Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Aloha from Hell
    Aloha from Hell
    Aloha from Hell
    Audiobook14 hours

    Aloha from Hell

    Written by Richard Kadrey

    Narrated by MacLeod Andrews

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In Sandman Slim Stark came back from hell for revenge.

    In Kill the Dead he tackled both a zombie plague and being Lucifer’s bodyguard.

    Once again all is not right in L.A. Lucifer is back in Heaven, God is on vacation, and an insane killer mounts a war against both Heaven and Hell.
    Stark’s got to head back down to his old stomping grounds in Hell to rescue his long lost love, stop an insane serial killer, prevent both Good and Evil from completely destroying each other, and stop the demonic Kissi from ruining the party for everyone.

    Even for Sandman Slim, that’s a tall order. And it’s only the beginning.

    “Don’t compare Kadrey’s prose with Stephenie Meyer’s, or even Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Those works are mere fluffy soap operas next to Kadrey’s writing.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 18, 2011
    ISBN9781441806741
    Aloha from Hell
    Author

    Richard Kadrey

    Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir books. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime,” and is in development as a feature film. Some of his other books include The Wrong Dead Guy, The Everything Box, Metrophage, and Butcher Bird. He also writes the Vertigo comic Lucifer.

    More audiobooks from Richard Kadrey

    Related to Aloha from Hell

    Related audiobooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      When Life Bites

      Sep 14, 2020

      When Life Bites
      6 min read

    • Article

      Rolling The Dice In Dishonored 2 Part 1

      May 27, 2021

      1 playstyle Powers and chosen by the dice. 2 each Roll for mission new rules . 3 matter Stick by what them . , no Stepping off the boat and onto the shores of Karnaca for the first time, Emily Kaldwin – former empress of this entire land – has two

      7 min read

    • Article

      Go To Hell

      Aug 20, 2020

      Go To Hell
      8 min read

    • Article

      Looking Back

      Jun 18, 2021

      Looking Back
      4 min read

    • Article

      Go To Hell

      Sep 8, 2020

      Go To Hell
      8 min read

    • Article

      Spies Are Born That Way

      Mar 2, 2023

      Spies Are Born That Way
      1 min read

    • Article

      I Saw Plenty

      Jun 1, 2020

      I Saw Plenty
      6 min read

    • Article

      Hitman Lotto Part I

      Aug 22, 2019

      Hitman Lotto Part I
      7 min read

    • Article

      We Go Clap, The Moths Go Flap

      May 26, 2021

      WE sit every evening, watching television, going clap, clap, clap, not because we continue to love Schitt’s Creek, no matter how often we watch it, but in an ineffectual attempt to kill the moths going flap, flap, flap. We have what can only be descr

      2 min read

    • Article

      Fallout: New Vegas, But Weird

      Jun 15, 2021

      Fallout: New Vegas, But Weird
      5 min read

    • Article

      Hitman Lotto Part I

      Sep 10, 2019

      Hitman Lotto Part I
      7 min read

    • Article

      Fire-wokes Night!

      Oct 12, 2023

      Fire-wokes Night!
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Buzz In THE DARK

      Sep 16, 2020

      “When I say there was a lot going on in the master bedroom at Dear Towers one night recently, please don’t get the wrong impression. For a start, Mr D was snoring for most of the time. Perhaps that’s not fair. Mr Dear doesn’t snore as most people wo

      3 min read

    • Article

      Stars Of Stage And Scream!

      Oct 14, 2021

      I don’t usually bother with Trick or Treating. But if I do go, I’ll go as Leatherface out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It’s a right laugh and it shits the local kids up something rotten. I’ll typically cut some eye-holes in a slice of supermarket ham

      1 min read

    • Article

      Enforcing Capitalism In The Outer Worlds

      Jan 28, 2020

      Every boy at business school dreams of Byzantium. The city where the space doors whoosh open instead of screech. Where you can see your own face in the floor, and the lifts are gilded with gold. Golly, do they need lifts! Some of those offices go all

      6 min read

    • Article

      “Apparently Life Goes On …”

      Jan 25, 2023

      “Apparently Life Goes On …”
      7 min read

    • Article

      Right Royal Madness

      Feb 9, 2022

      Taking up the latest fashion in one’s fifties is ill advised, but sometimes one just can’t help oneself. So it was when I was inadvertently catapulted into the ranks of the ultratrendy last year, diagnosed as mentally ill. Bipolar, to be precise. It

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hitman Lotto part III

      Nov 5, 2019

      Hitman Lotto part III
      7 min read

    • Article

      Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl

      Oct 9, 2023

      NEED TO KNOW RELEASE TBA DEVELOPER GSC Game World PUBLISHER In-house LINK shorturl.at/iqFT8 The demo starts, and my health is already draining. Welcome to STALKER 2, I guess. This Gamescom, for the first time, GSC Game World's long awaited sequel is

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Aloha from Hell

    4/5

    477 ratings36 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I am a fan of the series. I look forward to the next one.
    • 5/5
      Awesome book. Narrator kicks major "Sulfuric Ash"!!! I loved it.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyed the prior ones in series much more . Too much gore and the plot seemed to meander .
    • 5/5
      Great story the upload was skippy please fix it soon
    • 5/5
      I picked up Sandman Slim after absolutely adoring another one of Kadrey's novels, Butcher Bird, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. While different from Butcher Bird, Kadrey still makes use of his awesome writing skills, and describes for us the world as it is, or at least as he or maybe better yet, as Sandman Slim sees it. It's a quirky, action packed novel for those of us who can't get enough of the horror genera, but isn't so off-putting that someone who isn't so into horror wouldn't get a kick out of it. As always, I love Kadrey's humanization of both The Devil and angels and demons, and how everything is so gritty. The language and attitudes of the characters fit perfectly and I don't think I've stuck with a series as long as I have with the Sandman Slim books. No holds barred in this series. There are times (as in a lot of books) where the narration drags a little, but it in no way takes away from the epicness that is Sandman Slim. This series has everything - angels, demons, revenants, vampires, and whatever else you can think of, all wrapped up in an ugly little package of awesomeness.
    • 4/5
      This is the third book in the Sandman Slim series. If you haven't read the other ones, I would recommend picking them up first. The author doesn't spend a lot of time getting the reader back up to speed on previous events. This book flows much better than the other two as the author seems to be more comfortable with his characters. This time, Stark heads back to hell to confront Mason and save Alice. A quick but very enjoyable read. The ending suggested that we haven't heard the last of Sandman Slim.
    • 4/5
      Who knew that Lucifer is a title, not a name?

      There is, obviously, a 4th book in the works. BUT, he didn't stop in the middle of a story.

      I love the way Kadrey writes. His characters as smartasses and absolutely hilarious.
    • 4/5
      Another fun read in the series. The author flirts with some deeper ideas on the nature of things, what good and evil might mean, and the power of love, but the author is more interested in snarky comments, action and telling an adventure story. So fun but maybe a tad shallow.
    • 4/5
      So much better than book 2. I was about to give up on this series. Now I can't wait to see what book 4 has in store for us.
    • 3/5
      Stark has to return to Hell to rescue the ghost of his dead lover, which involves an Inferno-esque journey through the chaotic regions of Hell, guided by someone who claims to be Jack the Ripper. Betrayal and battles ensue. This one didn’t hold my attention as much as the first; there’s a lot of travel per unit of battle.
    • 4/5
      Yup another Sandman Slim novel. This one, I think is the weakest out of all three (because I thought Hell superimposed on LA was weak), but it has all the action you need - lots of carnage, lots of death. I'm not completely sold on the way Hell is portrayed - as a weird mashup of Free for all, rules, and suffering, but it is fun, but ultimately, Stark makes his way running through Hell, meeting THE God,or a God, depending, destroying things, generally screwing things up.Its exactly what it is - a well written book, fun, fast, no great message, but not stupid, either.
    • 4/5
      Another great, page-turner from Richard Kadrey.
      James Stark, after ignoring Mason, the arch enemy he banished to Hell in the first book as long as he could, gets challenged to confront Mason when Mason ups the ante.
      Exciting climax as Stark heads back Downstairs to head off a maniac wanting to end everything, but especially end Stark.
    • 4/5
      Lucifer is dead.......All hail Lucifer!
    • 4/5
      I think overall the whole series is refreshing. I enjoy the take on Heaven and Hell.
    • 3/5
      I started reading Aloha From Hell on February 15th of this year. Here it is, September 20th, and I've just now finished it. What began as a read on my Kindle changed to the hardcover edition in July when I found it at the library. I made it to about page 100 before I had to take the book back so someone else could tear their fucking hair out. Finally, I downloaded the audio book, because MacLeod Andrews can make Cannibal Corpse lyrics sound like Catholic hymns. And whataya know? I actually finished this mother-humping book. Amen, and pass the maledictions!

      Oh, how I loved the first two books in this series. The witty sarcasm, the foul-mouthed humor, action that explodes on the page... What in the name of Tom Cruise's bleached asshole happened here? Sure, Stark is just as sarcastic as ever, but the humor was like listening to an obese comedian tell his hundredth fat joke of the night. It was funny the first 99 times, but now it's just kinda sad. Doesn't he have any other material, for Cruise's sake?

      Aloha From Hell drones on about religious bullshit and other godly mythos as Kadrey tries to figure out who God is and what purpose the deity will serve in his Sandman Slim urban fantasy series. As far as action is concerned, we get an anti-climactic exorcism, three or four gladius battles that seem ripped from the Sword Fighting Playbook of 1940, Stark driving a Ferrari Testarossa out of Hell and into a war with Heaven ( literally pause the audio because I was laughing so hard at the mid-life-crisis-fantasy-porn), and a finale on par with the ending of the Richard Donner's Superman. Other than that, we receive roughly two billion conversations. There's so much dialogue in this book, I though I was reading a script. And, for the most part, the cast are not talking about anything worth a fuck. No! We get page after page of hellions whining about why Hell sucks, bad guys spouting off exposition, and good guys complaining about having to be good guys. By the time I was done with this (and I never thought I'd say this, but...), I was chomping at the bit for some of Peter Straub or Stephen King's infamous walls of text, wherein we get paragraphs that last two or three pages without a single shred of dialogue. I was actually tired of hearing people talk. More than once I thought, "Shut the fuck up and get on with the goddamn story, you mouthy pricks!"

      This book is packed full of filler. It's bursting at the seams, really. I mean, for fuck's sake, it takes Stark until the 54% mark to get to Hell. The book's story doesn't even really start until halfway through the goddamn book! All the bullshit before he goes to Hell is superfluous. Wanna know how I know? Because I forgot everything that happened during the first section of the book and was not even close to lost at the end. I got the full picture, and I can't even remember the first fifty percent!

      Oh, and Jack the Ripper's appearance was pointless. So very cliched and pointless. What about H. H. Holmes or Albert Fish, or someone who hasn't popped up half a trillion times in books about Hell.

      See also: Hell being a twisted version of Los Angeles... FUCKING GODDAMN SQUIRREL-MOLESTING MOTHERFUCKING CHRIST ON A TAMPAX YACHT, KADREY, SHOW SOME ORIGINALITY!

      (*takes a deep breath* Sorry, about that. Now back to our regularly scheduled review)

      I almost rage-quit this pile of dumpster leavings five times since February, but friends kept telling me, "The fourth book is SOOOOO worth the trouble." You guys better be right, or I'm going to burn this book and use the flames to light your pubes on fire.

      Now, with all this cussing and fussing, I bet you're asking yourself how in the name of Tom Cruise's waxed weasel hole did it garner three stars from me? Well, the answer is this: There are parts in this book that I liked quite a bit. All the emotional stuff was handled expertly, and I even teared when Alice tells Stark how she really died. I got another sentimental boner while Stark was ranting about how God was just another deadbeat dad in his life. Any scene that was designed to tug at my heartstrings worked like a bodybuilder bench pressing bags of cotton. And that's what I don't understand, Mr. Kadrey. This is urban fantasy, not literary fiction, so why the huge emphasis on emotional content here? Some of your prose herein is fucking gorgeous, but when it comes to action and plot progression, Aloha From Hell eats all the ass with pancake syrup and sprinkles on top. Had the fight sequences been up to par with the tear-jerking shit, and the dialogue edited down a couple dozen pages, I believe this would have been the best book in the series. Because, Kadrey,dude, you had some important shit to say, it's just that most of it got buried under a metric-fuck-tonne of bloated text.

      In summation: I don't know if reading this volume was worth it yet, so I cannot recommend Aloha From Hell, nor can I tell you to stay the fuck away from it. I will tackle that after reading the next book in the series, which, strangely enough, is a novella. Devil in the Dollhouse (book 3.5) comes before Devil Said Bang (Book 4), so to the Dollhouse I turn. It best not suck, Kadrey. Best not!

      Three balls sucked out of five.
    • 3/5
      I read the first two and enjoyed them, despite some editing issues.
      But in this novel, there are construction issues, world building conflicts as well as editing problems.
      Editing was the usual loose style that needs to be tightened. For example, reference is made in a conversation to something that was not actually part of the conversation. It probably probably referring to a line of dialog that was edited out, but it needed to be corrected in the entirety.

      But those are issues that can be ignored. What dropped this novel to a 3 star was its general "throw the spaghetti at the wall and call it a plot" theme. The first half of the novel doesn't feel related in any way to the second. And frankly the first half is better. The second half takes place in hell, which is fine, but the amount of filler descriptiveness is truly dismally boring. And there does seem to be a sort of contrived meandering around, without any movement in the plot.

      The fact that the hell he visits is now entirely different than the one we get glimpses of in his previous books, is explained in a rather contrived manner. And frankly, I think the choice of making hell a carnival mirror representation of LA was just silly. Beyond that, it has some glaring internal conflicts as well as logic conflicts.

      The final twist at the end, was I suppose surprising. But it was hardly satisfying, and made the entire Metaphorical Hell even more unrealistic. It was also a bit of an internal conflict compared to previous book issues.
    • 2/5
      WARNING - There are SPOILERS in this review! Don't read it unless you really feel like reading a rant of poopy pants-ness.

      I have to start out that I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, so this being book three I was expecting great things. I know some people will probably be shocked that I have such a low opinion of it.

      The entire reading experience to me this time around was completely lackluster. The entry action scene of Stark and Vidoqc robbing a house for an item that really ended up being of no import to the story as well as the demon that attacks them outside the house. I felt like there was a bit of that throughout.

      So we have the mystery portion in the first half the novel where they are trying to figure out what's going on with this 'possessed' boy. Did it really need to take up that much of the book? Or better yet did the trek through hell really require the second half. Yes, it probably did - but for me it was like plucking lint off of a pair of black pants...tedious.

      Aelita was mentioned plenty of times but was never seen. These big things that happen, her kidnapping Alice, her at the end killing one of the 5 beings that make up "god". I feel like those were bigger things that just were under handled.

      The trip to hell, I liked how he ended up getting in, meeting Mustang Sally and going through the garden of Eden - but this hell itself, and the trip through it - I found it boring. Oh I wish I had a writers skill to be able to describe and define all the reasons why I was so aggravated. I just don't articulate myself well... but lets see - I think it was because the whole second half of the book to me was just "more of the same" page before it.

      Stark's humor didn't hit the high points for me that the previous two books did. Don't get me wrong I'm not giving a low rating just because it didn't stand up to the other two books in my mind but mostly just because I felt like the story in this one fell flat and just didn't do it for me. I'm sure it will rock the socks off of alot of other fans.

      Were big things done? Yes! of course, he got laid by a new girl, decided he'd finally be emotionally moving on from Alice (thank freaking Hades), met Jack the Ripper, destroyed the Kissi again, got rid of the angel alter ego (which should provide some interesting fodder for the next book I'm sure), got Mason to kill himself, ended up being the ruler of Hell in the end *shoulder shrug*...was it too much? - or was it not enough. I don't know I'm just a debbie downer when I think about this reading experience.

      Does someone need to bring me a sammich to get me to shutup?
    • 4/5
      Mason kidnaps Stark's ex-girlfriend Alice from Heaven and brings her to hell and Stark decides that he's going to find a way around the traps to rescue her and keep heaven from Mason's clutches. This sets off a cascade that will change his role in the worlds.I love this series, it's serious pulpy fiction but I just really enjoy it, it loves its sources and it shows and Kadrey writes stories that really get me caught up in them and avidly reading. I'm looking forward to mroe of this.
    • 5/5
      This was by far my favorite book in the series.

      I'm really starting to enjoy urban fantasy as a series, and I've enjoyed this series more than dresden. Just because of the dark not entirely goodie goodie aspects.

      Its late (you can tell I enjoy a book when I stay up late reading it) so don't exactly have lots to say about it, but I recommend anyone who even remotely likes the genre to give it a read.
    • 4/5
      Warning: These books are not for people averse to graphic violence, sex and language.Richard Kadrey impresses me with his knowledge of mythology (especially the demonic sort) and how it's woven into the fabric of his Sandman Slim series. Aloha From Hell is the third book.Jim Stark aka Sandman Slim is a nephilim, the product of a male angel and a human woman. To many of the supernatural world, especially some angels, this makes him an abomination to be gotten rid of.Stark is also the only human who has escaped Hell and lived to tell the tale. In Aloha From Hell, he finds himself in the position of having to rescue both Heaven & Hell from a human interloper named Mason Faim, who wants to tear the entire universe down and start over.Along the way, Stark tangles with demons, making deals with them to get back into Hell to rescue Alice, his dead love who was yanked out of Heaven unceremoniously and is being kept prisoner in Hell. Stark is a very angry nephilim who literally struggles with his angel while making his way through the Garden of Eden, Tartarus, and Pandemonium to convince the demonic generals to gather their troops and ride to war.All through the book, Slim has this idea that he'll rescue Alice, stop Mason from tearing the universe apart and get back to Los Angeles in time to break more furniture with Candy. The twist, of course, changes all of that.Aloha From Hell is tons of fun with interesting philosophical lamentations on the purpose of being and what it all means anyway.
    • 4/5
      After reading the first two books in this series I was excited to get to this the third book in the Sandman Slim series. I have always found Richard Kadrey's imagination to be top notch and this was no exception.

      I liked the idea of Hell being whatever you brought into it. This nightmare version of LA was interesting. I thought there was many too much time spent wandering around, and the double cross of Stark's 1st guide was not that surprising.

      The story is simple Stark has to venture once again to Hell to save his lost love Alice from Mason's evil clutches. There is more detail than that, but that is the basic story. I would have liked to see more interaction with the people Starks knows in "real life" like Vidocq or Candy. I felt no connection between the characters in the text, it was very brief and undefined.

      Overall, I did really like this book. I thought it was fun and I wasn't disappointed.
    • 3/5
      Just okay. Stark is as entertaining to ride along with as usual and the plot expands in new ways, along with memorable new characters. It just didn't tickle me as much as the premise of the whole series.
    • 4/5
      The Devil isn't dead, he's headed back to Heaven... which means Hell has a job opening.When he landed on the garbage heap in the Cemetery of Eternal Rest, Start for sure never thought he'd be trying to get back into Hell. But someone's kidnapped Alice's soul from Heaven, and Stark will stop at nothing to get her back. Love it!
    • 4/5
      Another wild ride Downtown with Sandman Slim. Can't keep up with all the movie references. We need a video playlist. Anyone know of such a beast?
    • 3/5
      Just when this was getting good(better than volume 2, in fact) someone went and placed a hold on it from the library and I had to abandon it. Oh well... maybe I'll get back into it someday.
    • 5/5
      A great series. Mason is still in hell, but has trapped something that Jim Stark really cares about with him. A teenage boy is possessed and Stark is warned off the case. The war between heaven and hell is about to begin.Love the series. Love the characters. Love the stories. Love it.
    • 4/5
      This is the third in Kadrey's Sandman Slim series and it is just great pulp. There is nothing earth shattering here, just great writing and a really cool lead.
    • 5/5
      The third book in the Sandman Slim series doesn’t disappoint. My favorite character in this journey is Stark with a side of Alice. The book has plenty of twists and turns and some of my questions were answered. Kadrey’s definition of God is outside of the box and I love it. It makes a weird sort of sense once you think about it. It’s a kickass confection of action with a little twist of the crazy liquor of love. Kadrey is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. His unique characters pull me full tilt on the carnival ride through Hell and beyond.I’m looking forward to the next Sandman Slim installment.This journey gets 5 fairies for making me think outside of the box and keeping me turning the pages.
    • 4/5
      A former member of the Golden Vigil asks Stark, Vidocq and Candy to look into a failed exorcism. A sin-eater had tried to remove a demon from a youngman and failed. When Stark and the others find the kid they discover he isn't being possesed by a demon, but by Mason, Starks nemesis. Mason tells him he has kidnapped Alice, Starks first love, from Heaven and is holding her in Hell. Stark decides it's time to go down to Hell and deal with him.This is the third book in the Sandman Slim series. It was much easier to follow than the last novel. There was a lot more backround story and it links better with the first book. If you want to read only one book in the series read this one or the first.I enjoy Kadrey's style of writing. There are no chapter breaks and the story goes full tilt to the end. I can't wait until the next book is published. This is a great series.
    • 4/5
      A decent showing from Kadrey, but not nearly as much fun as the previous novel, Kill the Dead, which had me giggling like a teenager at Stark's many caustic remarks. Kadrey is so skilled at turning a phrase (and he can make Stark swear like a wounded pirate with a wide and colorful vocabulary); I wish he had done more of that in Aloha. I believe he may have been too focused on tying up loose ends and bringing the story (at least the first act) to a conclusion, which made it feel more stilted and mundane than the previous novels. Nevertheless, I'm still a fan of Sandman Slim.