A review by sevaspeto
Devil in the Dollhouse by Richard Kadrey

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

To be completely honest, I didn't realize that this was essentially a short story until I was a few pages in and noticed that there were only 40-something pages left. And it's not that it's bad; it's still got Stark's trademark hard-boiled pithy dialogue and narration, but the story itself is paced so fast, it doesn't paint the picture for the reader as well as the rest of the entries in this series; I love this world and I want to stay in it for more than a quickie! But everything about this feels so rushed, and the resolution reveals something seemingly major, while simultaneously leaving you wondering if this plot development is ever going to factor into the overarching series arc. I don't know -- I didn't dislike it, I just found myself equally wanting Kadrey to slow it down, as much as *I* wanted to burn through it to get to the next actual novel in the series ¯\_(ツ)_/¯