Book Review
Rating: * * * *
Title: Deadman's Road
Author: Joe R. Lansdale
Published: this collection of fiction stories was published in 2010; I listened to the unabridged audiobook (Blackstone Audio, Inc.; read by Stefan Rudnicki; 8 hours)
What is the story?
Deadwood meets Cthulhu in this wild and profane Western romp featuring zombies, werewolves, evil spirits, and one pissed-off gunslinging preacher.
The Wild West has never seen the likes of the Reverend Jebidiah Mercer, a hard man wielding a burning Bible in the battle between God and the devil, in an endless struggle he's not sure he cares who wins. With its five stories laced with fast-paced action, nonstop humor, and spine-tingling horror, Deadman's Road is your ride to hell, in which a vengeful shaman curses a town by conjuring a seemingly unstoppable army of the undead; an ill-advised shortcut leads to a bees' nest of terror; a man stands condemned, not for murdering his wife but for raising the Lovecraftian horror that killed her; a woman is attacked by werewolves and left for dead in a ghost town; and a mining camp faces off with a horde of cannibalistic fiends. --from Blackstone Audio, Inc.
What type of language does it use—technical, complex, standard, or colloquial? this is one of the most sweary, profane, colloquial, aggressive books I've ever read!
Does the level of language make it easy or difficult for the reader to follow? I wouldn't say it's hard to follow, but there are moments where my lack of religious knowledge put me at a disadvantage.
Did you like this book? maybe? That's really hard to say. I picked it up because I've read a couple of this author's other books—Sunset and Sawdust (2003) and Lost Echoes (2005)—and liked them. Those books were gifted to me by a friend whose taste I trust. Those two books are in the Western-ish, historical-ish realm. This one, though, is a cross between Western, horror, romance (?), maybe religious, and science fiction. That's a lot of genre for one collection of linked stories.
I like the main character, Jebidiah Mercer, who is confident in his role as a aggressive crusader against evil who is also a violent alcoholic and also a highly reluctant "man of God." I liked some of the other characters, a few of whom turned out to be more than what they seemed, and some of whom were surprisingly minor.
There is something disconcerting about the book, though, despite my interest in the characters. Besides working in genres that are unfamiliar and upsetting by nature, I found it downright scary. I got chills, and had all my little hairs stand up, from a sense that I was reading something that I ought not.
If you could change something, what would it be? there are some repetitions for emphasis, but also some repetitions that seem to have sprouted from the author's ego. (Think, "I like this turn of phrase, so I'm going to use it over and over.")
What were your favourite parts? I especially liked the first story, where the reprehensible treatment of a couple causes the torture and killing of those who done them wrong.
As always, I appreciated and enjoyed Stefan Rudnicki's narration, which was solemn, gleeful, and ominous by turns.
Who stands out, among the characters? Jeb, of course, and the doc, and the fat whore (don't blame me—that's the most apt descriptor)
What is your recommendation? oh, my. Well. I would recommend this book to lovers of supernatural horror, violence, and retribution.
5 adjectives you would use to describe this text: profane, lurid, hostile, funny, and (slightly, oddly) sanctimonious
[book review template 5 adapted from here; the title quotation is by Joe R. Lansdale]
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