# Sandman Slim

By Richard Kadrey · Sandman Slim, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/sandman-slim-6634ec02/

Eleven years in Hell have left magician James Stark with a particular set of grievances. Back in Los Angeles, he goes looking for the people who sent him there and killed his girlfriend. Heaven and Hell still have plans for him.

## What makes it funny?

Stark can face supernatural horrors and still worry that his body armor fastens like a child's sneakers. His descriptions give the same extravagant attention to a plate of food as to a dangerous encounter.

### The comedy at work

The jokes come through a belligerent noir voice and comparisons that pull grand supernatural threats down to everyday scale. Stark's years away also leave him struggling with ordinary technology, including phones.

### Try this if…

Consider this for a violent revenge story with a cynical antihero and sharp comic narration. The supernatural Los Angeles setting gives the hard-boiled action plenty of strange company.

### Good to know

The violence includes decapitation, and the story has graphic flashbacks to Stark's time in Hell.

## What to expect

- Genre: Fantasy
- On the shelf: Urban fantasy
- Kind of humor: Dark comedy
- The atmosphere: Irreverent
- Format: Novel
- Length: 416 pages (ebook)
- Audiobook: 10 hr 29 min
- Published: 2009

## A few distinguishing details

- A magician escapes Hell to settle old scores
- A noir voice with extravagant comic comparisons

## Sources & further reading

- Book information: [Apple Books listing for Sandman Slim: A Novel by Richard Kadrey](https://books.apple.com/us/book/sandman-slim/id360623685)
- Book information: [Apple Books listing for Sandman Slim: Sandman Slim, Book 1 (Unabridged) by Richard Kadrey](https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/sandman-slim-sandman-slim-book-1-unabridged/id322465516)
- Library catalog: [Library edition and cover](https://www.overdrive.com/media/991028/sandman-slim)
- Book information: [Open Library edition record](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL31957151M/Sandman_Slim)
- Review: [Publishers Weekly review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-171430-6)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk/products/sandman-slim-sandman-slim-book-1-richard-kadrey-9780007445981)
- Book information: [Google Books edition record](https://books.google.com/books/about/Sandman_Slim.html?id=_WeoC4fZPpEC)
- Review: [Reactor review](https://reactormag.com/size-does-matter-richard-kadreys-sandman-slim)