso, agora numa história ainda mais acelarada do que a do primeiro livro da série. Em Kill The Dead, Slim tem de ser guarda-costas de Lúcifer enquanto deslinda uma conspiração cabalística e combate hordes de zombies que alastram em Los Angeles.
Os ingredientes que Kadrey lançou no primeiro livro da série são novamente misturados com uma eficácia hard boiled num livro que apesar de superficial, é uma leitura bem divertida. Quantos autores é que se atrevem a c...more
Os ingredientes que Kadrey lançou no primeiro livro da série são novamente misturados com uma eficácia hard boiled num livro que apesar de superficial, é uma leitura bem divertida. Quantos autores é que se atrevem a c...more
Jamie
rated it
I tend to just books by how I feel after I've read them. There are a lot of books out there that I really like. However, there are a much smaller number of books that make me wish I hadn't finished them just yet. This is one of those books.
About 2-3 times a year, I finish a book and am saddened that I have finished it. I want to read more. I have a hard time picking another book to read, because my mind is still thinking about what I just read, and because I don't want to be d...more
About 2-3 times a year, I finish a book and am saddened that I have finished it. I want to read more. I have a hard time picking another book to read, because my mind is still thinking about what I just read, and because I don't want to be d...more
Kadrey is the clear inheritor of Chandler's L.A. Like Chandler's his is mythic, but not (as Chandler's wasn't at the time of its writing) nostalgic. Anyone who's been there beyond the tourist traps will recognize it. It's got "heroes" (so to speak) that you care about and the action is compelling. I almost didn't read this series, thanks to the eye-rolling author photo and some of the posturing and tedious pop-culture quotes I've read from the author. I'm glad I did. It's a world you w...more
This is book two and I wasn't expecting this book to have zombies in it. (more on that later in the review) Book one, Sandman Slim didn't so I guess I just assumed. With this series I am beginning to believe it would be best not to assume anything. I thoroughly enjoyed both books.
I don't usually like books that involve any sort of religious context but this doesn't really come off like that. It uses the whole, God, Angels, demons, the devil but twists it into an awesome urban fan...more
I don't usually like books that involve any sort of religious context but this doesn't really come off like that. It uses the whole, God, Angels, demons, the devil but twists it into an awesome urban fan...more
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Richard Kadrey is a freelance photographer and writer living in San Francisco. He photographs under the name Kaos Beauty Klinik. His new novel is Sandman Slim (Eos, 2009).
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“Memories are bullets. Some whiz by and only spook you. Others tear you open and leave you in pieces.”
—
52 people liked it
“It doesn't matter if you and everyone else in the room are thinking it. You don't say the words. Words are weapons. They blast big bloody holes in the world. And words are bricks. Say something out loud and it starts turning solid. Say it loud enough and it becomes a wall you can't get through.”
—
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