Sandman Slim

I recently finished the novel Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey and liked it a lot.  When I step into a bookstore, it looks as if "urban fantasy" has come to be synonymous with "stories about women falling in love with vampires/werewolves/mummies/angels/ghosts/whatnot."  This is not one of those stories.  It's about a former magician who was betrayed by his allies and sent to Hell, and he's escaped and returned to the world of the living to get some payback.  In some ways it's a typical revenge shoot-em-up with a mystical edge, with a strong resemblance to The Crow in places.  In addition, the main character is not necessarily the nicest guy in the world, and there's some profanity and gore, which might put some folks off.  Still, I thought it was a diverting action story, with some cool setting elements and some humor, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes their urban fantasy crossed with some hardboiled crime fiction.