James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, was half human and half Angel; only his angel half buggered off when Stark decided to start a war between Heaven and Hell to rid the cosmos of the Kissi. As this was not the most thought out plan, Lucifer decided to have a change of heart and quit Hell leaving Stark as the new Lucifer. Worse still, his angel half left with the key he could have used to leave. With the fallout damage of the war Stark finds that life as the Devil revolves around mindless planning meetings interspersed with the odd assassination attempt...

Devil Said Bang (399 pages) is the fourth in the rather excellent Sandman Slim series of books, written by Richard Kadrey, which takes an irreverently noirish look on the idea of the fantasy novel.

I should be careful what I wish for having written that Aloha From Hell didn’t really advance the character. In the new story Stark is being a real knob, but you can’t really blame him. Being the Devil isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For a start you have to engage in violence just to show the populous that it’s not worth dicking around with you, not that this stops the really serious plots against his life. Being the only human alive that is not a Hellion, gets a lot of them riled up and only wearing Lucifer’s armour keeps him from being hung from a tree with his own entrails.

The book is split into two phases, the first sees Stark trying to survive Hell, while at the same time doing his best to leave. In this he is not without a conscience, knowing that if he does not find a replacement, in much the same way as the original devil did, Hell would turn on itself with dire consequences for most of the dammed souls. It seems that for all his bluster our hero is developing his good side, even without the benefit of his angel half.

There is little doubt that Stark would eventually crawl his way out of hell and return to L.A. his return is not met with the adulation he was expecting. His girlfriend, Candy, now has a girlfriend of her own; poor old Kasabian has got a new clockwork body, although it’s a bit broken; and father Traven seems to have gone over to the dark side.

Before he can get used to all the changes, he is attacked by a knife wielding child ghost who he learns has been going round town killing off pretty much anyone. Her killings, especially of the dreamers, is altering reality, allowing a gap to open for the old gods - looks like God has some explaining to do.

The writing remains pin sharp and Kadrey’s humour both pushes the plot forward and makes interactions between characters a delight to read. The books feel like they are getting longer and whilst all the elements which made the earlier books a delight to read are there, it feels, in places, that the pace becomes a little uneven.

Still, it’s a small quibble to what was otherwise an enjoyable read

8

Charles Packer