The Everything Box, by Richard Kadrey

The Everything Box, by Richard Kadrey is a macguffin chase done in neo-noir style with snappy dialogue and pretty unique characters..except they are all kind of snappy dialoguers. That’s a minor quibble and you don’t even notice it as the book hums along with charm, wit, pathos and a bit of terror tossed in for fun. The macguffin is stolen not once, not twice, not three times but four (tying with The Hot Rock’s record for ripped-off treasure). Problem is, this particular macguffin is an apocalypse engine lost by an angel right after The Flood, and being hunted by, well, everyone: gangsters, a fake Russian, two rival demon cults, The Government and probably others I have forgotten[0]. Along the way the burglar (our hero) meets, fights, partners with or robs a Caspar Gutman sort of character, a dragon, thousands of enchanted spiders, a frightened ghost, two mind-clouding women, a magical locksmith, the deedholder to Earth, the angel who lost the macguffin in the first place, vampires, werewolves, tentacle monsters from hell (by which I mean The Government), demonic pets, a revenant and a particularly unpleasant government operative.[1]

Very entertaining read, and admirably read as audiobook. The narrator gets the dialogue just right.

At Amazon, but I got mine at sfpl.org.

 

[0] Just kidding.  I think that’s all of them.

[1] I am not at all sure I mentioned everybody.