The RIB: Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
James Stark is back in town, and he's pissed.
Eleven years ago, Stark’s magician ‘friends’ turned against him and sent him to Hell, where Stark spent all of that time battling demons in an arena. Oddly, each time he got torn apart or nearly died, he got better and became more powerful in the process. After achieving a position of respect as an assassin for demons, Stark goes on the lam, stealing a bunch of powerful artefacts, including a key that allows him to move between dimensions, and returns to LA where he goes on a revenge spree for the people that hurt him eleven years ago, and murdered his girlfriend.
The book has a strong start. Stark's got a clear goal, and it was fun to see him deal with his first enemy, now a washed-up magician running a crappy video store, while trying to figure out how to get to his arch-enemy Mason. Stark has a strong, straightforward, brutal personality. He'd rather beat up someone than do a deal, or doesn't think too hard about the consequences of his actions, or really care. If you're in his way, watch out!
And this violent, driven man is perfectly matched by his circle of enemies. Except things get more complicated. There's some heavy epic world-building going on with angels, demons, and other invading forces, lots of different supporting characters with secretive agendas, and lots of location changes. In fact, the main personal revenge arc (of Stark versus Mason) is buried under the supernatural invasion/political plot, and when the confrontation between them finally occurs, it feels a bit anticlimactic. In fact, Stark feels so powerful towards the end that I wondered if anything would ever challenge him. I reckon that this first book is too jam-packed; maybe it would have worked better as two books or a trilogy. Still, there's a lot to like, with that revenge-thriller energy, a sort of story and background reminiscent of Hellblazer/Vertigo Comics and a dose of early 2000s urban fantasy television.
Whether you like this book (and presumably future books) will depend on if you like Stark: an in-your-face, Mike Hammer-esque supernatural investigator. I preferred the early part of the book where it was one man's revenge rather than all the cosmic stuff, but this is the first book in a long series. It'll be fun to see where it goes from here!