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Book Review: A Congregation of Jackals by S. Craig Zahler

A Congregation of Jackals by S. Craig Zahler
Dorchester Publishing, 2011
ISBN: 978-0843964158

Editor’s note: This reviews the 2011 novel from Dorchester Publishing, now defunct. The cover image links to a new edition published in 2017 by Raw Dog Screaming Press.

A Congregation of Jackals is an intricate, cautionary, Wild West tale of what can happen if evil is left unchecked, and people allow themselves to grow complacent towards wickedness.

Rancher Oswell Danford and his brother receive a telegram from a former member of their old gang, inviting them to his wedding in Montana. Within the telegram, however, is the hidden message that a reckoning is coming to all of them. The deeds that led to this reckoning are explained by Oswell himself in a letter that he writes to his wife as he is traveling to the town of Trailspur. In a narrative never told to her before, he describes how, as bank robbers, their moral borders were progressively blurring, to the point that they even committed cold-blooded murder during their robberies, until they were offered a job by a man named Quinlan. (“I had never been involved with wickedness, with evil, until I meet [sic] the man that wrote that note,” Oswell writes.)

    After the job, faced with the absolute extreme of what they could become, the men are “scared straight” and go on to lead fairly normal lives for several years. Oswell and his men, in their own ways, have tried to repent for their past transgressions by leading specifically-structured lives (i.e. marriage, becoming religious, not bearing children), but fate interrupts their self-granted pardons.  Their choice to go to Montana and try to protect themselves and the people of Trailspur on their own, like all of their dealings with Quinlan (and the episodes surrounding him) has catastrophic results. What makes this story more troubling is that the sheriff of the town and other law enforcement officers, all seasoned enforcers, see the signs that something is wrong, but either choose to ignore it altogether or underestimate the malevolence that waits to destroy them all.

This story does not contain a supernatural element, nor does it need one: the characters, even down to Zahler’s paladin, the white-charger riding Deputy Goodstead, contribute in their own ways to the chilling, savage events that are worse than any mere ghost or goblin could contrive—to battle the Ruthless, the Just eventually become ruthless themselves. All of the characters are complex: the four men of the Tall Boxer Gang did horrendous things, and do not totally acknowledge the damage they caused, but the reader is sympathetic nonetheless. Even Alphonse, the sadistic Frenchman that creates “art” out of living subjects, has a moment of incredible but genuine concern for Quinlan, which somehow does not seem totally out of place (at least to me) despite his sociopathic tendencies.

There are several themes in this complex work that cannot be addressed in a short review. A Congregation of Jackals explores the nature of evil and how far-reaching and destructive its taint can be, especially to the innocent. In the end, according to Zahler, the Devil will have his due…and then some. When that occurs, everyone is damaged and satisfaction is achieved by no one, even the damned. This novel is recommended and would be interesting fodder for an adult-aged book club or any fan of horror who likes more meat in their novels than the superficial, hack-and-slash fare.

Contains: graphic violence, gore, sex

Reviewed by: W. E. Zazo-Phillips

Posted on October 22, 2018 by , Reply

Book Review: Those Poor, Poor, Bastards (Dead West, Book 1) by Tim Marquitz, J.M. Martin, and Kenny Soward

Those Poor, Poor Bastards (Dead West, Book 1) by Tim Marquitz, J.M. Martin, and Kenny Soward

Ragnarok Publications, 2014

ISBN: 978-0991360529

Availability: paperback

 

In Those Poor, Poor Bastards, all Hell breaks loose when Nina and her father go to a small frontier town for supplies, and discover the town is overrun with zombies. Escaping along with a small group of survivors, Nina and her father escape. While they search for a safe refuge, they rescue a family in the woods, and come upon the long-abandoned Ft. Bluff, where they can fortify their defenses. There, Nina and the others meet a Jesuit priest, Father Mathias, who possesses strange powers that can kill the zombies.

Father Mathias tells our survivors about the mysterious Liao Xu, a man who sold his soul to the devil. The priest reveals that he has taken an artifact of great power from Liao Xu. Liao Xu attacks the fort to retrieve the artifact, and those who survive the attack end up as reluctant participants in an effort to stop the mysterious man from destroying the rest of humanity.

The first in a series, Those Poor, Poor Bastards is a fantastic book in the Western horror sub-genre. Marquitz, Martin, and Soward, combine their storytelling talents into a seamless narrative that takes a different look at the sometimes overused zombie trope. It is a fast-paced tale, but the character development doesn’t suffer because of it. There is more than one villain here, making Those Poor, Poor Bastards quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed the heroine, Nina, who is a well-rounded, complex character.

If you like zombies, or Western horror in general, then I recommend picking this one up, and I look forward to reading subsequent installments in the Dead West series. Recommended.

Contains: blood, gore, adult language and situations

Reviewed by: Colleen Wanglund

Posted on April 11, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Wyatt in Wichita: A Historical Novel by John Shirley

Wyatt in Wichita: A Historical Novel by John Shirley

Skyhorse Publishing, 2014

ISBN-13: 978-1629143132

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook download

 

Wyatt in Wichita is a novel I have been reading about for a long time. John Shirley, while known as both a horror and science fiction author, transcends genre in almost everything he writes, and I was intrigued to learn that he had been working on a historical novel set in the Wild West.

Shirley’s fascination with the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp was the seed for this novel, which is based in solid historical research. Focused on a lesser known aspect of Earp’s life, this novel is a fictionalized account of his search for the murderer of a girl from Wichita. Shirley uses the plot as a tool to explore Earp’s character. While legend sometimes paints a black-and-white picture of Earp as a hero, or villain, Shirley uses shades of grey. While the novel has plenty of action, it is, above all, a character study.

While a historical novel is a departure for the writer whose stories were once called “Lollipops of Pain”, Shirley delivers, with his intense view of the world expressed through this new setting and genre. His use of tiny details sets the tone effectively. While description can overwhelm a story and slow the pacing, Shirley’s writing remains fluid. All the elements of a successful Western are here: period accurate action, engulfing natural landscapes that jumped off the page, and characters that made me a little uncomfortable.

Authors writing outside of their traditional genres often have trouble getting their readers to follow them. Wyatt in Wichita is an excellent choice to get readers to step outside their genre and try something a little different. This should be in any library with a serious eye to western and historical fiction.

Reviewed by David Agranoff

 

 

 

Posted on February 22, 2015 by , Reply