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38th out of 292 books
—
420 voters
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 January 10th 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 hitman from He...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 hitman from He...more
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 there are four),...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 there are four),...more
First off, you really should read "Sandman Slim" before this one.
If you loved S.S. you might not like this one. If you thought S.S. was good but limited by the narrowness of Stark's focus, you might like this second one as much as I did.
Look, if you have a problem with zombies and angels and "special powers" go read something else. There's a character who's a severed head; you just have to accept that. This book does all that is required, which is to stick to the stated powers while exploring...more
If you loved S.S. you might not like this one. If you thought S.S. was good but limited by the narrowness of Stark's focus, you might like this second one as much as I did.
Look, if you have a problem with zombies and angels and "special powers" go read something else. There's a character who's a severed head; you just have to accept that. This book does all that is required, which is to stick to the stated powers while exploring...more
"Hell is hilarious if you're the one in charge." ~ Lucifer
I first read Richard Kadrey a couple of years ago when I picked up Butcher Bird and loved it. It was snarky. It was dark. And it was a hell of a lot of fun. Now it wasn't that I didn't like the first of the Sandman Slim novels, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Butcher Bird so it took me a while to pick up Kill the Dead. I will say that a genre that is so saturated with snarky heroines and a bit way too heavy on the romance, Kadrey’s anti-...more
I first read Richard Kadrey a couple of years ago when I picked up Butcher Bird and loved it. It was snarky. It was dark. And it was a hell of a lot of fun. Now it wasn't that I didn't like the first of the Sandman Slim novels, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Butcher Bird so it took me a while to pick up Kill the Dead. I will say that a genre that is so saturated with snarky heroines and a bit way too heavy on the romance, Kadrey’s anti-...more
Actually I didn't read this till the very end. It was just so bad, all the potential utterly wasted! The problems: too much talk, too little action. Phony, clunky dialogue. Boring characters. Not sure what Kadrey wanted to do with the witch-zombie killing-porn star. Is this a hipster thing? Are we being ironic? Is she for real? If not, I bet Stark isn't either, and I'm not required to relate to him or give a crap about him. It feels like Kadrey was trying WAY too hard to create something awesome...more
Second in the on-going misadventures of magic boy-turned-bad, Sandman Slim.
And as intuited, he makes good on his claim of being the Joseph Stalin of laundry. Somewhat realistically - for someone who traipses among the dead, demonic and devilish - his clothes barely manage to remain threaded for 70% of the time. If this book had been about a female Sandman Slim, they would have made it into a movie pronto; and cast Scarlett Johansson in the lead.
Anyway. Stark dishes out more of his witty banter a...more
And as intuited, he makes good on his claim of being the Joseph Stalin of laundry. Somewhat realistically - for someone who traipses among the dead, demonic and devilish - his clothes barely manage to remain threaded for 70% of the time. If this book had been about a female Sandman Slim, they would have made it into a movie pronto; and cast Scarlett Johansson in the lead.
Anyway. Stark dishes out more of his witty banter a...more
Sep 18, 2012
Marc Weidenbaum
added it
Second in Richard Kadrey's ongoing Sandman Slim series about a hardboiled quasi-angel stuck between warring factions from Heaven and Hell. The character's human name is James Stark, after the pseudonym of hardboiled writer Donald Westlake. Westlake's Stark is best known for his Parker series, and it's something of a humorous thread through Kadrey's series that despite being a mass killer, a veteran of Hell's arenas, and an "abomination" of a metaphysical hybrid, Stark is also quite concerned abo...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 really quite disorganiz...more
Unlike Sandman Slim, Kill the dead, is really quite disorganiz...more
Jan 21, 2011
Alan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
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 named Max Over...more
Yeah, among other things, Stark manages a video store named Max Over...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). Then he g...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). Then he g...more
1 like · like · see review
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 taxes ar...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 taxes ar...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
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 could exist but be "hidden" is pretty much...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 could exist but be "hidden" is pretty much...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 such an overused descriptor o...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 such an overused descriptor o...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 there’s Luc...more
And then there’s Luc...more
"Imagine shoving a cattle prod up a rhino's ass, shouting "April fool!", and hoping the rhino thinks its funny."...
So begins Kill The Dead, the second Sandman Slim novel by Richard Kadrey. Sandman Slim or James Stark as he is refered to throughout most of the novel is a strangely unique character. There are just enough references to his past to make me feel like I really missed out when I did not pick up the first Sandman Slim novel. Slim is a bounty hunter working for both the side of God in th...more
So begins Kill The Dead, the second Sandman Slim novel by Richard Kadrey. Sandman Slim or James Stark as he is refered to throughout most of the novel is a strangely unique character. There are just enough references to his past to make me feel like I really missed out when I did not pick up the first Sandman Slim novel. Slim is a bounty hunter working for both the side of God in th...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
Better than the first one, with some great twists toward the end. I will admit that 100 pages from the end I was wondering if Richard Kadrey had run out of ideas so he just put the hero on "god mode" and pointed him at the finish line.
That was a trick. A crafty, crafty trick.
I can't imagine reading these as they were released, the wait for the next one would make me insane.
As for this book, let me say that it's much more of a mystery-box puzzle than the last one. The first one was a straight up...more
That was a trick. A crafty, crafty trick.
I can't imagine reading these as they were released, the wait for the next one would make me insane.
As for this book, let me say that it's much more of a mystery-box puzzle than the last one. The first one was a straight up...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 acce...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. The cavalry just...more
“Let me make sure I have this straight. The cavalry just...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Jan 07, 2013
Rich
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of supernatural PI's with anger control issues
Shelves:
fantasy-supernatural
I liked this book, I didn't like this book, I liked this book. The story was interesting, there was plenty of action, there was a good cast of supporting characters and evil bad guys. Even Lucifer his own bad self showed up, earning our sympathy for having it so rough down in Hell with all his minions trying to topple him. My only grief with this book, and it was the same the first book too, is that the main character is such an A-hole. Sure, he had some rough things happen to him, but I'm just...more
When I'm reading a Richard Kadrey novel I'm in another world. A world where anything is posible and right now it's about to be overrun by Drifters (Zombies, Zed, the Dead). Lucifer is here too, attempting to produce a movie about his life. Our hero, Sandman Slim, suspects Lucifer may be his Father. "What kind of kid would want Lucifer for a Father? He'd give you the shittiest Christmas presents ever. On the other hand, he'd throw the greatest Halloween parties". It's irreverent dialog like this...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 satisfying -- st...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 satisfying -- st...more
3 likes · like · see review
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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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 bodyguard....more
Kadrey's followup to the fantastic Sandman Slim is a sequel that doesn't disappoint, even if (for me) it should.
This is not a zombie novel, but it does have zombies in it. So, let's set something straight first: I hate zombies in books. And movies. Games. Comics. Casual jokes. I don't get them. I mean, sure, I understand why they are scary: People you love becoming shells bent on eating your brains and guts. A large angry mob that can't or won't hear your protests and can't be stopped (this is...more
This is not a zombie novel, but it does have zombies in it. So, let's set something straight first: I hate zombies in books. And movies. Games. Comics. Casual jokes. I don't get them. I mean, sure, I understand why they are scary: People you love becoming shells bent on eating your brains and guts. A large angry mob that can't or won't hear your protests and can't be stopped (this is...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 these lines -...more
Hint hint folks - if you don't think the recent rash of Urban Fantasy along these lines -...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Goodreads Librari...: multiple editions | 2 | 17 | Aug 30, 2012 03:04am |
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.”
—
246 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.”
—
38 people liked it
More quotes…
Mar 30, 2011 03:54pm
I think he just steals clothes.
Mar 30, 2011 06:35pm