To me the Sandman Slim was slow to get going, but Kadrey effectively ramped up the existential/ontological threats. They reached their peak in the previous instalment and here we have a ...reduced Sandman Slim who's no more than a glorified private eye. However, his first case is to find who's responsible for murdering Death, so there's still a while to go before his cases involve missing heirs and blackmailed businessmen Kadrey still pulls it off, largely because of the supporting cast, but one gets the sense that the series is running out of steam. Miles better than Harry Dresden, but.