Review – Hollywood Dead (Sandman Slim, Book 10) by Richard Kadrey (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urba Fantasy
Length: 369 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: August 28, 2018
ASIN: B074SJ3MN9
Stand Alone or Series: 10th book in the Sandman Slim series
Source: Borrowed from Library for Kindle
Rating: 5/5 stars
“James Stark is back from Hell, trailing more trouble in his wake. To return to L.A., he had to make a deal with the evil power brokers, Wormwood—an arrangement that came with a catch. While he may be home, Stark isn’t quite himself . . . because he’s only partially alive.
There’s a time limit on his reanimated body, and unless Stark can find the people targeting Wormwood, he will die again—and this time there will be no coming back. Even though he’s armed with the Room of Thirteen Doors, Stark knows he can’t find Wormwood’s enemies alone. To succeed he’s got to enlist the help of new friends—plus a few unexpected old faces.
Stark has been in dangerous situations before—you don’t get named Sandman Slim for nothing. But with a mysterious enemy on the loose, a debt to pay, and a clock ticking down, this may truly be the beginning of his end. . . .”
Series Info/Source: This is the 10th book in the Sandman Slim series. I borrowed this as an ebook from my library.
Story (5/5): I honestly have no idea why I dropped reading the Sandman Slim series and now, with the impending release of the final book in the series, I am playing catch up. This was a wonderful addition to the series. Stark finds himself back alive…kind of…and caught up in the schemes of the questionable Wormwood group. The plot moved quickly and had some fun twists and turns and a ton of action and I enjoyed this immensely.
Characters (5/5): We get some new characters introduced from the Wormwood institute and also deal with a ton of old characters as well. I ended up on the Sandman Slim wiki to review all the numerous characters before I started reading this, because at this point there are A LOT of characters. However, I love them all and enjoyed how much Stark had to lean on the support of his friends in order to survive this time around.
Setting (5/5): Most of this book is set in LA, although we do get to visit the Room of Thirteen Doors again and go through a couple different planes of existence. I love this world, the grittiness to it and how weird it is. That hasn’t changed for me throughout this series.
Writing Style (5/5): Kadrey has a very unique writing style that works incredibly well for this series. I have read many other books by him but this series remains my favorite work by him by a long shot. There is a gritty noir feel to it all. Stark is incredibly crass and offensive but strangely comes across as heartfelt and heroic too…even if he does make everyone’s life a bit too exciting at times. The plot is well done, the characters are amazing, and the action is non-stop. I love this series!
My Summary (5/5): Overall I am so happy I picked this series back up to read, I love this world and these characters. This book takes us out of Hell and back to LA and it was one heck of a fun ride. I am so excited to read the last couple books in this series to see where it all ends up. I would recommend this to people who enjoy a noir flare to their urban fantasies and love gritty, fast-paced action with a heavy dose of the paranormal.
