Hell's Bounty
4/5
Smith, just Smith, is a bounty hunter on a mission from hell. Literally. This time his bounty is a demon who has fallen afoul of the devil himself and has taken up residence in the husk of a very bad dude and is planning on unleashing a cadre of ancient monsters intent on taking over the universe. Smith, with a little help from his friends and a few cards up his sleeve, has just one chance to save the world and maybe his soul. Many thanks to Subterranean Press, the Lansdale brothers, and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. This is exactly the sort of book that I normally would have ignored. First, it is a western. Not that I have anything against westerns per se, but if you look at my Goodreads shelf "Westerns" you will note that Hell's Bounty is sitting there all by its lonesome. They just never seemed all that interesting to me. Second, I am not a huge fan of the Lovecraftian world -- I know, I know, I am traitous beast -- you should see how I feel about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. So, a western featuring Lovecraftian monsters is not what would normally be right up in front of my reading queue. However, recently I have been trying to catch up on (Joe) Lansdale's horror so when I saw this book come up on NetGalley, I just had to request it. I am very glad I did. Given my inexperience with the western genre, I am not sure how Hell's Bounty stacks up, but if all westerns read like this, I will certainly be reading more westerns sooner rather than later. There were horses, and gunfights galore, and whips, and things exploding, and people drinking whiskey -- it was amazing. Even more so, in my opinion, given the supernatural plot. I mean, how can anyone resist a gunfight between a horde of smack-talking zombies on stilts and a posse of famous reanimated gunslingers? Hell's Bounty is definitely a light read and is meant to be so. There are no deep answers to the meaning of life here, or revelatory characterization, or high art, but what is here is pure fun. Even the Lovecraftian monsters, though we only get a tentacle or two, are nicely done (no drippy, salty, smelly uggy-wuggies in sight).
3.8/5
