One of my auto-buy authors has a new horror book and I absolutely loved it. The change up in styles and type of horror will never cease to amaze me.
Thanks to Saga Press for the gifted copy
THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER – Stephen Graham Jones (Released March 18th, 2025)
You can see my other posts and reviews for his books here!
Book Description:
A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.
A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars
Historical fiction and horror are two genres that I love, especially when the historical elements and events are equally,if not more horrifying than the fictional horror. Stephen Graham Jones brings us another unique and haunting tale coming out of the old American West. I highly recommend looking up the Marias Massacre of 1870, as this is a focal point of the story.
In 2012 (present day in the novel), a struggling young professor, Etsy, is trying to get tenure at the university when she is contacted about the discovery of a manuscript found in a wall. The manuscript was written by a Lutheran priest, her grandfather, from 1912, and his entries come in the aftermath of the Marias Massacre.
The story jumps back and forth between the priest’s personal entries and a transcription of the confessions of a Native man who is most commonly known as Good Stab. I personally love this kind of framing for books – even some movies if done properly – and let me tell you, Jones never disappoints.
Good Stab confesses to all of the horrific and truly gruesome things he’s witnessed and committed in an act of revenge as he seeks justice. The Blackfeet lore and new twist on the vampire genre was enthralling and fresh, and there was no shortage of blood and gore.
There is so much death in this – from the wild animals of the landscape to the people who Good Stab is enacting his vengeance. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I love the variety there can be in vampire novels, BUT this is at the top of the list for me. This is dark, haunting, emotional, truly full of trauma and loss, and it was something I couldn’t stop reading. I know with a slower pace that this might not be for everyone. There is a heavier presence of historical fiction with the horror woven in, and the manuscript of the early 1900’s might not be for everyone, but I loved this combination and it cemented Jones as a continued auto-buy author.
Jessicamap Reviews 