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Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel (Sandman Slim, 2) Hardcover – October 5, 2010

by Richard Kadrey (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,258 ratings
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“Sandman Slim is my kind of hero.”
—Kim Harrison

“Richard Kadrey is a genius.”
—Holly Black

Sandman Slim is back from Hell. After wreaking unholy havoc in author Richard Kadrey’s resoundingly acclaimed Sandman Slim, the demon-slaying anti-hero and half-angel fugitive from the underworld returns in a brutally funny, eye-poppingly inventive, and totally addicting follow-up, Kill the Dead. If you’re a fan of Buffy and Jim Butcher, Christopher Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Warren Ellis, or you dig the dark urban fantasy vibe of Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Simon Green, you’ll cheer Lucifer’s onetime personal assassin as he signs on as his ex-boss’ Hollywood bodyguard…and takes on the zombie apocalypse almost single-handedly.

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Previous page
  1. Book 2 of 12
    Sandman Slim
  2. Print length
    448 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Harper Voyager
  5. Publication date
    October 5, 2010
  6. Dimensions
    1.4 x 7.62 x 11.32 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0061714313
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0061714313
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

James Stark, antihero of 2009's Sandman Slim, returns in this gritty, over-the-top tale of supernatural mayhem. Having taken his revenge on the rival magician who got him sent to Hell, Stark settles in sorcery-infested Los Angeles and gets a part-time gig with the Golden Vigil, an angelic hit squad of dubious morality that's somehow allied with Homeland Security. He spends the rest of his time as a freelance slayer of monsters. When Lucifer comes to Earth, supposedly to oversee a Hollywood biopic of his life, he hires Stark to be his bodyguard, but something isn't quite right and soon the city is awash in murderous zombies. Stark has to get to the bottom of the mystery or risk being sent back to Hell, along with everyone he cares about. Profane, intensely metaphoric language somehow makes self-tortured monster Stark sympathetic and turns a simple story into a powerful noir thriller.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Powerful, entertaining and exotically profane.” — San Diego Free Press

“…endlessly inventive and high-octane…Kadrey’s an excellent writer who’s able to juggle all of it without dropping a single pin.” — Locus

“Think Get Shorty meets Hellraiser.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Everything a sequel should be; that is, more. … There’s hardly a moment where you’re not chewing your fingernails to the wrist wondering what happens next. … Kadrey is a hell of a writer, versatile and seasoned, and these pulpy, dark, ultraviolent novels are his best work yet.” — Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

“James Stark, antihero of 2009’s Sandman Slim, returns in this gritty, over-the-top tale of supernatural mayhem…Profane, intensely metaphoric language somehow makes self-tortured monster Stark sympathetic and turns a simple story into a powerful noir thriller.” — Publishers Weekly on KILL THE DEAD

“What’s best displayed by Kill the Dead is Kadrey’s snappy prose. From the first lines...you know you’re in for a Chandler-meets-the-undead treat.” — Locus

“Hilarious … belongs up there with Dresden Files and Felix Castor novels. … some of the best supernatural buddy comedy ever created. ... This is that rare sequel that’s actually better than the first book (which was plenty great) and manages to take several leaps forward.” — io9.com

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Voyager; First Edition (October 5, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061714313
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061714313
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.4 x 7.62 x 11.32 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,258 ratings

About the author

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Richard Kadrey

Richard Kadrey

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Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime,” and is in development as a feature film.

Some of Kadrey’s other books include The Dead Take the A Train (with Cassandra Khaw), The Pale House Devil, and Butcher Bird. His work has been nominated for both the BSFA and Locus awards.

Aside from books, Kadrey has written for film and comics, including Heavy Metal, Lucifer, and Hellblazer. Kadrey also makes music with the band, A Demon in Fun City.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
2,258 global ratings
NOT THE COVER PICTURED
4 Stars
NOT THE COVER PICTURED
Got here 4 days faster than estimated, very excited to read this. Had to dock a star because THIS IS NOT THE COVER I RECIEVED. it is the cover I wanted but could not find anywhere on amazon so I am very happy, it will complete my collection nicely. However if you are collecting THE COVER PICTURED HERE I did not get that cover. I'm happy with the suprise but I don't know if everyone would be!!
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Top reviews from the United States

PBI
5.0 out of 5 stars A sequel that outshines its predecessor
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2016
Verified Purchase
James Stark, the man who spent 11 years in Hell as Lucifer's favorite assassin, Sandman Slim, is back in the second book of Richard Kadrey's hardboiled-horror-adventure-black comedy series. Having saved the world once, Stark now has a killer rep among Los Angeles' supernatural crowd, the Sub Rosa, but he's barely scraping by on a government paycheck as a hired killer of demons, vampires and other creatures of the night.

Soon, however, his old boss, Lucifer himself, comes callilng, and Stark finds himself in a new job: protecting the Prince of Darkness while he makes a Hollywood biopic. Meanwhile, members of the Sub Rosa's oldest families start disappearing, Stark loses his government gig, and he meets a world-famous Czech pornstar who is way more than meets the eye. With the help of his grudging sidekick and disembodied head, Kasabian - along with the few friends he has in the world - Sandman Slim begins to unearth exactly what all of these things have in common, and the answer is far worse than he ever could have anticipated.

Unlike many sequels, "Kill the Dead" actually outshines its predecessor. Kadrey spins a great yarn, and the story never quite sits still. There are confrontations, plotting, violence, sarcasm, insults and rich description that make putting the book down difficult:

"I think the guy took out his spinal fluid and replaced it with tequilla. He's epically, gorgeously drunk. If his drunkenness had legs, it would be Alexander the Great and conquer the known world. Then it would puke for a week into a solid gold toilet it stole from Zeus's guest room."

The world of Sandman Slim is rich and compelling, and the author is continuously inventive. If you liked the first volume, you'll love this one.
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Reinold F.
4.0 out of 5 stars Angel rage.
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2020
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Sandman Slim is an abomination. Or at least that is how some see him in his reality. If you know it then good for you because you read the first book so this one doesn't seem quite mysterious, but if you didn't then go to that shopping cart and get it, is great! :D Now that you have read it you know James Stark (A.K.A. Sandman Slim) is for some an abomination for his half angelic nature while spewing spells in Hellion, the language from Hell. I love the way Sandman Slim talks, he uses a lot of swearing but sounds like real and natural talk, contrary to modern trends where inarticulate characters supply their linguistic shortages with f bombs. Other characters talk in different ways that make them more real too. The story is about the dead coming to L.A. in middle of the rivalry of very old Sub Rosa families settling their revenges for one last time, what makes it a bit of a noir novel. The book has many surprises and it gets to conserve that feeling I had in the first book of Los Angeles as a magical city, or at least a city where magic seems so powerful that it going wild can mean the Apocalypses. You will see many types of Undead here as Golems, Vampires, zombies, some head drinking beer, some angel possessing a dead body, and many others ones. The only character I didn't like was Brigitte Bardo, a super beautiful, athletic and talented Czech gypsy that was too perfect to be believable. Other aspect I found a bit unsettling was the the attachment of Sandman Slim to Max Overdrive, a video rental shop that he doesn't even owns, while in the first book it was comical in the second seems a bit exasperating as it pulverizes all the money Sandman Slim get by doing dangerous works (although to be fair the character explains why he prefers it that way). You have to make some concessions to fantasy as supposedly two young men as Mason and Sandman Slim can be the terror of Hell and Heaven and outsmart and outmatch entities that have existed since the beginning of creation. And lastly in the things I didn't understand well is the way Sandman Slim gets to uncover a secret function in a magical object, maybe I didn't pay attention to the clues but seemed a bit like a great bet. I will not be more specific to not spoil the adventure to read this book, I liked it but if I had only read the first book I somehow feel like I had not lost much, as it is an interlude in the main story of Sandman Slim against Mason.
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Kyle Marquis
5.0 out of 5 stars Top of the Genre
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2012
Verified Purchase
Sandman Slim, the monster who kills monsters, goes after vampires, zombies, demons, and the degenerate heirs to aristocratic wizarding empires in a book that gives you what you want, and doesn't insult you when it does.

Richard Kadrey does what other urban fantasy writers do, except he actually thinks about it. Case in point: Kill the Dead opens with a typical in media res vampire hunt. Rather than a throwaway bit of establishment, the events in the first few pages have effects that resonate across the rest of the book, and further. Kill the Dead is WAY smarter than it needs to be for a book that's basically wish-fulfillment fantasy about a near-immortal badass with a magic arsenal and a key to any car in LA. It's filled with intricate, clever puzzles based on the metaphysics of Hellions (fallen angels), High Plains Drifters (zombies), and the sub rosa (the society of magicians). It's also smartly written, funny, and wryly aware of its own absurdity. It's a story with a porn star monster hunter, a severed head riding a steampunk spider-skateboard, and a Lucifer who wants Hollywood to tell the "real" story of what happened, but it's so well-written you end up laughing with the characters, not at them.

The Sandman Slim novels are some of the best offerings in an otherwise stale genre, and Kill the Dead is smarter, funnier, and more exciting than the first book.
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Meemer
5.0 out of 5 stars Sandman Slim series is greatly entertaining
Reviewed in Canada on October 27, 2018
Verified Purchase
Gift for someone I turned onto the series. Great surprise for my brother since he didn’t know a new book had been added to a series that we both enjoy
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Wortmagie
5.0 out of 5 stars Der rauchende, trinkende, mordende Halbengel
Reviewed in Germany on November 29, 2014
Verified Purchase
Richard Kadrey schreibt nicht nur fleißig Romane und Kurzgeschichten, er ist auch Fotograf. Ich persönlich finde seine Kunst interessant, aber sie ist auch sehr verstörend und es gibt sicher einige unter euch, die sie abstoßend fänden. Seine Fotografie macht deutlich, dass er das Extreme liebt, was sich auch in seinen Romanen widerspiegelt. Seine Figur des James Stark alias Sandman Slim ist da keine Ausnahme.

Nach 11 Jahren in der Hölle und der eher zufälligen Rettung von Los Angeles ist Starks Leben nun regelrecht langweilig geworden. Für seine Verhältnisse. Ab und zu ein Auftrag für das Golden Vigil, doch sonst ist es ruhig. Bis Luzifer Stark zu sich bittet und ihn zu seinem Bodyguard macht. Wozu der Herrscher der Hölle einen Bodyguard braucht? Offiziell soll Stark ihn zu den öffentlichen Auftritten begleiten, die Luzifer besuchen muss, um die Verfilmung seiner Biografie zu überwachen. In Wirklichkeit? Wen interessiert‘s, denn die Bezahlung ist gut. Schon bald bleibt Stark allerdings nichts anderes übrig, als sich dafür zu interessieren, denn Leute verschwinden, Luzifer wird angegriffen und die Toten erheben sich in Scharen. Irgendjemand pfuscht mit Zombies herum. Stark muss herausfinden, wer es ist und Schlimmeres verhindern, denn es kann ja wohl nicht sein, dass er bei seinem abendlichen Gläschen/Fläschchen Aqua Regia im Bamboo House of Dolls gestört wird. Oder?

James Stark ist der perfekte Antiheld. Er hat so viele schlechte Eigenschaften, dass ich mich fragen musste, warum ich ihn eigentlich so unglaublich sympathisch finde. Ich weiß darauf keine eindeutige Antwort. Vermutlich hat es viel damit zu tun, dass seine Persönlichkeit wirklich einnehmend und unter der Oberfläche gar nicht so einfach gestrickt ist, wie es auf den ersten Blick erscheint. In „Kill the Dead“ ist mir besonders aufgefallen, dass sein Aufenthalt in der Hölle ihn in bestimmten Punkten für das Leben unter Menschen verdorben hat. Jeder Mensch hat Ballast, aber Stark… Ihr kennt sicher das berühmte Zitat „Die Hölle, das sind wir selbst“ von T.S. Eliot – bei Stark ist es die wahrhaftige Hölle, die er mit sich herumträgt. Er wird seine Erinnerungen an die Jahre dort nicht los, weil er sich nicht richtig damit auseinandersetzt. Daraus entsteht eine ganz merkwürdige Beziehung zu einem Ort, der ihm schon bei dem bloßen Gedanken daran das Blut in den Adern gefrieren lassen sollte. Doch ich wurde das Gefühl nicht los, dass Stark damit angibt, in der Hölle als Gladiator überlebt zu haben. Er ist stolz darauf, trotz all der Schmerzen und der Qual, die er dort erlitt. Hinzu kommt noch, dass ihm seit dieser Zeit die soziale Interaktion mit anderen Menschen sehr schwer fällt. Auf ihn trifft deshalb auch Sartres Zitat „Die Hölle, das sind die anderen“ zu. Er sehnt sich nach der Einfachheit der Arena, weil er sich dort nie die Frage stellen musste, wem er trauen kann. Er trug keine Verantwortung, musste keine Rücksicht nehmen und keine Pläne machen. Jetzt ist er zurück und hat eigentlich keine Ahnung, was er mit seinem Leben anstellen möchte. Diese Entwicklung war zu erwarten und ich finde es wunderbar, dass Richard Kadrey so deutlich darauf eingegangen ist. Stark ist ein verlorener Junge; er steht zwischen dem Golden Vigil und Luzifer und weiß genau, dass beide Seiten ihn eigentlich nur für ihre eigenen Pläne benutzen.
In „Kill the Dead“ beleuchtet Richard Kadrey aber nicht nur neue Facetten seines Protagonisten, er verrät auch einiges über sein übernatürliches Universum. Die Handlung hat sehr viel mit der Geschichte der Sub Rosas (also der Übernatürlichen) zu tun: wie die verschiedenen Familien nach Nordamerika kamen und warum, wie sich Machtstrukturen entwickelten und wie sie um eben diese kämpfen. Stark erfährt all das nebenbei, während er versucht, die Zombie-Plage in den Griff zu bekommen. Dadurch kommen Action, Blut und Chaos nicht zu kurz – „Kill the Dead“ ist wirklich aufregend und spannend, in seiner Brutalität ganz ähnlich der Bourbon Kid – Reihe. Ich finde, Richard Kadrey versteht es hervorragend, dem Ganzen ein wenig die Schärfe durch seinen unvergleichlichen Humor zu nehmen. Müsste ich nicht so oft lachen, empfände ich die exzessive Gewalttätigkeit seiner Romane vermutlich als zu dominant, doch so ist es eine perfekte Mischung.
Zu guter Letzt möchte ich noch die Figur des Luzifers hervorheben. Ich liebe ihn. Wirklich. Er ist nicht eindimensional böse, sondern kultiviert, belesen und manipulativ. Er erinnerte mich an einen Politiker oder Unternehmer und in gewisser Weise ist er das ja auch, denn die Hölle will gewinnbringend geführt und organisiert werden. Ich habe eine Schwäche für Luzifer-Versionen in Milton-Manier und Kadreys Vorstellung des Teufels kommt meiner eigenen so nahe, dass es fast schon unheimlich ist.

Die Sandman Slim – Romane machen mich einfach glücklich. Sie lesen sich leicht und flüssig, sind witzig und herrlich unanständig. Sie sind Urlaub für meine Gedanken und mittlerweile empfinde ich Stark als Freund.
Ich kann euch diese Reihe nur wirklich ans Herz legen, wenn ihr auf Antihelden à la Bourbon Kid, Joe Pitt oder Harry Dresden steht. Stark wird sicher auch eure Sympathie erobern, er ist einfach außergewöhnlich. Denn wann trifft man schon mal einen rauchenden, trinkenden, mordenden Halbengel?
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sneddj
5.0 out of 5 stars LA meets hell
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2013
Verified Purchase
I read other reviews and was intrigued by the mix of dark fantasy and old fashioned crime thriller. It is Mickey Spillane meets the devil. I've now read all three books and am currently reading the fourth most current one. I couldn't resist. They are fast paced, engaging, funny, self effacing. If you enjoy the dialogue in Black Adder and the humour of Supernatural, you'll like this. Couple that with a character straight out of Micky Spillane and Raymond Chandler and you're getting the picture.

Richard has an equally interesting perception of heaven and hell and the characters therein. No-one is perfect and no-one entirely evil. Sandman Slim is no "angel" - literally - well not quite - but he is engaging and hope he goes from strength to strength or depending on the ending of the fourth book in the series, ends up where he wants to be. That's yet to be decided as I'm only half way through.

I hope you give the books a chance. I did and am glad I bothered. They certainly make my journey to work more enjoyable.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Australia on August 12, 2016
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Love this series. Gritty, full on and lots of fun
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Shawn Watson
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoying the ride.
Reviewed in Canada on March 19, 2013
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A smart writer willing to have outright lunkhead fun, whose cultural lexicon matches my own. If you dig Esquivel,Peckinpaw & still break things with your head in your 30's you'll enjoy this.
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