A diary, written by a Lutheran priest, is discovered within the walls of an old, broken down property. Contained within its pages is the story of Good Stab (great name), a Blackfeet vampire who traveled the plains of Montana at the turn of the 20th century seeking revenge against his oppressors.

I feel some readers are going to have a difficult time with parts of this novel. In unburdening himself of his past, Good Stab uses a lot of Pikani terminology that isn’t quite explained. I did have to look up certain names so I could follow where the story was going, but once I got a handle on that, I was more or less OK moving forward. However, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. I thought the novel did at times get quite bogged down in trying to present two main characters in that of Good Stab and Arthur Beaucarne (the aforementioned priest). I get how they are both integral to the story that Stephen Graham Jones is telling, but I think I would have rather eliminated Arthur and reworked it in such a way that it was just about Good Stab.

The author’s approach when it came to vampire mythology felt very fresh and interesting. Good Stab’s description of a “cat man” to describe what he became truly captured my imagination – especially with the depictions of hissing, pointed fangs and running at full speed on all fours; completely naked and covered in blood no less.

It should go without saying that this story is not for those who do not have an easy time with either animal death or just gore in general. However, if you’re picking up a book about a Indigenous vampire seeking revenge against those who murdered his people and also tried to exterminate their food source in all of the Buffalo, what did you expect? In fact, there is a specific scene at about the halfway mark that is without a doubt one of the most uncompromisingly brutal depictions of a vampire attack I have ever read. It completely blew me away to the point where I went back and read those pages multiple times.

As I get older, the more attracted I am to stories taking place during the “wild west” period of American history. The atrocities against the Indigenous population should never be forgotten and stories like these are important. Obviously there were no actual vampires dishing out their own brand of justice, but many of the events herein that formed the backdrop of the story actually did happen and they’re increasingly difficult to read.