The Everything Box

December 14, 2015
Los Angeles already has a reputation as a somewhat otherworldly town, but in the skilled hands of Kadrey (the Sandman Slim series), that description takes on new meaning. Coop, a burglar who specializes in overcoming magical traps and spells, thanks to his natural immunity to them, is just out of jail after a job gone sour. He’s recruited to steal a mysterious box for a well-paying client. Coop is far from the only person after the box; he and his crew must contend with a middle-class doomsday cult, agents from the Department of Peculiar Science, a temporally displaced homicidal stranger, and the angel who lost the box in the first place. Coop soon finds himself in the middle of a shadow war between heaven and Earth, with the biblical apocalypse at stake. Kadrey draws heavily on Gaiman and Pratchett’s classic novel, Good Omens, for inspiration, and in equal measure on Donald Westlake’s caper comedies. Kadrey’s plot doesn’t depend on magic; instead, magic is the broth bringing all manner of delicious ingredients together in this wonderful stew of a story. This unusual urban fantasy is a delight. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown.

February 15, 2016

As a thief with a special immunity to magic, Coop is often hired for heists that involve the supernatural. After a job lands him in jail, an old friend offers to set Coop up with a new caper when he's released. It seems simple: steal a box, but don't open it. Unfortunately Coop isn't the only person after the box, with a bumbling doomsday cult, agents from a shadowy government agency, and the angel who lost the box but a few of the players on the board. The fate of the world might very well hang upon who controls the box. VERDICT Heaven and hell (not to mention the grimier corners of L.A.) are familiar territory for Kadrey as seen in his entertaining "Sandman Slim" series. Here the author takes a decidedly more lighthearted approach, creating a must-have for fans of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's comic novel, Good Omens, or those who enjoy the zany situations and amusement of Christopher Moore. [See Prepub Alert, 11/15/15.]--MM

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