I have no idea what I just read but I didn't care for it. It had the makings of being really fun and had series potential with the characters but it ended up just lacking for me. Maybe it wasn't suited to being a novella for my tastes and needed longer but it did nothing for me. I wasn't scared. I wasn't thrilled. I was just.. meh. It's fine. The writing wasn't awful.
We had yet another "bad guy is disabled" situation which I'm tired of.

I recently had the pleasure of delving into this book, and I am beyond impressed with the mesmerizing world that the author has crafted. From start to finish, the intricate plot weaves a tapestry of suspense, emotion, and unexpected twists that kept me eagerly turning the pages.

One of the standout features of this book is undoubtedly its characters. Each one is meticulously developed, breathing life into the narrative with their unique personalities, motivations, and flaws. The protagonists are not just names on paper; they are relatable, complex individuals with whom readers can form a genuine connection. The antagonist, too, is not a mere foil but a multi-dimensional force that adds depth to the story. The author's ability to create such well-rounded characters is a testament to their storytelling prowess.

The plot unfolds seamlessly, drawing the reader into a richly layered narrative that expertly balances tension, drama, and moments of poignant reflection. The pacing is impeccable, maintaining a perfect rhythm that keeps the reader engaged without sacrificing the depth of the story. The author skillfully navigates through various plot arcs, interweaving them with finesse to create a cohesive and satisfying whole.

What sets this book apart is its ability to tackle profound themes while maintaining an accessible and engaging narrative. The book seamlessly combines suspense and emotional depth, making it a truly immersive experience. The author's prose is both elegant and evocative, painting vivid imagery that lingers in the reader's mind long after the final page is turned.

As I reached the conclusion, I found myself yearning for more from this talented author. Their ability to craft a gripping plot and bring characters to life is truly commendable. I eagerly anticipate future works and would wholeheartedly recommend this book to any reader who appreciates a masterfully told tale. If you're searching for a book that seamlessly blends captivating characters with a compelling plot, this is a shining example. I can't wait to explore more literary worlds crafted by this exceptional storyteller.

7.5 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/12/20/the-pale-house-devil-by-richard-kadrey-review/

My thirteenth book by Richard Kadrey begins where all the others have: in California. Okay, okay, so it actually begins in New York, but we’re off to Cali inside of the first chapter. They say to “write what you know”, but I’m getting really sick of LA. The only book not set there thus far was the Grand Dark, and it was set in a drug-infested, hipster’s paradise so close to SoCal as to be indistinguishable. So when this book opens with us heading west, I groaned. Fortunately we weren’t in LA for long. Even better, it looks like this was only the first stop on a hopefully long road trip.

As I really did enjoy the Pale House Devil. Yeah, the gold-hearted killer trope is a bit old, but Ford and Neuland are likable enough while also undeniably being assholes—something Kadrey’s quite good at creating. So at least they’re not pretending. The world-building itself is likewise pretty good. Minimal—a supernatural in the shadows kinda Earth—but still decent, more than enough to suit the story.

The old man and the demon are where the story come alive. I loved the demon’s POV—it was truly spectacular, and weirdly immersive. The asshole old man was a good demon in his own right, so much so that it was difficult to know who to root for between the two. Then we get to the job itself. Now, I’d’ve liked a little bit more mystery, a bit more trial and error, but as a proof of concept, the Pale House Devil is a success. A good story, a good challenge, a good atmosphere, even a good bit of horror. I hope to see this series go places—hopefully non-California places—in the future.

The Pale House Devil is a pulpy supernatural noir that follows a pair of hitmen tasked with taking on a supernatural creature.
Clocking in at around 130 pages, it's a short novel that zips along thanks to strong writing and some fantastic banter between the two main characters.
The novel opens up like a classic noir, with the hitman taking a job from a mysterious woman, before switching gears into a man versus monster battle for the second half of the book.
The entire novel is written with a fun, adventurous tone that harks back to paperbacks of yesteryear, making it perfect reading for a hot summer's day.

The perfect afternoon read! A great Novella horror although I wish it was longer. I was immediately invested and loved the characters. Maybe future instalments are needed.

“Dodo was what Ford occasionally—and many others routinely—called the undead. It bothered Neuland, who was also undead. “Please don’t use that word. It’s demeaning, Neuland said. …. “We prefer Marcheur.”

My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Pale House Devil’ by Richard Kadrey.

This novella was a great deal of fun. That might be a strange thing to say about a tale of two paranormal hitmen but Richard Kadrey is clearly skilled at blending horror and dark comedy.

Its protagonists are Ford and Neuland; one is living, the other undead; one of them kills the undead, the other kills the living. We first meet them in the middle of a job, that quickly goes spectacularly wrong. As a result, they decide to leave New York and head out west to wait for things to cool down. They hope to pick up some work while there.

A few days after they arrive a young woman named Tilda Rosenbloom hires them on behalf of wealthy landowner, Shepherd Mansfield, to track and kill a demon that is haunting a mansion in remote northern California. They accept and travel with Tilda to the location with adventures on the way. They discover that this is a creature unlike anything they’ve faced before. No further details to avoid spoilers.

This short novel was my first experience of Richard Kadrey’s work though I had heard of his highly acclaimed Sandman Slim series. I felt that the pacing and characterisation were good and I quickly became invested in the fates of Ford, Neuland, and Tilda. I enjoyed their lively banter.

There’s also the occasional short chapter from the creature’s point of view in which it shares its perception of the house in which it is contained and its interest in gobbling up any ‘soft things’ that stray into its domain.

Overall, I was impressed by ‘The Pale House Devil’. It reminded me of Simon R. Green’s style of quirky horror. I could also appreciate its homage to hard boiled pulp fiction. Given how much I enjoyed it, I hope that there will be more cases for this remarkable trio. I also plan to check out Richard Kadrey’s other titles.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This was a fun little novella and I would definitely like to read more from this world, Unfortunately, this did mean that I was left feeling a little bit frustrated at the length of the story, as I felt there was a lot more exploration that could have been done. The characters were really interesting and I thought the way in which the grizzled private detectives took the young and naive Tilda under their wing was great - I just wish it were longer!
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I read The Pale House Devil on a short flight home, the perfect way to end my halloween break.

I particularly loved the POV of the demon creature, it felt more like a sad, hungry pet I wanted to take care of in those moments! Such a great juxtaposition to the disgusting man-eating monster it really is.

I did want a little more on the why and how it ended up in Pale House to begin with, but thats just me being greedy, this is a novella after all.

Hired killers who can kill the living and the dead encounter a monstrous creature that reminded me of a maw-mouth. Hi-jinks ensue. Kadrey is great with witty banter and creasing a believable world out of something that obviously can't be real. At least, we hope it can't be...

We may have seen many duos of paranormal investigators, but not many where one is alive and one is dead.

These are the central protagonists of Richard Kadrey's The Pale House Devil.

Our duo Ford and Neuland are assigned the case at a remote California mansion that could have something vicious and interdimensional in its basement.

If you were expecting something tame, The Pale House Devil is anything but, going for the jugular with a vicious creature that will tear you limb from limb.

There is a pulpy nature to Kadrey's writing, especially the characteristics of Ford and Neuland, and he is also not afraid to provide twists you won't see coming.

He is also deals with the idea of privilege and how this can corrupt and perhaps give some people ideas of grandeur far beyond sanity.

This is a brisk read at 128 pages, at once you sink your teeth into The Pale House Devil you won't be able to put it down.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publishers for the ARC! I didn't really know what I was getting into when I requested this book, as I'm not a huge horror fan, but this book was a lot of fun. It's a quick, engaging book that ropes you in right away. I'm wondering if we're going to see more from these two in the future. Check it out!

https://lynns-books.com/2023/10/12/the-pale-house-devil-by-richard-kadrey/
3.5 (rounded to 4) of 5 stars
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Snappy, Lovecraftian Style Horror Story

Okay, I’m a maniac. I was so enamoured by the description and the cover for Richard Kadrey’s Pale House Devil that I hadn’t noticed it was a novella – and you may know that short stories and collections don’t really work for me. Well, on this occasion my atrocious grabby hands were on my side because I enjoyed this. Of course I wanted more, but this has the feel of a taster almost, like Kadrey is extending feelers to see how his duo of killers for hire are received. These two are great, and they picked up an addition along the way, a naive young woman who they automatically took to and wanted to help, which promises to give a really well rounded element to the story. Seriously, I want more. I hope that this is the start of a series.

Why this worked for me.

The writing is good. And, given the length here it’s very efficient. There’s no filler, just essentials, but the author manages with the minimum of fuss to breathe life into his characters.

Speaking of characters, I’ve described Ford and Neuland as hired killers. My first thoughts were that they’d be difficult to like, but, they have a code of sorts and don’t fulfil contracts where they smell a rat – in fact this is the reason they find themselves in a spot of bother as the story begins and find themselves shunned from their normal community. Now, Ford and Neuland are not your average pair. Ford is land of the living, Neuland is undead, a Marcheur (not a dodo!) The two find themselves moving further afield in the hope that things will calm down eventually and their little breach will blow over and this eventually takes them to the remote family mansion of Shepherd Mansfield who wants his ancestral mansion ridding of the monster currently residing there.

This particular ‘job’ is brought to them courtesy of Tilda, granddaughter to Mansfield, a young woman trapped by circumstances.

I won’t say too much more about the plot.

In other news – I really liked that the cosmic creature living in the Mansfield family mansion has its own POV. Strangely enough, Kadrey manages to make you feel sorry for this creature. It’s out of time and place and possibly would be a small fish in a big pond in it’s own world so landing in our strange world, where ‘soft’ humans make tasty snacks it suddenly finds itself a big fish instead – plus there’s something of a twist which makes you have sympathy for this eating machine.

Ultimately. Fast paced, darkly humorous and twisted. Fingers crossed that this little sampler expands into a huge tentacled beast.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

I loved the writing, I loved the characters and their relationship. The writing brings the chemistry between the main characters to life.
It's just too short!

The Pale House Devil is a horror novella about a pair of a paranormal mercenaries who are hired to get rid of a strange monster from a mansion. Ford and Neuland—one living, one dead—have to leave New York sharpish, and when they make it to California, the only person who will hire them is Tilda, a young woman acting on behalf of wealthy Mr Mansfield. As they arrive at his house, they find themselves faced with a creature unlike anything they've met before, and an employer who is less than helpful.

The conceit of this book, particularly the two protagonists, is fun, and the opening sets up an interesting dynamic between the two, with one of them alive but kills dead things and the other dead but kills those who are alive. This is something which doesn't get to be fully explored in the novella length, and generally the pacing feels like it races through everything, rather than build up tension, due to the short length of the book. Horror novellas can be great, but the narrative and characters of this one do feel like they could've had a bit more space to be built up. The creature itself is pretty fascinating and the POV chapters for it bring a good dimension to the story, adding complexity to who the 'bad guy' of the tale might be.

This is a fast-paced novella, ideal for people looking for something with an urban fantasy edge, but for me it felt like it was over before I could really get into it, never having enough space to explore any of the characters in particular depth. It felt to me like a film, possibly the beginning of a franchise, or even the first episode of a TV series, so maybe future instalments are needed.

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this book.
My main issue throughout the book was the pacing. Due to it being a short novella, I think just over 100 pages, it felt like I was being pulled along on a runaway mine cart. The story didn't seem to give itself any room to breathe, the plot just kept advancing with no real breaks for character development or world-building.
If this had been longer, with a more breathing room to pad things out, I might have enjoyed it more.

The characters had great potential, the buddy cop angle of a living man and a dead man, supernatural assassins, sounded intriguing. But everything was so rushed I feel like I know nothing about either character. There were some hints a the wider supernatural world, goofer juice and the people in the swamps, but it was just teases of something bigger that could have been.
Tilda felt like the most one dimensional character, and she went from 0-100 to trusting these men over her grandfather within seconds. It just felt like the author wanted them to get to Pale House and didn't really care about the set-up.

I left this book with more questions than when I started, nothing felt answered and I mostly felt like I'd just watched a pilot for a show that was then cancelled so I'll never find out what happens.

In the enigmatic world of "The Pale House Devil" by Richard Kadrey, a mismatched pair of contract killers, one living and one deceased, find themselves in dire straits after a mission takes an unexpected turn. Estranged from their usual circles, they cross paths with a reticent young woman who presents them with an enticing offer, promising substantial compensation. Little do they know that their mysterious employer possesses a personality darker and more sinister than the very dead they consort with. He resides within a self-imposed prison, fortified by an assortment of peculiar objects, all in an effort to repel a malevolent curse that has haunted his family for generations.
Although this novella is compact, Kadrey masterfully constructs a mesmerizing and enigmatic realm where the living unwittingly coexist with the departed, and where demons and devils lurk in the shadows, concealed from the ordinary populace. What truly shines in this narrative are the witty interactions between our unconventional protagonists. Their chemistry is electric, leaving the reader yearning for more. It is my hope that this tantalizing glimpse into Kadrey's world evolves into a series, as there is a wealth of untapped potential within these captivating characters. "The Pale House Devil" beckons for further exploration, promising a dark and gripping journey into the realms of the living and the dead.

I’ve been told by industry insiders that a winning formula for a TV series is: He’s a [blank] she’s a [blank] and they’re detectives! Well Kadrey being the overachiever that we know and love has written a book best described as: He’s a live man, he’s a dead man and they’re assassins! They’re buddy flick chemistry is a real treat and I’m desperately hoping that there will be more books featuring this yin/yang duo.

The genres which best fit The Pale House Devil are Urban Fantasy and Horror, but there’s also some clever discussions about prejudice (against the undead) and an eerie homage to a classic movie if you pay attention. Magic, voodoo, monsters, and dysfunctional families on an epic scale all combine to make one memorable and eminently enjoyable story.

Trust me, you want this book!

I'd not heard of Richard Kadrey before seeing this novella, but the plot drew me in. I suspected another urban fantasy, with magic mixed with rough city-scapes and cynical gumshoes romancing the dames.

This is SO much more!

We have two detectives, one mortal and one less so. One kills the undead, the other kills the living. Like the Witcher's swords, but with more snark.

I was immediately reminded with 'Randall and Hopkirk: Deceased', but in its own world. The setting is roughly America, roughly now, but unique enough that it seems ageless. The two men likewise - they could be the comedy pair from 'Some Like it Hot', but MUCH later in life (and death).

We have a buddy-detective story then, with the blackest of humour, full of classic noir and a genuinely engaging story. The back-and-forth between our leads is a clear highlight, which made me thank the author via social media as I requested more of their... adventures? Not quite. Shenanigans? No. Bumming along together, perhaps.

The story itself seemed akin to an episode in a wider series, and I do hope that's the case. The logic of the mystery was smart, the side characters well fleshed-out (ahem), and the resolution very satisfactory.

I read this in one sitting, and then went to look up the author's back catalogue, which I am now enjoying likewise. How did I miss his work?! Now on the auto-buy list.

A smart, fun detective noir with snarks and magic. An easy recommend.

This is a short piece of horror fiction, a novella by Richard Kadrey that I have to admit I really became engrossed in. In New York, 2 private detectives, Neuland (dead), who drinks goofer juice, and Ford (alive) decide to take the train west, heading to LA, after the Garrick affair in which they ended up killing their client, an act that they are aware will not go down well. In fact news of this ensures that the pair are unable to secure to any work in LA, deciding to try their luck in San Francisco instead. Here, there are rumours of the undead, but they find themselves hired by Tilda Rosenbloom on behalf of her boss, Shepherd Mansfield, who also happens to be her great grandfather. They become more closely acquainted with Tilda as they drive to meet him.

Mansfield is an arrogant and unpleasant man, something that becomes transparent when we learn of Tilda's personal family history. Mansfield wants them to get rid of a troubling demon, offering them significant financial incentives to do so, and Tilda insists on joining them in their task. By the end, Neuland and Ford have acquired a companion as they plan to return to New York. A scintillating horror novella that I am sure many will enjoy. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Ford and Neuland are paranormal detectives/ enforcers, one living and one dead. When they take a moral stand, and end up killing their latest employer they decide to head out of town until things cool down. Almost immediately they are approached by a young lady who acts on behalf of her grumpy grandfather, he has a house that needs pest removal - pest being an ancient devil.
Snappy banter, cool weapons, and two leads who don't stop a little thing like death interrupt their friendship. I have a strong feeling that the readers will be seeing further adventures of Ford and Neuland. I know I will be reading them.