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And the Hills Opened Up
And the Hills Opened Up Paperback DavidOppegaard DavidOppegaard
- GenresHorror
278 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2014
10 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
David Oppegaard
14 books116 followersDavid Oppegaard is the author of Claw Heart Mountain (CamCat Books 2023), The Town Built on Sorrow, The Firebug of Balrog County (MN Book Award finalist), The Suicide Collectors (Bram Stoker finalist), Wormwood, Nevada, And the Hills Opened Up, The Ragged Mountains, and the novella Breakneck Cove.
David’s work is a blend of horror, literary fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy. He holds an M.F.A. in Writing from Hamline University and a B.A. in English from St. Olaf College. He lives in St. Paul, MN with his wife and their ravenous cat.
His author website/blog is www.davidoppegaard.com
David’s work is a blend of horror, literary fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy. He holds an M.F.A. in Writing from Hamline University and a B.A. in English from St. Olaf College. He lives in St. Paul, MN with his wife and their ravenous cat.
His author website/blog is www.davidoppegaard.com
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 9, 2015
Great Weird Western. It's not going to revolutionize the genre- in many ways it's a throwback to the classic Louis L'Amour style disposable pulp Manly Men western- but with a demon! Or monster! Or whatever the Charred Man is! Despite how long it took me to read it's actually a quick read- I kept avoiding it because every time I picked it up to read a chapter, i'd get engrossed and end up being late for whatever I had to do next! I'd definitely read more by David Oppegaard.
July 25, 2014
Disclosure: I know the author.
With that out the way, I really liked this book, particularly how it blends the stark, morality-tale type western with horror elements. At first it was a bit slow for me, and the characters felt took stock. But when things turned weird, the story really got some legs. Just the right doses of description are meted our when needed, without bogging us down. Bonus points for the use of the word "char". The pacing was excellent, a hard thing to pull off correctly. I feel the pacing should always pick up near the end, giving that thrilling sense of urgency. The ending was very satisfying to me.
In some ways, this reminded me of a screenplay with its stark prose. I could see it as a movie easily enough.
I highly recommend.
With that out the way, I really liked this book, particularly how it blends the stark, morality-tale type western with horror elements. At first it was a bit slow for me, and the characters felt took stock. But when things turned weird, the story really got some legs. Just the right doses of description are meted our when needed, without bogging us down. Bonus points for the use of the word "char". The pacing was excellent, a hard thing to pull off correctly. I feel the pacing should always pick up near the end, giving that thrilling sense of urgency. The ending was very satisfying to me.
In some ways, this reminded me of a screenplay with its stark prose. I could see it as a movie easily enough.
I highly recommend.
November 26, 2018
One of my favorite sub-genres of horror fiction is the weird western. Something about the western environment and time period makes for the perfect monster story. David Oppogaard fits in well with other good authors in this specialty such as S. Craig Zahler and Colin Winnette. And The Hills Opened Up is set in a small mining village in the town of Red Earth, Wyoming. Everything seems under control, but one day the demolition team goes a little overboard with their dynamite unleashing a demon from under the mountain. There is a great cast of characters including the town sheriff, mining employees, local prostitutes, a priest, and a group of outlaws who have just arrived in town to rob the mine's payroll are forced to face the demon and each other. The monster (or demon) is a creative creature that is powerful and unleashes some serious death and destruction. I don't want to give too many details on it in a review.
Oppogaard keeps it interesting and there is no shortage of violence that is for sure. This is my first book by the writer which I picked up simply because it was a weird western. I will definitely check out some more of the author's work in the future. If you do like horror western books or even movies like Bone Tomahawk or From Dusk to Dawn then I would suggest And The Hills Opened Up for your repertoire.
Oppogaard keeps it interesting and there is no shortage of violence that is for sure. This is my first book by the writer which I picked up simply because it was a weird western. I will definitely check out some more of the author's work in the future. If you do like horror western books or even movies like Bone Tomahawk or From Dusk to Dawn then I would suggest And The Hills Opened Up for your repertoire.
October 1, 2014
And the Hills Opened up is a horror novel set in the small mining town of Red Earth, Wyoming in 1890. From the first scene, David Oppegaard propels the reader into a quiet tension. The story opens on a hot July day with Hank Chambers—a foreman sweating through a summer fever—giving a headcount of his men before they set fire to the dynamite that would blast open the hills, unearthing much more than copper ore. There is something very unsettling about this opening scene: the sweat in Chambers’s eyes (a cringe-worthy, recurring detail), his uncertainty over the headcount of his filthy crew, the crow that flies overhead, the way the earth shakes once the mine is blown, and the way the black smoke curls upwards from the depths, darker and thicker than usual. And it’s in these tiny details that Oppegaard builds this sense of dread, and he does it without revealing anything too soon. He only hints at something being awakened, something so unexpected and so terrifying that Chambers “felt a heaviness resting on his shoulders, like the hills themselves were pushing down on him”—a delicate foreshadowing of the hell that is to come.
Oppegaard paints a simple yet vivid backdrop for his tale: the town of Red Earth survives on salaries paid by the Dennison Mining Company, a monopolistic entity owned by the absent character of Mr. Dennison—a man who wants things done his way, a rich man’s way. Despite his elusiveness, Dennison’s presence is felt, particularly in the people working for him, like the villainous overseer of the town’s payroll, Revis Cooke, a pompous creep who lives in a limestone-walled mansion that stands out from the small church, hotel, scattered shacks and cabins in town. The miners are overworked and paid poorly, spending most of their money and off-time drinking and sleeping with the prostitutes at the Runoff Saloon. These are the inner workings of the town and Oppegaard, patiently, makes it real for us. He takes what could be a clichéd western with one-dimensional characters—a sickly foreman, a young and inexperienced sheriff, a widowed whore, a gang of outlaws, a priest with impure thoughts—and amplifies all of it with a unique perspective, a completely twisted one.
There are a lot of characters in this novel, but the prominent ones are developed thoroughly. The main characters are given individual storylines, which eventually connect together, seamlessly, contributing to the larger story arc. Through light brush strokes of physical description and back story, Oppegaard gives his characters the attention they deserve. He brings them to life. He humanizes them, makes us believe in their story. It’s all necessary given the world Oppegaard has created, and the absolute devastation he eventually hurls us into. Impressively, Oppegaard is able to establish that feeling/connection readers have with characters without dragging out the main story. It’s that connection that heightens the destruction of the events that follow.
The events that follow are nothing short of epic and horrific; the violence escalates as we are introduced to the larger villain of the story: “The Charred Man.” He’s a skeletal figure with claw-like fingers and blackened skin, like he had been burned and buried alive, deep in the mountains. Within the dark tunneled mine, The Charred Man is first discovered by one unsuspecting mineworker. Equipped with no more than a single lit candle, the miner has only enough time to notice the lack of light in the burned man’s eyes before his throat is ripped out. But there are several monsters in this story: The Dennison Mining Co. and Cooke are symbols of moral decay and greed, while the Charred Man appears as a kind of “demon” or evil unlike anything living, a form of punishment for a small town living in sin (or perhaps he was just looking to harvest some new skin.)
What makes this western/horror successful is Oppegaard’s prose. It’s minimal, but written such precision of language and detail. The dialogue is on point. And who knew gore could be written so beautifully:
“It defied physics and good sense, but the tunnel packed with the bodies of the dead and maimed did not collapse as Hank Chambers climbed across its sloppy floor, which was actually less a surface and more a constantly shifting mass of knees, elbows, and anguished faces he did not want to look upon…He did not know if it was the smell, the wetness, or his fever, but he felt his mind loosening as he slipped forward, its grinding cogs reverting to some ancient form of thought, his body an eel among eels. His only focus was the light in his hand, which must not go out, which must not go out, which must not go out no matter what else might happen. Chambers had spent much of his life edging darkness and he would not submit to it now, even if this was his final hour.”
Oppegaard doesn’t tie a neat bow on this ending; there is an uneasy sense of relief, as if some great question is left unanswered. Who or what is the Charred Man and why is he here? Is the Dennison Mining Co. to blame for blasting too deep, or is it more complex than that? I feel like Oppegaard doesn’t need to explain anything, it would only take away from the experience. And the Hills Opened Up gives the reader exactly what they came for: a thrilling, real-time experience. This novel is so visually stunning, so utterly gruesome, and so perfectly paced, that it truly feels as if you are just another resident of Red Earth. And after closing the book, it will feel as if you were the only one who made it out alive.
Oppegaard paints a simple yet vivid backdrop for his tale: the town of Red Earth survives on salaries paid by the Dennison Mining Company, a monopolistic entity owned by the absent character of Mr. Dennison—a man who wants things done his way, a rich man’s way. Despite his elusiveness, Dennison’s presence is felt, particularly in the people working for him, like the villainous overseer of the town’s payroll, Revis Cooke, a pompous creep who lives in a limestone-walled mansion that stands out from the small church, hotel, scattered shacks and cabins in town. The miners are overworked and paid poorly, spending most of their money and off-time drinking and sleeping with the prostitutes at the Runoff Saloon. These are the inner workings of the town and Oppegaard, patiently, makes it real for us. He takes what could be a clichéd western with one-dimensional characters—a sickly foreman, a young and inexperienced sheriff, a widowed whore, a gang of outlaws, a priest with impure thoughts—and amplifies all of it with a unique perspective, a completely twisted one.
There are a lot of characters in this novel, but the prominent ones are developed thoroughly. The main characters are given individual storylines, which eventually connect together, seamlessly, contributing to the larger story arc. Through light brush strokes of physical description and back story, Oppegaard gives his characters the attention they deserve. He brings them to life. He humanizes them, makes us believe in their story. It’s all necessary given the world Oppegaard has created, and the absolute devastation he eventually hurls us into. Impressively, Oppegaard is able to establish that feeling/connection readers have with characters without dragging out the main story. It’s that connection that heightens the destruction of the events that follow.
The events that follow are nothing short of epic and horrific; the violence escalates as we are introduced to the larger villain of the story: “The Charred Man.” He’s a skeletal figure with claw-like fingers and blackened skin, like he had been burned and buried alive, deep in the mountains. Within the dark tunneled mine, The Charred Man is first discovered by one unsuspecting mineworker. Equipped with no more than a single lit candle, the miner has only enough time to notice the lack of light in the burned man’s eyes before his throat is ripped out. But there are several monsters in this story: The Dennison Mining Co. and Cooke are symbols of moral decay and greed, while the Charred Man appears as a kind of “demon” or evil unlike anything living, a form of punishment for a small town living in sin (or perhaps he was just looking to harvest some new skin.)
What makes this western/horror successful is Oppegaard’s prose. It’s minimal, but written such precision of language and detail. The dialogue is on point. And who knew gore could be written so beautifully:
“It defied physics and good sense, but the tunnel packed with the bodies of the dead and maimed did not collapse as Hank Chambers climbed across its sloppy floor, which was actually less a surface and more a constantly shifting mass of knees, elbows, and anguished faces he did not want to look upon…He did not know if it was the smell, the wetness, or his fever, but he felt his mind loosening as he slipped forward, its grinding cogs reverting to some ancient form of thought, his body an eel among eels. His only focus was the light in his hand, which must not go out, which must not go out, which must not go out no matter what else might happen. Chambers had spent much of his life edging darkness and he would not submit to it now, even if this was his final hour.”
Oppegaard doesn’t tie a neat bow on this ending; there is an uneasy sense of relief, as if some great question is left unanswered. Who or what is the Charred Man and why is he here? Is the Dennison Mining Co. to blame for blasting too deep, or is it more complex than that? I feel like Oppegaard doesn’t need to explain anything, it would only take away from the experience. And the Hills Opened Up gives the reader exactly what they came for: a thrilling, real-time experience. This novel is so visually stunning, so utterly gruesome, and so perfectly paced, that it truly feels as if you are just another resident of Red Earth. And after closing the book, it will feel as if you were the only one who made it out alive.
September 24, 2019
I LOVED the beginning and middle of this book. It was well paced, fun, dark, you got to know the character well, and I couldn't wait to finish it up and see what was going to happen. The end however, didn't quite deliver. They never really explained what was going on or why. And the ending just felt rushed, easy. Like they were trying to get the last few chapters over with. I think a lot of authors have an ending in mind and build a world around that ending. It felt like this author had a really great beginning in mind and wasn't sure how to end it properly.
August 10, 2018
A funky little mixture of pulp western and pulp horror. A group of miners in 19th century Wyoming dig too deep and uncover a demon they call the Charred Man. What follows is violence. You don’t expect eloquence out of pulp but everything here is just a little too flat, the characters not developed, the violence not too wild, the horror not too horrifying.
November 14, 2021
It was an ok read.
It was an ok book. The creature is called the Charred Man and all I kept picturing was the Charred Man from bettlejuice. Makes the story not creepy at all when you keep picturing him. 😂😂😂
It was an ok book. The creature is called the Charred Man and all I kept picturing was the Charred Man from bettlejuice. Makes the story not creepy at all when you keep picturing him. 😂😂😂
February 20, 2020
St. Paul author David Oppegaard swings for the fences with this hybrid horror story - and he connects, creating a unique and unsettling thriller. Well-crafted and tightly written. It’s a page-turner.
September 11, 2015
"He wanted to shout them into the sky and have them taken by the wind. He wanted to be rid of their names and faces, the memory of their touch and he understood that his love for them was like a curse, a great eternal curse as strong and wicked as anything a demon could devise"
It's the middle of the summer in Red Earth, Wyoming when miners blasted deeper into their copper mine. Little do they know, they unearthed a demon from within the mines and proceeded to kill everything in it's path. At the same time the citizens of the town bands together as they try to stop the demon from killing everyone in town.
I picked up this book thinking it would be a fun campy horror book that would have some similar tone as the 1990 movie Tremors. Though the premise is almost the same where replace the monster with a humanoid demon referred to as The Charred Man. The novel is darker in tone, it is gory and it is non caring in a way that children, women and infant are killed in a violent and graphic way. So if you're fun of gore, guts and blood then this might be the book for you.
Unfortunately that's the best the book has got to offer. The characters are unlikable, there's no one I wanted to root for, in the end I found myself rooting for the demon as everyone is selfish or are making illogical decisions. The women in the book are mostly whores or helpless housewives, the novel has no strong female character at all. Fortunately the book is only under 300 pages as it was quite difficult to keep up to it. Especially at the end where I felt like it dragged on for too long.
The pacing was also another problem as the book started out slow and it took a while to get to the second act. The second act did pick up, which is probably the best part of the book but only to be slowed down by the third act.
All in all, And the Hills Opened Up, had a lot of potential specially with it's simple premise. It could've been fun and terrifying at the same time. However it's dull characters and irregular pacing prevented me from liking at what could have been a great book.
It's the middle of the summer in Red Earth, Wyoming when miners blasted deeper into their copper mine. Little do they know, they unearthed a demon from within the mines and proceeded to kill everything in it's path. At the same time the citizens of the town bands together as they try to stop the demon from killing everyone in town.
I picked up this book thinking it would be a fun campy horror book that would have some similar tone as the 1990 movie Tremors. Though the premise is almost the same where replace the monster with a humanoid demon referred to as The Charred Man. The novel is darker in tone, it is gory and it is non caring in a way that children, women and infant are killed in a violent and graphic way. So if you're fun of gore, guts and blood then this might be the book for you.
Unfortunately that's the best the book has got to offer. The characters are unlikable, there's no one I wanted to root for, in the end I found myself rooting for the demon as everyone is selfish or are making illogical decisions. The women in the book are mostly whores or helpless housewives, the novel has no strong female character at all. Fortunately the book is only under 300 pages as it was quite difficult to keep up to it. Especially at the end where I felt like it dragged on for too long.
The pacing was also another problem as the book started out slow and it took a while to get to the second act. The second act did pick up, which is probably the best part of the book but only to be slowed down by the third act.
All in all, And the Hills Opened Up, had a lot of potential specially with it's simple premise. It could've been fun and terrifying at the same time. However it's dull characters and irregular pacing prevented me from liking at what could have been a great book.
December 23, 2014
Red Earth, Wyoming has a copper mine, an eager young sheriff, and four outlaws, led by Elwood Hayes, planning to rob the mining company’s payroll from weasely mine accountant, Revis Cooke. Red Earth also has a monster lurking in its mine, an indestructible Charred Man, who kills with impunity and regrows his flesh, inch by inch, with each murder. Everyone’s best laid plans go awry when the Charred Man is unearthed and goes on a rampage.
That was basically it, a monster in a Western, like Cowboys and Aliens and also Oppegaard’s Wormwood, Nevada. No particular reason for the Charred Man’s existence, and he didn’t seem to symbolize anything, except perhaps to be a play on today’s Burning Man festival. The Charred Man was just something to shoot at, and run from, and to kill off folks who did and didn’t deserve it. But Oppegaard presented enough sympathetic relationships—between the sheriff and his family, Hayes and the good-hearted prostitute, the town preacher and God—to keep me turning pages to find out who would live and who wouldn’t, and if they’d figure out some way to stop ol’ Charred.
The ending in Hills was a downer that didn’t really tie up anything, plot-wise, but by the time I got there I’d enjoyed 250 pages of monsters and shootouts. Far from great, but it wasn’t supposed to be. It was supposed to be escapist fun, and there’s nothing wrong with a book like that.
That was basically it, a monster in a Western, like Cowboys and Aliens and also Oppegaard’s Wormwood, Nevada. No particular reason for the Charred Man’s existence, and he didn’t seem to symbolize anything, except perhaps to be a play on today’s Burning Man festival. The Charred Man was just something to shoot at, and run from, and to kill off folks who did and didn’t deserve it. But Oppegaard presented enough sympathetic relationships—between the sheriff and his family, Hayes and the good-hearted prostitute, the town preacher and God—to keep me turning pages to find out who would live and who wouldn’t, and if they’d figure out some way to stop ol’ Charred.
The ending in Hills was a downer that didn’t really tie up anything, plot-wise, but by the time I got there I’d enjoyed 250 pages of monsters and shootouts. Far from great, but it wasn’t supposed to be. It was supposed to be escapist fun, and there’s nothing wrong with a book like that.
December 17, 2014
Spoilers lie ahead.
EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK DIES.
I take that back. There is one survivor, who actually has nothing to do with the mayhem that bathes the book in rivers of blood, but he's almost a footnote to the story.
The story reminded me of something, but I don't exactly recall. The setting is the small mining town of Red Earth, Wyoming. The miners blast open a new section of the mountain, and something evil is unearthed. That something becomes known as The Charred Man, but his origins are never explained. The Charred man deigns to tell his story to one of the main characters, but this is done offstage and the character never reveals all that he learned, and eventually kills himself.
I said at first that everyone dies, and they do, in almost every way one could imagine in a western town of 1890. People are shot, stabbed, beaten to death, have their throats torn out (lots of those before the killer upgrades to a straight razor).
I wish I could recommend this book, but it's more of a "read at your own peril" review.
EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK DIES.
I take that back. There is one survivor, who actually has nothing to do with the mayhem that bathes the book in rivers of blood, but he's almost a footnote to the story.
The story reminded me of something, but I don't exactly recall. The setting is the small mining town of Red Earth, Wyoming. The miners blast open a new section of the mountain, and something evil is unearthed. That something becomes known as The Charred Man, but his origins are never explained. The Charred man deigns to tell his story to one of the main characters, but this is done offstage and the character never reveals all that he learned, and eventually kills himself.
I said at first that everyone dies, and they do, in almost every way one could imagine in a western town of 1890. People are shot, stabbed, beaten to death, have their throats torn out (lots of those before the killer upgrades to a straight razor).
I wish I could recommend this book, but it's more of a "read at your own peril" review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2014
Western Horror Tale
On one hand, a story about a rough and tumble mining camp with bad guys riding into town looking to pull a job. Things go bad, like they do in saloons where the whiskey and beer literally are the root of trouble. Throw in a sheriff and the town shores, we got ourselves a good old oater
But then it's a horror story too. The miners unleash a demon!
Lots and lots of dead bodies, whores, bad guys, miners, this one has it all.
On one hand, a story about a rough and tumble mining camp with bad guys riding into town looking to pull a job. Things go bad, like they do in saloons where the whiskey and beer literally are the root of trouble. Throw in a sheriff and the town shores, we got ourselves a good old oater
But then it's a horror story too. The miners unleash a demon!
Lots and lots of dead bodies, whores, bad guys, miners, this one has it all.
February 17, 2015
This is how you do horror. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book. It reads like a B-horror movie, but a good one where people make smart decisions (for the most part anyway). I'm not sure how I feel about what the creature was and
July 30, 2014
Lots of pulpy goodness in this one. A little horror, a few cowboys, I thought I has it figured out early on, but once the blood started flying, I was surprised at every turn. Both fresh and comforting in its mixing of genres.
August 1, 2015
This is my favorite book in the dark old western genre. The language is amazing. I have been following this author's progress for the last 17 years. This is by far his best work. I think he really found his voice in this novel. Excellent book.
May 20, 2015
I really like this author. This books lived up to my expectations. The setting and horror mix were perfect. This a book to recommend.
May 27, 2014
A little bit Lansdale, a little bit Bradbury, a little bit western, a little bit weird. Spoiler: Nobody gets out of here alive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2015
Great combination of horror and western. It reads like a delightfully campy B-movie in the vein of Tremors or From Duck Till Dawn.
October 11, 2015
Surprisingly good
Really enjoyed this book. Great character development. Good pacing and crisp writing. Never heard of this writer but will check out his other work.
Really enjoyed this book. Great character development. Good pacing and crisp writing. Never heard of this writer but will check out his other work.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews