Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel

“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.

Supernatural fantasy's best antihero returns, in the high-octane follow-up to Richard Kadrey's acclaimed Sandman Slim

James Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim, crawled out of Hell, took bloody revenge for his girlfriend's murder, and saved the world along the way. After that, what do you do for an encore? You take a lousy job tracking down monsters for money. It's a depressing gig, but it pays for your beer and cigarettes. But in L.A., things can always get worse.

Like when Lucifer comes to town to supervise his movie biography and drafts Stark as his bodyguard. Sandman Slim has to swim with the human and inhuman sharks of L.A.'s underground power elite. That's before the murders start. And before he runs into the Czech porn star who isn't quite what she seems. Even before all those murdered people start coming back from the dead and join a zombie army that will change our world and Stark's forever.

Death bites. Life is worse. All things considered, Hell's not looking so bad.

“Kadrey delivers a (NSFK) novel that is not for the easily offended. His characters are still crude and ultra-violent, the good guys are ugly and the bad guys are beautiful, and there’s enough blasphemy between the covers to give an exorcist the vapors. But for those who can look past all this and dig deep, looking for deeper meanings and moral truths… you’re out of luck. That just isn’t Stark’s style. He’s not back to rock the boat. If he’s not left alone, he may very well sink it. He’s got a nice collection of weapons, a number of favors to call in, and he’s back on his home turf. If you’re going to tackle reading Devil Said Bang, be prepared — this is not the Sandman Slim from Book 1. This Sandman Slim is now figuring out exactly who his enemies are and, rather than circling the wagons and developing a strategy, he’s just going to deal with them the hard way. And Kadrey’s version of the hard way is way more entertaining than a hero with a plan” - Wired

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

Praise for Kill the Dead: “Kadrey knows how to spin a story, his prose is crisp and effortless, and the entertainment value is high.” - Charles de Lint, Fantasy & Science Fiction on Kill the Dead

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

If you like your horror stories with a little camp, a little quirkiness and a whole lot of blood and gore then Kill The Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel by Richard Kadrey will be right up your alley. - Las Vegas Review Journal

“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

“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

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