Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback

If you're looking for a wild ride that's like Men in Black, but with demons, with the dark grittiness and evil corporations of cyberpunk, and all the gore, then The Dead Take the A Train is your ticket.

I loved the unhinged, dumpster-fire of a main character. She's a bit of a mess, but you want to root for her nonetheless. And the world-building? It's fantastic. I’m intrigued by the idea of landmarks and buildings being living spirits that are entangled in the everyday lives of its citizens. Khaw and Kadrey paint a vivid picture of a New York City where the supernatural is just another day at the office… until it’s not. The New York setting also adds a layer of realism to this paranormal horror, and the idea that people in the city are so used to weird things happening that they don't even blink at the supernatural chaos happening around them is genius.

The only thing that could have been better was the romance. It felt a bit rushed and could have benefited from more build-up. There was a lot of hollow pining with a slightly flirty scene scattered here and there. I feel like the romantic feelings the characters had for each other were a large part of their motivation in their book, and I wish this was explored more.

But don't let that deter you. This book is a thrill ride from beginning to end.

Overall, I'd give The Dead Take a Train 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because it's just so damn fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for an advanced reading copy of The Dead Take the A Train.

I was immediately hooked by the premise and beautiful cover. Although unfamiliar with either author, I was very excited to give this book a read.

This book starts out so strong! Julie, the main character, is super rough around the edges, with a gritty job and a drug habit. The action is afoot, the dialogue is punchy, fun new characters are introduced, and then it just kind of falls apart.

I’m all for humour, fantasy, and body horror, but the combination of the three in this book wasn’t clicking for me. I couldn’t connect to the story once it became more of a love story (and I love a great sapphic romance!). I wanted more magic and more of Julie’s work in motion. Everything eventually felt super clunky, the dialogue juvenile, and the plot meandering. The characters never really develop throughout the book and remain pretty one-note.

I had high hopes, and there is some truly gorgeous writing within, and it was a bit of fun, but overall I can’t say I loved it.

we purchased this book for our library
Will you recommend this title through Readers’ Advisory, book clubs, events, etc?
Yes
Do you nominate this title for the LibraryReads List? By pressing YES, you also consent to your email address being shared with LibraryReads.
Yes
Is your library likely to purchase this title?
yes

This was such a fun ride! You are dropped right into Julie's world - full of monsters and things that definitely go bump in the night! I felt it was easy to catch up as Julie gives you the ins and outs of her job and her life. I loved the snark and the gore. I did this as an audiobook and I thought the narrator was wonderful! Just as the cover (which I LOVE!) implies, this one is trippy in all the best ways. I will definitely be looking for book 2 when it arrives!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

For some reason, despite my slight aversion, I've been unintentionally reading gore-filled books lately. That includes the current Mommy of them all: this one. And yet, I ended up having a great time with this one, viscera and all! It gave me Ghostbusters vibes (partially because of the New York connection) with Buffy-style characters, and I was very here for it. Julie as the world-weary, sarcastic reluctant hero was perfect to me. Her relationship with and love for Sarah was lovely. The villain being named Tyler was *chef's kiss.* St. Joan and Dead Air as not-quite-human sidekicks really rounded out the gang. Add in the critique of a capitalist hellscape and you've got a near flawless mix of elements. It's got all the hallmarks of a story and a style that my readers will love, as long as they can handle the grossness level and are interested in speculative future/cosmic horror.

I had to DNF halfway through because the violence got to be too graphic for me but it was an excellent book until that point. Just not for me.

So, my first question as I finished listening to this audiobook/reading my hard copy: Why is this book called The Dead Take the A-Train? I don’t get it? Is it a New York term? Is there something about the A-train that I don't know because I'm not a New Yorker, although I do hope to be one of those tourists one day walking around wide-eyed just so a native can tell me to get the hell out the way. Because face it, that's the only way that I will know that I have truly arrived in New York. But, back on topic, when I initially read the title and even the blurb, I envisioned a battle with cosmic forces for the sake of New York. I envisioned ghosts or maybe even zombies. I even thought there would maybe be some magic and mayhem on the level of The Witcher or something. That’s not what this book is at all.

What exactly is it you ask? It’s the Wolf of Wall Street meets cosmic beings. In fact, The Worms of Wall Street would actually be a more descriptive title. I mean, there weren’t even many dead people in this book, and the subway was only mentioned once or twice. If you want to go out on a limb, you could say that most of the characters were dead inside. Like, all of them, dead inside. There’s the main character Julie Crews. She lives a life on the edge without any ties to the world aka dead inside. There’s Sarah, Julie’s longtime bestie and crush who’s trapped in a controlling marriage aka dead inside. Next, there’s the main antagonist Tyler, Julie’s ex and all around bastard whose only concern is climbing the corporate ladder no matter what aka dead inside. Next, there’s Julie’s landlord St. Joan who is undoubtedly paranormal on her first introduction. She’s lived for quite some time watching her loved ones die aka dead inside. And finally we have Dead Air, Julie’s newest bestie who’s a slave to the internet and the internet gods who only like to go by They/Them aka stuck in the Matrix and dead inside.

I joke and jest, but the characters all had issues, which made them interesting to read about. Julie has a one-track mind and at times could be quite annoying because she suffered from the sickness of never listening and jumping head first and blind into any given situation. She’s a tough chick though. I only want the best for her. Sarah was adorable. Tyler was a douche nozzle that I wanted to push in front of a moving train like that one guy in the movie Ghost. Dead Air just gave Gen Z vibes. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. It just is. St Joan was the star though. Everything she said, everything she did, and every way she was described by Julie and the narration gave long-living strong witchy feminine air and atmosphere. Her attitude in any situation provided a calm secondary to her centuries of experience. She exuded sex appeal while at the same time displayed confidence with the nonchalant attitude of a witch that has more important things to do than worry about other people’s opinions.

The plot of this book was a little all over the place and convoluted. There were parts mentioned in the beginning that took a long time to cycle back to. This caused the plot to feel like it was leading you in different directions even though it was ultimately leading in one central direction. It also made the middle of the book feel longer than it was. This also made the pacing feel slower in the middle.

This book is supposed a part of a series as it is entitled Carrion City #1. I would like to see how Tyler gets his comeuppance, so I will definitely read book two.

3.5/5

Had I done anything but see Khaw and Kadrey and gone ooo shiny, I may not have picked this one up. However, to my surprise, this magic and mayhem mash-up was most engrossing. Kadrey had long solidified his place as one of my favorite urban fantasy series with Sandman Slim. Khaw is hit or miss for me due to their wordsmithing. While it can be lovely, it's often overwhelming due to their more obscure vocabulary. Their prose comes in large mouthfuls that have to be chewed methodically but there's no denying that absolutely no one writes like Khaw. I wondered how exactly the two styles could possibly mesh seamlessly but somehow they did.

Any good read starts with good characters and the protagonist Julie is an absolute fucking delight. I use that word because writing a review about this book without at least one f-bomb would not be doing justice to the chaotic mess that is Julie. She's snarky, hilarious, and totally off the cuff but when I say she's a mess, she is a MESS. Between the moments she spends being a badass, she's loading herself on whatever she can get, whether that's booze or pills.

Julie's chaos only adds to that of this book. Urban fantasy heavy on gore with a twist of eldritch horror, The Dead Take The A Train is a bizarre mash-up of genres that probably should not work, like the two authors in questions, yet somehow do. Kadrey has always been on the gritty side of UF and with Khaw's influence taking that completely over the top to the dark side of horror, this is an unconventional pairing that I'm excited to see again in the future.

Gruesomely overflowing with both the grotesque and irreverent, this neon nightmare fuel will have the least tryptophobic of us seeing holes (and eyes, lots of freaking eyes) everywhere. I picked this one up as an audiobook and Natalie Naudus was a fantastic narrator.

Rating 4/5 stars

Like most books I read, I went into this pretty blind. I saw Cassandra Khaw and NYC and said sign me up!

I thoroughly enjoyed this urban magical horror novel! Even though the characters were pretty awful people, I couldn't stop reading. I had to know how everything was going to tie together and play out. The ending felt a bit rushed, but I felt like it ended well.

Definitely pretty gross at times, you'll want to check the CW before reading.

Overall, I really liked this book. I'm hoping to see another in this universe and see these characters again! I would recommend it to anyone who likes Urban Fantasy and Horror.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for providing an ARC! All thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.

This book was absolutely fascinating and I loved every second of it. The characters were phenomenal, I loved the development of Julies character was fantastic to see through out the story and I loved her dark humor and quick wit. I loved the setting and how much the creatures and monster were so apart of seemingly normal every day life. I felt that the gore and some times extreme descriptions of things was done well and wasn't overwhelming or a turn off to the story. I will definitely be recommending this to people and can't wait to real more by these authors!

This was a fun "urban cosmic" book with surprisingly cosy romantic vibes in among all the viscera? I'd read more set in this world. It's been awhile since I've seen a good "corporate horror" Wolfram and Hart style.

This was given as an eARC through NetGalley

I was excited to read this, I have been trying hard to like/get into Cassandra Khaws work. I first tried "The Salt Grows Heavy" but found it a little too grotesque for my liking. I then decided I would try this book, it looked interesting enough. I was able to finish it, but I don't think I will follow up with any others in this series. I did like the story and enjoyed Julie and Sarah's characters.
I couldn't stand their ex boyfriends. I know that was the point, but it became a little unsufferable for me. I will be suggesting this title who enjoy vivid horror, but I think I may need to give up on trying to get through gruesome books.

Again not for me, but not a bad book.

omg thank u netgalley for this gem! i was excited mainly because the cover and well MAGIC and my excitement was RIGHT beautiful loved julie’s story tho it dragged on a bit, also the fox !!!!
anyway i read this in 2 days so i don’t have many words to say except holyshit 3.5 stars. you guys should pick it up tbh.

My thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was first so excited to read this new team up with Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw because I'm a huge Sandman Slim fan and the cover of Nothing But Blackened Teeth is dying to make me read it. I'm not sure if it was the individual writers or how two writers' talents mixed, but this book did not work for me on any level. The premise was so promising, sounded like everything I loved about Sandman Slim's harshness and grittiness, and set in the more familiar to me city of New York, but the delivery was terrible. The writing was as undisciplined and shallow as bad fanfiction, with meandering plot points, poorly timed deliveries, characters stuck in their own heads instead of developing the plot, and little character depth.

Has NetGalley changed the way profile feedback is calculated? I mean, the feedback I submit isn't adding to my profile numbers. I know this isn't a publisher's issue; I'm including it here to see if written review changes my submission numbers. I think there's a glitch. And that sucks.

Although this book was verging on ick factor for me, and it portrays many of the characters as the worst of the worst people, I found this book engrossing and it really stuck with me. I would really recommend this book for any Lovecraftian horror fans or body horror.

When I heard that Cassandra Khaw, author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth and The Salt Grows Heavy (both of which received 5 stars from me) and Richard Kadrey of the Sandman Slim novels had written a book together, I jumped at the chance to get a copy. The result, The Dead Take A Train, is a wild, gritty, and humorous blend of magical noir and cosmic horror.

Julie Crews is a down on her luck magic user who is trying to eke out a living fixing supernatural problems in the down and dirty portion of New York City. He ex is a conniving douche who works for an upscale magical megacorp — the kind of guy who would smile while he stabs you in the back in his attempt to climb the corporate ladder. He hires her to do a little task for him, a way of avoiding what is surely a suicide mission.

This leads to a Machiavellian series of events which could ultimately result in the destruction of the universe as we know it. It’s quite possibly the worst time for her normie best friend and unrequited love to show up on her doorstep looking for a place to hide from her abusive husband. Julie has to find a way to stop the Lovecraftian nightmare while keeping her friends safe and maybe, just maybe, stay alive.

If you like your Urban Fantasy dark and with a healthy dose of horror, you need to grab The Dead Take A Train. It is listed as “Carrion City #1.” I sincerely hope that this is the start of a long series of collaborations between these two great authors.

O. M. G.

What a ride. What a FUN ride, if technicolor in it's violence. This book defies explanation. "A dystopian The Firm (by John Grisham)," I read in another review and that honestly feels close, but add in eldrich body horror and you're getting closer.

Julie is a burned out thirty-year-old who works some gruesome jobs. She gets rid of some nasty demons and makes deals with some unsavory entities as she claws her way to the top. Nothing she's seen yet will compare to what's next, the kind of eldrich body horror that haunts your dreams! When Sarah, her best friend and crush, shows up at her door needing help, Julie will do all she can to keep her safe, including setting off a chain of events that may leave Julie and Sarah, and the whole world, on a path to destruction.

Like I said, this book was a fun ride and it won't be one I forget too soon. I'm looking forward to the next one!

Delightfully creepy and a fantastic story that occupied my mind during and after reading it. I hope Khaw and Kadrey team up again!