Cassandra Khaw has quickly emerged on the dark fantasy/horror scene over the past few years with quite an impact. Her previous novels, NOTHING BUT BLACKENED TEETH and THE SALT GROWS HEAVY, were instant classics of the genre. Thus the anticipation was heightened for the release of her latest book, THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN, a collaboration with Richard Kadrey.

If you are a resident of the New York City area, then the A Train will ring true for you, and the nature of the tongue-in-cheek title becomes that much more evident. It opens with what soon will become the most bizarre and graphic bachelorette party, for all the wrong reasons. The mother of the bride is some sort of demon, and the bride-to-be is turned into a lump of flesh used for harvesting more vile creatures.

"The threat in the book appropriately comes from below, beneath the feet of the clueless NYC residents.... THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN kicks off the Carrion City duology, so be sure to buckle up for the next ride."

All of this is halted in its tracks (pun intended) by Julie Crews. This thirty-something is self-described as coked up and burnt out, but she still has a particular flair for taking down denizens of the dark side. Julie has built up a reputation in NYC’s magic scene and often finds herself called upon to assist in cases similar to the one we just witnessed. However, tides are shifting in the big city, and a looming darkness threatens to destroy life as we know it. What better opportunity than this for Julie to show her stuff?

In the real world, Julie struggles with both her career and her personal life; finding and keeping the right job and the right man seems to elude her. To make matters worse, her ex-lover, Tyler, took credit for work they did together and is now a fast climber on the corporate ladder. It looks like Julie is simply going to have to settle for being special at otherworldly things.

The threat in the book appropriately comes from below, beneath the feet of the clueless NYC residents. Where Julie will be most challenged is dividing her time between attempting to break the corporate glass ceiling and trying to save the world from dark Armageddon.  

It also needs to be noted that readers will be awash with an enormous amount of gore and graphic scenes. This is done, in my opinion, to bring out the dark fantasy side of the novel and to make a commentary on how inured we have become toward acts of ultra-violence due to the varieties of entertainment to which we are exposed on a daily basis.

THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN kicks off the Carrion City duology, so be sure to buckle up for the next ride.