The Perdition Score

Kadrey packs the eighth volume of his Sandman Slim urban fantasy series (after Killing Pretty) full of enough action and tough-guy wisecracking for several novels. James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, is one of the nephilim, half angel and half human. He is presently employed by Thomas Abbot, the leader of the Sub Rosa council, who has assigned Slim to discover connections between the council's members and his old foes of Wormwood Investments. In short order, Slim is given a vial of mysterious black liquid by a dying angel and then attacked by another angel on Hollywood Boulevard in a scene befitting the best blockbuster movies. Slim asks his immortal alchemist friend, Eug%D1%90ne Vidocq, to investigate the "black milk," but Vidocq is poisoned with the stuff by an old flame who is also a Wormwood assassin. Now Slim will have to travel to hell and back to find a cure, with the help of his ancestor Wild Bill Hickok and his girlfriend, Candy. Kadrey's characters, situations, and monsters are distinct, but fans of other urban fantasy authors will find everything here that they expect from the genre. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown, Ltd. (June)