Original, entertaining, and expertly narrated. A recommended purchase in all formats for collections where UF and the authors' previous works are popular.

What a wild ride. My attention was kept the whole time and it was such a fun read. I’ve never read anything like this and I loved it! Thanks NetGallery!

THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN is the first book in a new series by @casskhaw and @rkadrey and this one just slid into the book world two days ago! Thank you to the authors, @netgalley and the publisher, @macmillan.audio and @tornightfire for the audio-ARC and physical ARC.

Julie is a coke, alcohol and amphetamine-fueled demon hunter and we first encounter her at a bachelorette party where the young "bride" is being taken over by a demon that lays a plethora of eggs into her body, only to find out that the demon is being paid by the bride's mother so her daughter can become a vessel for the demon hoard...soon Julie realizes this was the beginning of a new design by the darklings that she will need to stop.

This cosmic horror roller coaster is full of angels and demons in a gritty monster-saturated NYC. The story is full of lots of interesting, complex characters, Eldritch horrors, tattoo spells, and some serious social commentary. There is sapphic love, bisexual rep, and some generally queer goings on. Plenty of body horror mixed with romance and shenanigans made this a really fast and bizarre read in which I am looking forward to the second installment!

If you are a fan of the weird and wonderful and not easily grossed out but also like your horror with some unapologetically messy and witty characters, this just might be the book for you. Pick this one up on shelves today!!

💚SMASHBOT💚

This was a blast to read and completely unexpected. Julie is a drugged up, struggling kick ass woman that uses her magic for a price. Unfortunately most of her gigs end up leaving her still struggling and usually just enough to scrape by. She has a great opportunity that is sure to turn things around however, the end of the world might be a result of her actions.

This was a lot of fun. Definitely some dark humor mixed with graphic horror, magic and a kick ass heroine. The supporting cast of characters are equally interesting and well written. I cannot wait to see what happens next in the second part of this duology written by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey.

The audiobook was narrated really well and brought the characters to life.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review

4 ⭐️

#NetGalley #TheDeadTaketheATrain #RichardKadrey #CassandraKhaw

This book is a wild ride. I absolutely love cosmic horror but unfortunately all the fantastic monsters and the gruesome descriptions just couldn't save this story for me. the characters themselves just were not compelling enough to hold my interest. There was a lot that I enjoyed from this book but I had a hard time pushing through it.

Classic Kadrey, who I'm used to, and I'm liking Khaw now. A fun story of a loser becoming less of a loser and being the chosen one to save the day.

Interesting premise but the execution was lacking in my opinion . The audiobook wasn’t enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc .

A magical-corporate-thriller!

Even though she loves her vodka in the morning and her drugs anytime, Julie seems to be the last honest demon and monster hunter in New York city. It's dangerous work, and becomes even more so when a friend from her past shows up on her doorstep to escape an abusive relationship. Caught between her old life and what could be her future, Julie fights till the very end.

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There is gore, and guts, and blood, and teeth, and flesh ripping apart, and eyes... lots of eyes. I would recommend this book to the friend who loves all that and perhaps needs a little romance in their life, even if they don't think they do.

I gave this book three stars because I thought it started with a lot (corporate corruption, magical items, demons, etc) and I was excited to go places but it seemed to narrow down to a romance story. I also found the ending to wrap up too quickly and neatly. I found myself confused that it ended "just like that".


Much gratitude to NetGalley, TOR Nightfire, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced Audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I was excited to receive an advanced copy of this audiobook. However, I wasn't able to finish it because the story really doesn't lend itself to audio, for me. The story opens with so much going on that I wasn't able to follow along. I am still interested in reading this book but I'll have to read a physical book in order to do so.

As I sit here writing my little blurb for this book, my adult child is standing over my shoulder looking at the cover and asking me all the questions about this book. Apparently, this story is right up his alley. I saw the cover and thought wow that looks really cool and it is! The art is pretty amazing, so amazing I was worried this was going to be a book that was not going to be for me. Also, what is the definition of horror? When I think of horror I think I am going to be terrified, and I have not read a book that is considered horror that is scary. Maybe, I should stop avoiding them.

I loved that we just dive right into the book and have carnage and gore. That is how I knew I was going to like this book. We have magic and creatures and law firms a la Joss Whedon's Angel (TV Show) that hide the mystic within its walls. Do I understand everything that happened in this story? Nope, still don't quite understand the Mother that Eats and how all that works. However, I believe there will be more coming to help understand all the nuances and events that are occurring in this world.

The narrator, Natalie Naudus, is fantastic. She breathes life into all of the characters. She portrays the banter and sarcasm beautifully. I have not heard an audiobook by her that was not amazing!

The story is beautifully conveyed with colorful, and sometimes grotesque, imagery. There is very little 'downtime' or filler in the story. We have characters that you love to hate and our primary POV is Julie, who is perfectly imperfect. You can not help but root for her and hope that everything will turn out ok. I do wish that Julie and Sarah would stop being so in the friend zone and would just go for it. Anyhow, the overall story was pretty fun. You have the horror aspects, betrayal, creatures, too many worm-like creatures, portals, horrible ex-boyfriends, amazing friendships, a lot of drinking and drugs, and a splash of romance. I can not wait for the second book in this series.

2.5 Stars
I really wanted to love this, but I couldn't get into the story.

The novel definitely had an exciting start. The introduction of Julie and her unique job of dealing with demonic possessions and weird creatures had me eager to read on. However, as I progressed through the book, I found myself struggling to maintain my enthusiasm and focus.

Overall, not for me. But if you're a fan of cosmic horror, maybe give this novel a try.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Cassandra Khaw, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

Khaw, Cassandra and Kadrey, Richard, The Dead Take the A-Train. Pgs. 400. Tor Publishing, 2023
Julie is a magician who performs exorcisms and other paranormal odd jobs in New York. Struggling to make ends meet and deal with her ex wanting to use her to help him climb up his law firm's ladder, her life gets turned upside down when her friend, Sarah shows up. Fleeing from her ex-husband, Sarah asks Julie to help her. To protect Sarah, she calls on an archangel to balance the books in her friend’s favor. Things turn deadly, however, when the archangel turns out to have murderous intentions. Meanwhile, a strange creature emerges from Julie’s ex’s law firm looking for victims. Can Julie and Sarah stop the deadly chain of events unfolding and save themselves and the mortal realm?

The plot is engaging, immersive, and horrifying. The world building was well-done. The characters were unique and helped draw the reader into the story. Overall, a bizarre experience that will appeal to hard-core horror and supernatural fans. 3 stars, ADULT

This urban sci-fi horror story titled, "The Dead Take The A Train" was nothing short of an earworm wriggling its way into my brain. The book featured a unique cast of creepy, otherworldly creatures that were described in such vivid detail that they felt like their foul odour still left a bad taste on my tongue.

What stood out to me was the queer love story. It was a beautiful addition to the plot and it added a refreshing twist to the genre. Adding a sense of humanity and warmth to the otherwise bleak and menacing world of current-day NYC (with supernatural elements). The flaws in the MCs were not overlooked.

While there were some slow parts in the middle of the book, and aspects of the characters that were hard to relate to, the finale more than made up for it, with its creepy creatures and supernatural elements.

This read felt like watching an updated, queer, and slightly more terrifying Men In Black film.

Listening to the audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus, like, say LESS! Her ability to bring to life sarcasm and gritty personae to the dialogue is a big success.

Reading co-written works is a fresh way to enjoy a story. I recommend this book to anyone looking for quirky, urban "what if" with a few twists on the tracks.

Much gratitude to NetGalley, TOR Nightfire, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced Audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw is about Julie Crews, a secret Psychic Operative in the NYC magic scene. She is tired of doing bad jobs and being stiffed her rightful fee, so at her breaking point she summons a guardian angel to help all the things going wrong and improve her life and career. However she doesn't summon what she thought and the death that follows is devastating.
This horror novel was crazy and fascinating! I asked for this arc on a whim because the description sounded interesting and it was so much better than I expected. This story was a wild ride and just when you think that you can understand everything in the world something new comes into play. The connection to the paranormal in everyday life is so integrated that it is unbelievable that the rest of the population does not know about it.
The main character, Julie was a confident take no shit kind of girl. She was incredible and powerful while also feeling her emotion for her hardship and those she cares about. The subplot love story was so sweet and just makes your heart jump. It was such a good story of friendship and people taking care of each other when they are needed.
This is a great novel that I would recommend to people who love weird paranormal stories, great adventure and friendship connections that they will do anything for each other!

I really loved the actual horror of the book, it was gross and really fun to hear (I had the audiobook version) and imagine, but I think that was what I liked best about the book. The characters were not particularly compelling, and Julie and Sara were so oblivious that it went from being a slow burn to just being absolutely insufferable, so I was typically just waiting for someone to get murdered so I would get to hear the description of it, because I did not really care about what happened to the main cast all that much. Which just makes me sound like an absolutely horrible person, but I just couldn't get into them.

Cosmic horror and Urban Fabtasy.
Lots of body horror - if that's your thing

It's not mine but I did enjoy the urban fantasy aspect and snarky MC.

The MC, a witchy freelancer/operative who lives wildly and chaotically, works for her ex, and is in love with her bff, Sarah.

Luckily for Julie, Sarah pays Julie a visit
She has an abusive husband problem and Julie decides to fix it

This book on audio has a fantastic narrator and at the same time I suggest reading it - there's a lot of action/horror scenes and the plot is solid but at times confusing. The writing is well done.
I will probably read the next book and definitely check out her other books.
Thanks netgalley!

This was a fun ride. I really enjoyed the world of magic, but struggled to keep track of which character we were with. I wish there had been more of a distinction between character perspectives whether through the narration or stylistically in the writing itself.

Buddy read with Mai!

And it seems that our buddy reads rarely work out lol

Neither one of us liked this at all. In hindsight, maybe we should've DNF.

Unlike Mai, I'm the perfect audience for this kind of urban fantasy horror demon fest, but it flopped pretty badly for me.

I loved Cassandra Khaw's The Salt Grows Heavy, but I'm starting to think that's a one-off thing because I didn't like this book. Nor did I like Nothing But Blackened Teeth (which was one of the worst things I've ever read).

The Dead Take the A Train is more in the line of Nothing But Blackened Teeth, which is incredibly unfortunate. You've got a quirky mixed(?) Asian FMC, Julie, and her ex, Tyler. They both hunt monsters and demons. While Julie works as a contractor, Tyler is employed as a corporate demon hunter.

This all sounds like an awesome urban fantasy, but it came off as the tryhard version of it. It gave off hardcore pulp fiction vibes or the kind of book you'd find on Kindle Unlimited. Also, it was just boring as hell.

Most of the first half dealt with Julie and Sarah's domestic problems, like relationship stuff such as Julie's huge crush on Sarah, and Sarah's misogynistic ex. I fell asleep a few times waiting for the monster slaying.

Both Mai and I were zoned out most of the time when we listened to the audiobook. Natalie Naudus is one of my favorite audiobook narrators for Asian fantasies with Asian FMCs, and even she couldn't save this yawn fest.

The only events I remember are Julie and Sarah's domestic problems (yawn), gross out deaths (actually cool), and demon possessions and demon dimensions. While the second half was more my style of creepy gross demon stuff, I was already tuned out by then to even care.

Two stars because the authors tried, I guess. It looks like other reviewers really liked it, so ymmv.

Also, this isn't cosmic horror. It's just run-of-the-mill monster horror. Nothing Lovecraftian about this at all. Don't besmirch the good name of cosmic horror with this mediocrity.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this arc.

I think Cassandra just isn't for me, which is unfortunate, because I'd love to support Asian non-binary authors in any capacity. I enjoyed The Salt Grows Heavy slightly more. Do take this with a grain of salt, because I know there's an audience out there for this. In addition to this, I've had problems with Tor Nightfire in the past.

To be quite fair, I zoned in an out as I listened to this. Julie's story didn't captivate me. When we got to the mother, I was confused, and not enjoying myself. Tyler's was even worse. I see other reviews labeling this as cosmic horror, and perhaps I'll add that to the list of genres that are not for me. (See: cozy mysteries, domestic thrillers, second chance romances)

Julie Crews takes the nasty jobs.

If something eldritch is trying to lay eggs under your skin to prepare the way for the end of the world, she’ll flay you open, jam her arms up to the elbows into your chest cavity, carve the fucker out, sew you up and send you on your way, only mildly traumatized.

Whatever it takes to get by in New York City, after all. That and support her cocaine habit.

The Dead Take the A Train is not for the faint of heart. It’s gory and gruesome in new and inventive ways that I found invigorating as long as I wasn’t eating at the time. The book is a collaboration between Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey. I’ve read (and generally enjoyed) a few of Kadrey’s books but never picked up anything by Khaw.

All I really know about Khaw is that their books tend to involve cannibals and/or body horror. It’s easy to assume that the more horrifying aspects of this book are Khaw’s contribution, but either way, this collaboration sings.

As the book opens, Julie is doing her best to make ends meet with rough and unpleasant jobs, but she keeps getting stiffed, so she reluctantly agrees to take a job from her ex, Tyler. He may have dropped her when his corporate career took off, but he still pays her for dirty little errands he can’t be bothered to do himself.

Problem is, this time the job he sends her way is much more dangerous than implied and things nearly go off the rails. When Julie calls him on his laziness and general incompetence in front of his co-workers, he gets revenge on her in a way that unleashes an unspeakable horror into the world.

Further complicating matters is the arrival of Julie’s old friend Sarah on her doorstep. Sarah claims it’s just an unplanned visit, but it soon becomes clear she’s on the run from her husband. When he follows her to the city and tracks them down, the consequences are catastrophic.

It doesn’t help that Sarah isn’t just an old friend – in Julie’s mind, she’s also the one that got away. It isn’t long before both women are struggling not to admit their true feelings for each other. Complications both personal and cosmic tie together into a climax that is simultaneously inevitable and distressing.

Kadrey and Khaw manage to set up a fascinating and bizarre world peopled with compelling and flawed characters. The book tells a complete episodic story but also sets up a number of future storylines that seem ripe for exploration in future installments. The authors also introduce an ensemble of characters with fascinating glimpses of their backstories and complex motivations.

The audiobook, narrated by Natalie Naudus, is an excellent production, and Naudus is well-suited to the material. I’ve listened to a few books narrated by her, and I’ve enjoyed every one so far. She has the perfect voice for hard-edged young women.

I loved this book, and look forward to reading more by both Kadrey and Khaw. It’s long past time I read more of Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series, after all, and I have several Khaw books waiting for me on my Kindle.