Note: The author sent me an ARC of this book for an honest review.
The Crowman is a superbly written, dark western.
“The Crowman comes, and the Crowman goes
Nobody knows what the Crowman knows
Tie up his feet and chop off his nose,
How many times has the Crowman rose?
One, two, three.”
“The Crowman reaps what the farmer sows,
Where does he come from? Nobody knows
The Crowman comes when the daytime goes,
How many times has the Crowman rose?
One, two, three…”
I rotated the barrel of the two-shot, locking the second round into place with a click.
The thing laughed at me. “Too late. You’ve shown your hand. Goodbye, Cheveyo.”
As I pulled the trigger, the creature exploded, an inky stream leaping into the air. It swirled then burst into cawing crows, hundreds of them, streaming into the night sky and disappearing, lost in the darkness.
The Crowman is about Santiago Cheveyo a reluctant monster hunter who tries to rid the small town of Providence from the grip of an evil curse. After a man is butchered, the first night of his arrival Chev unravels the mysteries of a quiet frontier town. Aided by the beautiful gambler Ruby, they quickly discover nothing is ever as it seems.
Gareth Clegg writes a fantastic story that seamlessly adds undead monsters into the wild west. The Crowman is a gripping, action-packed novella that reads like a Louies L’Amoure novel. Well, if he would have written dark fantasy. A great first edition into a planned lengthy series of speculative westerns.