Unbury Carol was a thoroughly enjoyable read and something I don’t think I’ve
ever come across before: a supernatural western thriller. But let me clarify...
Yes, it was supernatural
and yes, it was a western, but it could have gone either way and that’s what’s
special about Unbury Carol.
The supernatural element
was spooky. Without adding any spoilers, it addressed one of man’s basic fears
and twisted it into entities, apparitions, and just plain visions but it did so
in such a way that the reader wasn’t really asked to suspend disbelief--might
be the supernatural acting on humans, might be strong emotions clouding
reality. You’re never really sure--I like that.
The western element was
a good ride; plain, old, cowboy stuff. Outlaws, deputies,
sheriffs, saloons, cathouses, outhouses, horses, and trails. If Marshall
Dillon had ridden up on one of the characters, I wouldn’t have been at all
surprised. We all seem to enjoy a story of the old west, even if we won’t admit
it.
And a thriller? Yes. No doubt. The
suspense builds nicely, if a bit sporadically, but don’t start reading the last
third of the book unless you’ve got a few hours to kill because you won’t be
putting it down.
The characters were
fleshed out perfectly. I had no problem at all seeing them in my mind’s eye.
And the “bad guy” was a stroke of genius. Again, no spoilers, but when you run
into the triggerman named Smoke, you’ll definitely remember him.
Supernatural western
thriller--three words you don’t hear together often.
The only problem I had
with this book--the only reason I can’t give it 5 stars--is “hell’s heaven,” a
phrase spoken by ever single character--and I can’t figure out why.
I’m fairly well-read and
fairly well-traveled, and other than “Hell’s Heaven” being an absolutely
horrible, new-age musical piece by Enigma, I’ve never seen or heard the term
before. And it got old pretty quickly. When every character says it, you can
imagine.
I could have missed
something, but I don’t know what, and I firmly believe an editor should be
canned and sent to the salt mines for letting that phrase get in the way like
it did.