Hell's Cargo

by Michelle Garza, Melissa Lason

Religion, attraction, and possession collide in the wild and splatter-y west as a pair of young lovers balance their feelings for one another against their deep calling to serve their faith. Eve wants to be a nun, and Peter a priest, but is their attraction for one another stronger than the call to serve? Eve becomes possessed by a demon and this sets off a trail of murder, sex, and fire across Texas, and Arizona as the couple head to California for an exorcism. Dusty western towns, sunbaked mountains, and forgotten cemeteries prove to be the perfect places for the devil to hide.

Genres: Horror

274 pages, Paperback

Published August 13, 2024

Reviews

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn’t hit the mark for me. I thought the conceit for the story was great, and the plotting itself was well done. The are a number of extraneous storylines that intersect with the main plot and I found all of those intersections exciting, though they were al set up in somewhat ham-fisted ways—it would have been nice to see them developed earlier on in the story, because coming in as late as they did it was clear they were just setting up some sort of action set-piece for the main storyline. The primary characters were interesting enough but somewhat shallow, and even given the circumstances their actions often made no sense. However, it was the writing, especially the dialogue, that sunk this one for me. This is a very dialogue heavy story, and none of it sounds convincing. It doesn’t even sound like a bad attempt at mid-19th century/old west dialogue, it just sounds awkward and stilted. In addition it felt like there often wasn’t any sense of transition, things just happened when it was convenient for the plot but it often just felt jarring and haphazard.

I enjoyed _Resurrection Hill,_ the splatter western one-shot comic written by the same writing team, and I also really liked the concept for this one, the battle of inner and outer demons and so forth, but it left me pretty disappointed. I am a Splatter Western completist so I am glad I read it, but it isn’t the strongest entry in the series.

[John Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throat ripping, blood drinking fun from two authors that know how to splatter a fantastic story. Michelle and Melissa both know their way around a story and they write at a fast paced, relentless pace. This story of forbidden love and a very vicious demonic presence will keep you on your toes until the last page. Highly recommended.

[Mandi Cloete · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 rounded up

I really enjoyed this one. It had its flaws, but I love western settings, and I found the concept really intriguing. The ending also worked really well for me.

Pete aspires to become a priest, and Eve a nun. (They are secretly a little in love) Then a demon from Pete's past possesses Eve and Pete has to travel with her to California to seek help from the priest who once before tried to help him cast this demon back to hell.

[zackary ratliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn good western

This a damn good western and a damn.good horror story. Its a tale of forbidden love a.quest for redemption and the.true.horror and degradation.of demonic possession for both the possessed and.those around them. Overall its a terrific story

[Payge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rambling and pretty obvious. Kind of disappointed honestly- this was a cool premise, just not executed very well.

[Megan McCarthy-Biank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garza and Lason set the tone immediately in Hell’s Cargo. The story is well-paced, suspenseful, action-packed, and arguably frightening. The authors offer insight and commentary on inner demons vs. outer demons with how characters pledged to serve their faith fall into temptation. Readers will learn early on not to hold hope for anyone our unfortunate characters come across.

I became invested in their journey and their tragic circumstances, on the edge of my seat and holding on to the tiniest bit of hope that they would succeed in their mission. While some characters along the way are important to the journey, their significance is confusing at first. This is ultimately the demon’s story, and the other characters are just unfortunate pawns to do its bidding. This left much to be desired in terms of character depth and transitions between scenes. Even so, I got sucked in to the very end, eager to see how it would play out. Readers who enjoy the horror genre should check this one out.

In-depth book review: https://cantinabookclub.com/review/he...