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| Cover Image Courtesy of S&S/Saga Press |
I have been holding off on reading this latest entry by Jones, about a Native vampire, maybe because I have been anticipating it since its announcement, then bought the book —not the ebook—on preorder then, because I was so psyched by the premise from the start, refrained from committing to it because—what if I would be disappointed? What if my prediction, that this story would blow me out of the water, was wrong?
Then the Horror Aficionados group on GoodReads finally got around to voting for this as the read of the month, and… Well, I wasn’t wrong.
This story is about a Picuni known (by many names but…) as Good Stab, and a Lutheran pastor known as Arthur Beaucarne (also as Three Persons, which is genius, IMO). They meet in 1912 when, over the course of many subsequent meetings, Good Stab lays out a lengthy confession of his sins, exposing his story of becoming a vampire after events that took place during an 1870 Blackfeet massacre that both MCs are dishearteningly familiar with.
Oh, and if your go to read is historical fiction—American historical fiction, then this book needs to be on your list.
The good pastor Beaucarne can do nothing if not listen, in spite of his initial skepticism over the gory and fantastical details. He can do nothing but listen and record the confessions in a private journal, as Good Stab weaves his story, ending each session with the perfect announcement that his pipe is empty (he can’t smoke one), his allotted time is done. This style of story telling immediately brought Rice's Interview with the Vampire to mind, and the device of a vampire telling his story for the purpose of posterity works here too.
But Jones tricks us here because, while the storytelling device immediately feels like a nod to Anne Rice, it doesn’t take long to understand that what Jones is doing is not simply revealing Good Stab's confession. He's also peeling away at the good pastor's deeply imbedded flaws. There’s an increasing cat and mouse game going on between these two men, and it culminates into a gory confrontation like only Jones can do.
Of course, anyone inspired to read this after reading this review might initially be confused. Because the book begins and ends with a grad student named Etsy in the relevant present. She's researching her family history—her thrice great grandfather Beaucarne—when the manuscript of his journal falls into her lap.
I’m not going to lie. The tonal shift between current day Etsy's story, and the journal entries of Good Stab's story written by Beaucarne, didn’t initially mesh for me. Having read enough of Jones's work, Etsy acts and sounds a lot like Jade from the Chainsaw series. Different girl, same hyper-thought process voice, maybe tempered a little because there’s less of a chip on her shoulder. Her character traits are a SGJ staple though for certain. Fans of Jones will either love it or hate it. If this is your first SGJ read, it probably won’t matter. But the bookend chapters of Etsy and her discovery of the journal plays its part by story’s end and brings the story as a whole to a satisfactory—albeit tonally different—conclusion.
I loved this book, plain and simple. I was riveted. And there are a few long ass chapters that unwind as Good Stab smokes his imaginary pipe. The actual history that is imbedded into the framework of this story is heartbreaking, and the more people who become aware of it, the better.
I think I mentioned in a chat group somewhere, midway through reading, that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter just might replace The Only Good Indians or Mongrels as my favorite Stephen Graham Jones book.
It did. 100%.
Click here, or on the cover image above, for a retail link.
