Cul-de-Sac Carnage

Discount Dan's Backroom Bargains, Book 2

De: James Hunter

Narrado por: Steve Campbell

Welcome back, Bargain Hunters! Stock up. Lock down. And brace yourself for the sale of a lifetime.

With the shadow of the Flayed Monarch looming ever closer, Dan must prepare the store and himself for the battle to come. To stand a chance, he’ll need to expand his operations, broker a precarious trade deal with the Delvers of Howlers Hold, and transform his stash of relics into an arsenal of magical war crimes.

But first, he’ll need to carve a bloody path through the heart of the 24th floor—Eternal Suburbia. A hellish, never-ending labyrinth of tidy lawns, cookie-cutter houses, and homicidal homeowners. Few survive the lawnmower men, the feral Karens, the ever-ravenous Kannibal Kids, or the tyrannical HOA, which reigns supreme with an iron fist of petty rules and bloodstained bylaws.

With a gaggle of increasingly untrustworthy allies, and dangers lurking behind every perfectly trimmed hedge, Dan will need to do the impossible if he wants to beat the system and live to fight another day.

©2025 James A. Hunter (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

5 stars

I really really enjoyed this installment in the series. Good fun. Will definitely be buying the next.

can't wait for the next one!

The first book was good but I think it's better with each one. I can't wait for the third

Awesome

Evrry bit as good as DCC and need the next ASAP! Unique, creative and f-n FUN! Top tier author and reader is perfect.

Fun and frustrating

A LOT of standing around and talking during “frantic” portions of the book. Hard to feel any sense of urgency when the characters are chatting and asking inane questions. Fun read and cool characters but those moments of out of place dialogue really yank me out of the story. Are the bad guys just standing there?

Hilarious and horrifying

It's a perfect mixture of litrpg goodness, funny dialog and descriptions of eldritch horrors.

Internationally Best Selling Book

This book really pulled me in. There is a nice pathway set up for goals in the next few books. The characters level up at a nice pace to keep the story interesting, as well as giving the fights tension. The only problem I have with this book is that it seems our side characters kind of fall to the wayside l, until they are brought up.

Dan is on a mission

I think this series is fun. The world seems sound enough, and I like the community growth aspect. Can’t wait to see more!

Scratches the dungeon, crawler coral itch

This book series is the closest thing to dungeon Crowley Carl I have gotten to. World building is good fowl language, gratuitous violence, & the MC’s ability to use what’s at his disposal to solve his problems and don’t forget his talking animal companion. Overall 10 out of 10.

A worthy Discount version of Dungeon Crawler Carl

I see many series compared to DCC, but this is the first series I've seen worthy of that. Here are the rules, as I see them.
1. Every set-up has to have a payoff.
2. Every fight has to be interesting and add to the story.
3. Every character and monster needs to be interesting.
4. Every item needs to be intriguing.
5. The banality of our world needs to be twisted in a strange way.
As a writer myself, let me say that these are hard to pull off, especially the first item. In the first book, Dan establishes a discount store where other delvers can get basic items like backpacks and toothbrushes. He's desperate to expand his inventory. And there's a lot of twisted stuff he has to go through to get this lousy store that you can find hundreds of in any town. One set-up detail: He's hung a lot of drywall. Pay-off detail: He has his toolbelt, and can use an angle square in an unexpected way.
As the second book opens, he needs to capture a kiosk from a Mall full of monsters. If you've ever wanted a bog-standard kiosk to be both funny and terrifying, here you go. This is a set-up to a far more terrifying place he needs to go: the suburbs. Lots of cookie-cutter homes all alike with green lawns.
But before he can go to the suburbs, he needs to visit Hotel Hell and get a shower and a washing machine. And he needs to build up more alliances.
The different levels of The Backrooms all have a different feel. Almost every paragraph has skewed humor of some sort.

Great series so far. Highly recommended.

This series is too good

By too good I mean I binge through each book in two or three days and then.. I'm left trying to find anything to fill the void. Can't wait to hear more from Hunter, whether that's in the backrooms or about a certain vigil incarnate.