Cruel Angels Past Sundown

by Hailey Piper

New Mexico Territory, 1882: She comes to the Klein ranch at sunset, a strange naked pregnant woman dragging a cavalry saber. Annette Klein and her husband have built peace between their marriage and secret relations beyond, but their serenity dies in bloodshed tonight through a cannibalistic demon and a mad preacher.

Annette barely escapes the bloodbath to the nearby town of Low’s Bend, where she might find safety with a shotgun-toting barkeep, two no-nonsense boarding room ladies, and the gunslinging bounty hunter who’ s captured Annette’ s heart.

But hell is at her heels. If she’s going to survive until dawn, she’ll have to forget everything she knows about peace and mercy, and face a hollow malevolence more ancient and ruthless than she’s ever imagined.

Genres: Horror, Westerns, Splatterpunk, Queer, Weird West, Audiobook, LGBT

190 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2023

About the author

Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Game in Yellow, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings, No Gods for Drowning, Cranberry Cove, and other books of dark fiction.
She is also the author of over 100 short stories appearing in Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and various other publications, and of articles appearing in Writer's Digest, Tor Nightfire, CrimeReads, and Library Journal. Find her at www.haileypiper.com.

Reviews

[Amy Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A naked pregnant woman with a sword and whose presence makes your eyes bleed, a preacher with a crucifix dagger, and a group of friends caught in the mix. Bloody, cosmic, and a WILD time! A little long, a little repetitive, but overall a very fun read.

[Josh Buyarski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bring in religious zealots, the old west. Annette is a wonderful protagonist and their travels in to heaven.

Hailey Piper is like the cool aunt of cosmic horror and she always delivers!!

[Thomas Wagner | SFF180 · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Full review coming.]

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nitty-gritty: A weird and bloody tale with plenty of surprises, Hailey Piper's latest is a nightmarish trip to Hell and back.

This is my first time reading Hailey Piper, and I’m not sure why it took me so long! Cruel Angels Past Sundown has such an interesting mix of elements, and it did not go where I was expecting it to go. The author mixes splatter western, body horror and even a touch of romance with religious themes, and the result is a bloody, scary story about one woman’s journey through Hell. This isn’t a comfortable read by any means, but Piper’s unique voice and skillful writing compelled me to read to the bitter end.

Annette Klein and her husband Frank live on a ranch and have created a happy but unconventional life together. But one evening, a naked pregnant woman carrying a cavalry saber approaches their fence. Annette immediately tries to assist the woman, leading her into the house and covering her with a blanket. What they don’t know (but are about to find out) is that the woman is infected with a plague of sorts and causes those around her to become lethargic and compliant. Minutes after they welcome her into their home, the woman follows Frank into the bedroom and guts him with her saber. Annette is horrified by the unexpected violence and blood, but her nightmare is just beginning. Hot on the heels of the pregnant woman (dubbed Saber by Annette) is a priest named Balthazar, who spouts religious rhetoric and carries a lethal looking dagger.

Annette escapes to Slim’s Respite, the local tavern, but Saber and Balthazar are still on the hunt and have followed her, intent on killing everyone in their path. Then a bounty hunter named Gloria shows up to help, and she and Annette find themselves on a very strange journey.

This story definitely falls on the “weird fiction” side of things. From the beginning, I felt a little out of my element, even though I’ve read quite a bit of horror over the years. Piper’s characters are unpredictable, which makes the story exciting to read, but also a bit challenging at times. Annette’s personal journey is the main focus, although she draws others into her orbit as she tries to evade Balthazar and later finds herself in a nightmare landscape and has to figure out how to get home. Piper’s visions of Heaven and Hell are frightening and hallucinatory, and she even adds cosmic horror elements to make things weirder.

I loved the relationships in the story. Annette and Frank were never able to have children—to Frank’s dismay and Annette’s relief—and this pushed them to experiment with an open marriage. Annette found comfort and love in the arms of several women, including Gloria the bounty hunter, but her love for Frank never wavered. During her horrific journey, Annette comes face to face with her feelings for both Frank and Gloria. Frank is now dead and she feels remorse at not being able to save him, and Gloria can’t understand why she mourns him so much. Even Balthazar, the evil villain of the story, offers Annette some insight into her relationships, and by the end she seems to have made peace with her choices.

The deeper Annette and Gloria go into Balthazar’s nightmare, the weirder things get. A lot happens in the last half of the story, and not all of it makes sense. There’s a scary angel who shows up (one of the “cruel angels” in the title), a sort of cosmic horror of an angel that probably doesn’t deserve the title of “angel” at all. As for Saber, she has her own journey, and she turned out to be a much different person that the scary, saber-wielding woman we meet in the beginning.

The last few chapters felt like a fever dream, and I was rooting for Annette to make it out of her nightmare safe and sound. I was very pleased that the author chose a hopeful ending for her story, it made all the painful parts worth it. I’m very glad I read this book, uncomfortable as it was, and I cannot wait to read more books by this talented author.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

[Brennan LaFaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific blend of religious mythology with the depth of character, twisty-turny plot elements, and no-holds-barred shock one expects from a Hailey Piper story. Properly uses the western as a setting/ingredient rather than a genre, Cruel Angels Past Sundown is a dynamic addition to the splatter western canon.

[Allison | crazypageturner · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down

A cursed, pregnant, naked, woman carrying a Sabre comes upon Annette’s farmhouse and causes unprovoked mayhem and death. Then a second person, a preacher, soon arrives to the farmhouse who is searching for her. They bring with them nothing but death and destruction while channeling a higher power and higher calling than anyone on Earth can imagine or understand.

~MY THOUGHTS~

I liked a few of the characters, like badass bounty hunter Gloria, and there were some tense moments and bloody deaths that I appreciated. I also found myself liking certain aspects like “the mark” and Annette’s rocky relationship story.

This didn’t really feel like a western to me. Didn’t immerse me in any kind of western setting or dialogue.

Too much preaching, biblical talk and rants about free will for me.

This was just a strenuous read for me. Metaphors in every sentence making it hard to stay focused and connected to the actual plot which seemed to switch focus from Annette to Sabre so I wasn’t sure who was more important or which storyline mattered more. It was surprisingly dense making it incredibly slow paced. I felt stuck in scenes that seemed never ending. After about halfway, the book took a turn in a direction I didn’t expect and unfortunately didn’t care for at all. To put it plainly. This was not for me. Bummersville. But I’m glad to have read a different take on a splatter western and to add this book to my splatter western collection.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m right in the middle with this one, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. Some parts were incredibly interesting and at times I was thoroughly enjoying this novel and convinced it would be a five star read because there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good horror western. This one had some original and unique ideas that I really did enjoy but then one element in particular threw me off the story. There was just SO much god talk and preaching and I have a hard time with things like that, I find it really hard to find enjoyment in that. I did really appreciate the LGBTQIA+ aspect though so definite points for that! So while the story was great, the preachiness prevented it from being as good as it could have been.

[helena p · Rating 4 out of 5]

you know what, if the stakes were this high and i was cursed with a snakelike tongue, i’d take a break from defeating an enormous godly??? cyclopean entity to eat my situationship out too

i could not have predicted where this book was gonna go but annette is so damn brave. what conviction! what dedication to love and humanity and personhood and choice! what it means to protect each other, to keep each other’s secrets, to appreciate life’s many gifts and endings! to CHOOSE to survive!!! that being said, i wish i had more time with the secondary characters in this book. they were kinda hollow and i wanted to care about them more! also this is one of my first gory books!

“Gloria stepped with her, and the wind sharpened a little so that she had to put a hand on her hat to keep it still. Her smile said she didn’t mind. She had missed the wind, too, and the turning of the sky, the sun changing places, time carrying from dawn toward dusk. The world held all these little miracles beyond Heaven’s comprehension” (170).

“He would give the child a strong home and teach that sometimes hearts found mending better in a little friendliness than in a sermon” (173).

“Why create a world of such people with such wills and imaginations if not to break bread with them, to change and grow as they did? Why persist across eternity if not to see the value in every mortal creature?” (176).

[Jeff Wait · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly my book of the year. This also might be Hailey Piper’s best story. This one really struck me. There’s hints of Clive Barker, hints of CS Lewis, and a big helping of everything that makes Piper’s work so Incredible — body horror, queer characters, and the perfect mix of humanity and philosophy. Gonna be thinking about this one for a while

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the red sea of boring misogynistic slop that is the splatter- genre, this book clearly stands out as a great and unique read with a purpose and something to say. Would recommend!

[Chloe Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think maybe I was too tired when reading this because I had absolutely no idea what was going on for half of this book. I mean I was invested but so confused.

I really loved the religious horror, I mean you can never go wrong with a spooky preacher. I pictured the guy from poltergeist!

I liked the LGBT aspects of this a lot and really liked Annette, I wasn’t sure on some of the other characters. Their personalities were a bit dry. I think that can be the problem with shorter novels, it’s a lot of telling people that they are loving without showing them. We got a bit of it but not enough for me to care about anyone except Slim.

I LOVED the part with the angels and love how they were represented, I loved the cosmic element of this.
I think I am definitely going to read it again at some point, I think maybe I was tired and there was a lot going on so maybe it was my fault that I got a bit lost 💁‍♀️

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a healthy distrust toward a certain brand of religious horror, specifically possession stories and those that paint a cosmic battle between heaven and Hell. The Conjuring, The Omen, Supernatural: all of these come a little too close to the actual beliefs of certain evangelical Christians who speak unironically of “Spiritual Warfare,” believe in a demon-haunted world, and see Satan as some mustache twirling villain who must be vanquished by Holy Fire. These stories can feel like the desperate fantasies of people who wish the world would just hurry up and end already.

The Exorcist, the demonic possession book par excellence, gets a pass purely by way of ambiguity, and in the end, that book is less about demonic possession than it is about the nature of belief. It refuses the smug assuredness of so much of its genre.

And at the other end of the spectrum are so many stories that I adore. In Michael Tolkin’s 1991 film, The Rapture, Mimi Rogers’ Sharon discovers that the biblical story of a cosmic battle is all true, right down to Revelation, and when she is offered her place at God’s side, she heroically refuses. A god that would play that particular game is simply not worthy of her worship. Or consider Garth Ennis’ Preacher. When the protagonist, Jesse Custer, is filled with a divine spirit, he decides the thing to do with his newfound power is to find God and kill Him.

These stories use the framework of this spiritual warfare to comment upon it, to investigate its assumptions. It also recognizes that true horror might just be waking up in the world imagined by certain brands of American Evangelical Christianity.

Hailey Piper’s Cruel Angels Past Sundown (Death’s Head Press) is a splatter western that, theologically speaking, would sit very comfortably in this latter group.

In the opening pages, Annette Klein looks up to see a naked, hugely pregnant woman wandering out of the desert. She is unable to speak, dragging a civil war saber after her. She appears to be the epitome of vulnerability, but when she kills Annette’s husband and devours his inside with a long, inhuman tongue, that vulnerability appears to be a ruse.

It is not.

Piper’s deeply humanistic narrative recognizes that often, those who cause harm are victims themselves, and Saber (as Annetter calls her) appears to have been impregnated by the Holy Spirit and, against her will, she is about to bring about the Second Coming.

At least that’s the story according to Saber’s father, Balthazar Wilcox, a mad preacher with a rather unique reading of the gospels. Think Judge Holden crossed with Night of the Hunter’s Harry Powell. Balthazar brings his apparently deranged brand of Christianity into Slim’s Respite, a tavern that acts as sanctuary for those who might not quite fit the territory’s expectations. That is, it’s a rendezvous point for the small cast of gay and trans characters who populate the story.

Beyond anything else the book goes on to do, this invasion of the Respite by Wilcox’s fire and brimstone violence, along with the violent deadnaming of the people he finds there, is poignant and terrifying, but this story has just gotten started.

But there is another horror in that, at the end of the day, it appears that Balthazar might just be right.

Very little in the novel’s first half will prepare you for what’s in store, but to say it’s a kind of mashup of The Dark Tower and Dante’s Divine Comedy is no exaggeration.

Without spoiling anything, I will say that the climax, and Annette’s absolute refusal to play along with the heavenly machinations, is so human, so life-affirming, and driven by such righteous fury, that it might just be something wonderfully surprising.

I just might be holy.

[Todd Guerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started off absolutely loving this book...until I didn't. The writing style is great, though a little too heavy on uncommon words. The story is pretty good, but really falls apart by the end. What started off as a cool, interesting little horror tale turned into something a lot...more, and I'll just leave it at that so that I don't have to go check that little spoiler box. Plus, who really wants a story spoiled by a review, except for raving psychopaths, maybe. I don't write for THEM, I write for YOU. So, no spoilers. Character-wise, Hailey Piper has created some real, well, characters that felt alive and real from the get go. I cared about these characters, wanted to see them live, and that's a pretty big feat to pull off in a sub-200 page book. Nothing felt rushed. Which, hilariously, is also what I didn't like about it.

FUN FACT INTERLUDE: if you took a shot every time dust motes were mentioned, you'd be dead by the end of the book. So, don't do that.

What do I mean by "didn't feel rushed"? Well, at some point I found myself thinking "self, this book sure seems like it's approaching a logical conclusion, how is she going to stretch this over 60 pages?" Turns out, the answer was: "Well, self, it's going to go to some weird, drawn out ending that you didn't see coming, but not in a good way." What didn't I like about it? I can't quite put my finger on it, just something about it takes a hard left turn into almost a completely different book didn't really do it for me. I found myself finishing the book just to finish it, but that last 50 pages or so were kind of a slog.

I'm a huge Clive Barker fan, so I did dig that some of the writing and story almost felt like he wrote it. Some of the more grotesque aspects wouldn't feel out of place in one of his books, in fact I wouldn't have been surprised if the evil priest had taken a short break halfway through to go jerk off onto some turds to make little evil semen-poop monsters (IYKYK).

Overall: liked it, didn't love it, would recommend it but with the asterisk that the ending kind of sucks, wouldn't mind checking out more of Hailey Piper's work.

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hailey Piper playing in the Western genre felt like a fever dream. Her writing is languid and, especially for the first chapter, very dreamlike. If you are looking for the normal action of a western you might find this lacking. But if you’re looking for something that takes traditional western characters, such as the meek housewife, the saloon owner, the bounty hunter/gunslinger, etc., and turns them on their heads while still being faithful to the atmosphere and impression of a western, all while adding cosmic/supernatural/spiritual horror with huge themes and questions about morality and godliness, well, you’re in for a treat. Great representation of various queer characters, whose queer identities are not the central aspect of the plot but are also not mere window-dressing, who (and how) they are intersects with the way they engage the antagonists. I thought the characters were really great, they felt genuine and both at place in the Old West while also complicated and relatable. The setting and world-building were pretty standard, I think Piper was intentionally keeping some things within the genre applecart just so she had more room to play elsewhere. The writing was strong and confident, not overly poetic or purple but also not brusque or abrupt, which might be tempting in a Western. It modulated in style to reflect the central protagonist’s experience in any given scene, which was a great way to pull the reader into the story. And the story itself was good, it flowed well and I felt gave equal parts action and reflection, mixing violence with moments of tenderness. There were some moments that dragged on a little, where the suffocating weight of the dreamlike experiences lasted a little longer than they needed to, but never so much to make me want to put the story down. This was a great exercise not only in western genre writing but a wonderful story all around, again using genre to ask meaningful questions about consent, the nature of love, and meaning.

(Rounded up from 3.5)

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've received the novel and read it on the following day. First of all I think this novels are very expensive for the material & pages they are printed on. They used to cost around 12€ but now you can only get it for over 16/17€. Last one had 100 pages. This one 170. At least the ones being released are a bit bigger. I know bigger doesn't make it right but I don't agree paying more for a novella length novel when the company receives the same money for a 300 pages like Triana's novels.

Then since I am complaining, let's me complain about the numbers the books had before on the spine and this two don't have. I know something happen with Death's Head Press since nowadays when I search it says dead sky publishing. Enfin it doesn't matter to me. What it matters is that the stuff changed.

Now for the novel it self. To be honest I didn't enjoy part of it. So from the start I couldn't connect with the characters. The main character Annette acted like a boring little girl. Gloria was really tough little character. In the beginning I was fearing for the characters being a horror splatterpunk novel but then the love appeared and I immediately thought, ok these two characters are not going to die and everything will be fine and alas...

These are histories set in America in the cowboy era (so around 1850/1890). At least all of them so far are. Then you take a notch, some part supernatural, some part fiction but there is some historic elements and such. Well I couldn't get the all love story. IT was weird as fuck. Thank the gods Frank died. So we could have a nice little love story.

Oh well... overall It was a weak story, with a cardboard Christian evil guy and boring characters that were more interesting in solving love stuff than to survive. At times it was confusing on what was happening.. enfin 3.5/10

But one thing I must credit is the way it was written. Really felt how cowboy talked.

[Les Simpson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Takes Itself Way Too Seriously

Well, there is plenty of splatter in this book but, unfortunately, not much western. Instead, it’s more of a gory exploration of free will versus divine decree, specifically in regard to a “male” god’s immaculate conception in an unwilling human female. In other words, did the Virgin Mary have any say in whether or not she would be mother to Christ?

While the author explores this theme with barely muted anger, there is really nothing thematic that makes this a “western”. It’s set in the American West of the late 19th century, but that setting contributes little to nothing in the flow of the story, no western tropes to add to exploring the theme through an American Western filter. There are a few noticeable western archetypes (the bounty hunter, the soiled dove, the saloon keeper), but they have been so deliberately subverted they would not be out of place in a modern or even sci-fi setting.

All that aside, for a story about a naked, saber-wielding woman, her indestructible, fanatic father, a haunted-but-tough-as-nails bisexual pioneer woman, her non-white English, bounty hunting lesbian lover, and a heavenly host of angels having an existential crisis, this story takes itself way too seriously. Unlike other novels in the Splatter Western series, there’s no underlying dark humor.

This is a missed opportunity because, in the absence of any “fun”, this book just feels very self important instead of entertaining.

[charm_city_sinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Angels Past Sundown, @haileypiperfights has produced a book that is unmistakenly hers, and also different than any other Splatter Western published by @deaths_head_press
and @deadskypub.

Rather than being overly heavy on the "splatter" or the "western" components, Piper's use of these ideas are more subtle, and they take a back seat to what is more of a cosmic/religious horror hybrid.

The way this story unfolds with a mysterious woman appearing at a farm, and then closely followed by a terrifying and seemingly otherworldly preacher is the stuff of nightmares, and unfolds in ways that I didn't expect. I can't talk too much about that without spoilers, but where the MC begins and ends this story is WILD. It's also worth noting that in the hands of the right producer or director, this book. Would make for an incredible film adaptation.

This is not your typical splatter western. I've read all of the ones published prior to this book, and will continue on with the series. So I think it's worth noting that particular point because this book isn't really representative of the series writ large. I've read and loved enough of Hailey's work to know I would love this as well. I don't read much in the way of conceptual cosmic horror, but the type of mind-fuckery that Hailey is capable of is top tier.

[Phrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠/5

I have like 4 books on my TBR from Hailey Piper , but I decided to pull the trigger on Cruel Angels Past Sundown. I signed up for a splatter-western. What I ended up with was a splatter-western, gritty characters I was invested in, a psycho preacher-man , bulletsssss, and things that made me stare off into space hours after finishing it. 🫥

This book had lots of blood-soaked action that is punched up by some deep situations and concepts that blended perfectly with the story. A perfect way to add complexity without being preachy or forced. This story had it all: ghastly apparitions, cannibals, your typical priest (hyuk), a Gatling gunnn, and then the whole last half I can’t even say who or what is involved because it would give it all away. Just know the last half is a crazy fever dream that made me secondhand anxious like how are we going to get out of this? Then I remembered I was just reading a story. It was a great ending, with a lot of seeds of thoughts planted in my already-overproducing thought farm. I was thoroughly impressed, a great addition to the splatter-western collection. Highly recommend this one!

[David Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you go into Cruel Angels Past Sundown with the notion you are going to be in famliar territory, you will find, as I did, that you need to slow down, backtrack a little, and reassess what you are reading. While set in the old west, this is a story that could have been told in a poor neighborhood of a city, or a small town in the 1950s. This is story about faith, and complicated relationships, passion and prophecy.

Neither the characters nor the religious backdrop are simple, and the way Piper interwines the flaws and the dreams of her protagonist, villain, and supporting cast is intriguing and requires some careful thought to grasp.

And yes, there is plenty of gore.. the wet, splattery kind. And a bull named Old Pete...

One of the more ambitious and interesting takes on the western genre I've encountered, and highly recommended.

[Wyrd Witch · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the viewpoint of a pretty experienced horror reader, the early 2020’s are becoming the Years of the Religious Horror Story. It’s not hard to see why. With each passing month, the religious right here in the United States, and most of the Western World, grows bolder in attempts at religious nationalism. For all the suffering, though, there comes more incredible art in response. Previous, glorious examples, in my mind, include Crom Cruach and Camp Damascus.

Now here comes booming indie sensation, Hailey Piper, with her own take on Biblical horror, Cruel Angels Past Sundown. And folks? This one deserves to go down as a masterpiece.

Read the rest of the review here.

[Ozsaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is 1882. Annette and her husband Frank live peacefully on a farm in New Mexico territory. From across the desert, Annette sees a naked and pregnant woman, dragging a cavalry saber. Trying to help the woman leads only to death for Frank, and a worse fate for Annette.

This book went in directions I didn't expect, and couldn't have imagined. I also didn't expect the depth, and the commentary on being a victim. Yes, a villain can be a victim, and in the end, who is really at fault? The answer in this book will surprise you.

The story is also about secrets, regret, the strength of the human spirit. Annette doesn't accept her fate, and fights until the very end, but she also accepts the mistakes she made, and the hurt she caused others, and tries to do better.

There's blood and gore, but also a lot of layers. And, as usual with Hailey Piper, the writing was gripping.

[Ben Amos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cruel Angels Past Sundown is my first foray into Splatter Western and I found it wasn't too bad all things considered. It had an intriguing premise, and covered some pretty dark subject matters, with what violence was here being brutal and gory. As much as I enjoyed its opening however, I found it kind of stalled a bit momentum wise in the middle, only kind of picking up in the end with the surreal dream-like setting, and some twists and revelations that drew me back in, keeping me going. I was impressed with how it all tied together, the ending adding in an unexpected biblical angle that worked well for the feminist themes running through it. I found, perhaps partly because of the shorter length, I couldn't get too attached to the characters, but what is here is serviceable for the story being told. Overall I had fun with it though, and I am looking forward to checking more out.

3/5

[Justin Moritz · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, just like every other Hailey Piper story, this novella thoroughly got under my skin, offering a sort of cosmic/religious/weird horror spin to the Wild West. Throughout the novella, we are left wondering if the antagonist’s supernatural pursuit is by the will of those in Heaven or something more sinister; however, I think that I struggled a bit with the novella’s pacing as I didn’t quite have time to connect with the characters, sort through the horrors they were experiencing, and ground myself in the story’s plot as a lot happens very, very quick. The romance in this novella also felt a tad shoehorned, though I love a little queer romance. After finishing, the question remains for me: would this have worked better as a full-length novel?

[Brooklyn Attic Books]

I'm not sure what I expected going into this book, but it definitely wasn’t this. While I enjoyed the mysterious, complex evil characters, I had a hard time connecting with the protagonist and her crew. The story itself is intricate, and I feel it might even deserve a re-read. However, as someone else mentioned, some parts of the book drone on with the religious rhetoric. While I understand it was an important component in building the story, it really does go on a bit too long at certain points. That said, it's a quick read. It strongly emphasizes feminine individuality, which I appreciate, but this was not what I had imagined going into a Splatter Western. It might have been a bit too heavy on the Christian themes for my taste.

[Anilea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small catalyst arrives in one uneventful evening that abruptly deforms the daily normality into a near endless grotesquery.

That’s how the novella stars, and what follow is even more unhinged and mind shattering than the next of many twists and turns through Annette’s journey into the night’s light.

In the wastelands , no one can hear you scream; and those who does, are busy clawing their way into any which way to safety; no matter how minimal the chances of safety let alone survival.

The agonies of Annette alone are unfortunate, but relatable, and to see her worst fears manifested into the doom that engulf her small town is torturous, but it show you how title of the novella hints at who truly pulls the strings of this terrible night.

A grotesque gothic western, a cosmic anti nihilist voyage and the embodiment of female rage and scorn against heaven in all it bloodied glory.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

so very different

This story is like a touch of Kill Bill. A bit of Hateful Eight. A heavy dose of Wynona Earp. It even reminds me a bit of Deathly Hollows. It also has shades of Legion. I am not saying this tale is derivative, oh no. This is an imaginative story, unlike anything else I have read. The movies mentioned above popped into my head as I pondered how to describe the story. This is such an interesting read!

[Cat Treadwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very glad to receive an early copy of this book. I'd seen the cover, and combined with my experiences of previous titles in the series, knew this would be something I'd love. The fact that I've somehow been on a Hailey Piper 'book bender' lately didn't hurt either.

As I try to come up with words to describe this, the best seems to be 'unexpected.' That cover reveals a lot, but tells nothing.

We start by following a strong frontier farmer's wife as she encounters some VERY strange strangers one dark night. Escaping to the nearest town on her loyal bull (see? unexpected), there is no Midnight Shootout as she rallies a brave posse. Instead, a rough band of allies have to batten down the hatches as those same strangers arrive and the blood begins to flow. And flow.

Our heroes are all in the local saloon: a couple of friendly frontier drunks, a bartender and the Ladies of the Night. There's some fascinating history as to what brought them there, but we quickly move into almost non-stop action, with the only pauses when the characters find a moment to catch their breath (and patch themselves up).

Oh, and a fabulous (black, British) lady gunslinger arrives. I'd so love to see how she's portrayed in the movie of this!

I could compare this to a Wild West slasher - except this is no group of teens. It's scared folk who know that no reinforcements are coming, and they have to survive for as long as they can.

There still manages to be love, primarily of the LGBT sort, which is beautifully and naturally portrayed. Every character is multi-dimensional with well-drawn backgrounds, and as they are taken down I was genuinely sad to see them go.

Two-thirds of the way through, I had absolutely no idea of what would happen next. And then...

Like I said: Unexpected.

Pick up this book. It's a great ride, with well-written heroes and oddly-sympathetic villains. I guaran-damn-tee you'll be left going 'WTF just happened?!' in the best way.

Movie now, please.

[Meredith Morgenstern · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Hailey Piper delivers on a book that's full of heart and gore. I wish I could read this book forever. HIGHLY recommend if you love:
*Splatter
*Westerns (I'm not a fan of westerns, but I love this book)
*The fantastical
*Religious horror (again, I'm not a fan, but this book pulls it off)
*Romance
*Pregnant women with swords

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very good story. Very unique and thought provoking for a title in the splatter western series. Why the three star rating? Well, it was missing the splatter part of it. Don't get me wrong. There are some violent scenes and some gore, but not more than you might find in a Stephen King book and no one is calling his work splatter.

Just be aware of that if you are a fan of the other books in this series.

[Adrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of the story was good, some cool killings and Annette is a good protagonist. However the writing was kinda confusing. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on or who it was happening too. There were too many metaphors, not enough information which made the 190 page story feel like a drag. Not for me so much.