★ 08/14/2023
This deliciously down and dirty urban fantasy, the first in the Carrion City duology from Bram Stoker Award winner Khaw (The Salt Grows Heavy) and bestseller Kadrey (the Sandman Slim series), follows Julie Crews, an alcoholic freelance magician, as she navigates New York City’s seedy supernatural underbelly. Julie’s struggling to make ends meet performing exorcisms and other paranormal odd jobs for the city’s upper crust when her best friend (and longtime crush), Sarah, turns up on her doorstep, fleeing an abusive husband and badly in need of a place to stay. To protect Sarah and bail herself out of her dead-end career grind, Julie summons an archangel of justice hoping they’ll help balance the books in her favor—but everything comes with a price, and when the archangel proves to have murderous impulses, Julie must fight to keep Sarah, herself, and the entire mortal realm safe. Khaw’s and Kadrey’s styles are a perfect match throughout, melding Kadrey’s knack for punchy action sequences and Khaw’s talent for gorgeous descriptions as they maneuver their enormously fun cast through a filthily rendered New York. Fans of urban fantasy, neo-noir, and pulp horror won’t want to miss this raucous adventure. (Oct.)
I loved The Dead Take the A Train. Strange, visceral urban fantasy with a horror bent.” —V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“An excellent grim and gory tale.” —Library Journal, STARRED review
“An original, thought-provoking, and entertaining title that will call to readers from multiple dimensions.” —Booklist, STARRED review
“Deliciously down and dirty...Khaw’s and Kadrey’s styles are a perfect match throughout...Fans of urban fantasy, neo-noir, and pulp horror won’t want to miss this raucous adventure.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
“Khaw and Kadrey are a powerful team of genre-blending mad geniuses, and The Dead Take the A Train is a gore-covered cake for horror lovers.” —Tor.com
“An addictive, sprawling yarn. This city brims with underhanded dealings and odd magic, and every corner writhes with fresh horrors and delights.” —Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Worm and His Kings
“The first in a pair of new books set in a magical, spooky version of New York City, The Dead Take the A Train packs a great concept and the combined talent of a horror superteam.” —Paste
“Everything old is new again in this comically horrific team-up...An enchanting introduction to a magical bitch on wheels, to be continued.” —Kirkus Reviews
“This is lush gore, a bloody fantastic ride where people with metaphorical demons fight literal ones, and the lost are saved not by grace but by barbed wire and love. Hop on this train now.” —Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author
“The Dead Take the A Train incorporates everything that’s best about both authors into a seamless whole and adds a touch of something uniquely weird and wonderful. The result is fun, thrilling, and compulsively readable.” —John Langan, author of The Fisherman
“A fast-paced madhouse of mayhem combining the best of Kadrey’s thrillers with Khaw’s gruesome Lovecraftian horror....The Dead Take the A Train is a blast and highly recommended for dark fantasy and horror fans looking for a good time.” —Grimdark Magazine
“Fast-paced and thoroughly entertaining!” —Lucy A. Snyder, author of Sister, Maiden, Monster
“Khaw and Kadrey raise eldritch gore to an art form….Eye-searing horror that’s impossible to look away from, I already can’t wait for the next book.” —Kat Howard, author of the Unseen World duology
“[O]ffsets its recognizable New York City setting with a relentless barrage of visceral body horror and deliriously twisted humor. ... a depraved carnival of nightmares and eldritch narcotics.” —BookPage
“Frenetic, unrelenting, and deeply rich in world and character. Khaw and Kadrey have created a kaleidoscopic carnival of horrors and wonders.” —Matt Wallace, author of the Sin du Jour and Savage Rebellion series
★ 08/01/2023
Julie Crews takes some of the ugliest magic jobs so that she can keep paying for her (usually late) NYC rent, nightly takeout, and various drugs and alcohol to wash away what she does. Then her best friend Sarah shows up on her doorstep looking for help, and Julie will do anything to keep her safe, including taking on a deadly job from her ex, Tyler. When Julie surprisingly survives, she sets off a chain reaction of events that could lead to the destruction of much of the world. Now she must take on Tyler and his magical investment and law firm, and worse—face her own feelings and failings. A world of invasive demons, technology pantheons, and gruesome monsters holds a mirror up to the cruelness of humanity, but beneath the blood and body horror is a heavily-bent-but-not-broken protagonist who will take on the darkest monsters and gods to save those she cares for. VERDICT Khaw (The Salt Grows Heavy) and Kadrey (King Bullet) create an excellent grim and gory tale that levels up urban fantasy in this series launch.—Kristi Chadwick
2023-08-12
A freelance spellcaster is in love with drugs and on the run from a primeval evil in midtown Manhattan. What could go wrong?
Everything old is new again in this comically horrific team-up between prolific Malaysian horror writer Khaw and Kadrey, taking a brief and well-deserved break from his popular Sandman Slim series. Whether it’s the ancient, squelchy things hunting our heroes or the novel voice Khaw brings to the genre’s blood-and-one-liners schtick, this adults-only episode may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly something memorable. When we meet nearly-30 Julie Crews, she’s already tied up in exorcising a demon at a bachelorette party before retiring to her squalid apartment for Korean street food, vodka, and drugs. We’re soon introduced to the book’s New York City underground, where Lovecraftian horrors control Wall Street, things older than humans still walk the Earth, and people like Julie use magic to regulate funkiness. The book’s complicating events don’t take long to stir things up. First, Julie’s ex Tyler, a corporate bootlicker, hires her as part of his plan to get promoted by sucking up to his firm’s…patron?—an eldritch horror called The Mother Who Eats that would make Pinhead wet himself. Secondly, Julie’s best friend, Sarah, shows up at her door, the victim of domestic abuse. Bloodshed ensues, natch, but there’s some good stuff among the overstuffed plot, not least the Wick-ian worldbuilding the authors employ to lurid effectiveness. Tyler is saddled with Annabeth Fall, an ice queen from his firm’s security division with cutthroat ambition and a low tolerance for his bullshit, while Sarah’s violent ex Dan nearly kills Julie. Meanwhile, on Julie’s side, we meet her prehistoric landlady, St. Joan, and her “guy in the chair,” Dead Air, who join her reluctant crusade to kill an angel, kiss the girl, and end this spooky bullshit once and for all.
An enchanting introduction to a magical bitch on wheels, to be continued.
