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Skull Walker
Elias McCarty and his brothers are the scourge of Colorado. Bent on murder and robbery, they've cut a path of terror across the West. Ben Burnham is the deputy tasked with stopping them. Ben witnessed Elias McCarty get shot dead. But when Elias appears to have come back from the grave, Ben realizes he has a new set of problems on his hands. Desperate to stop Elias and his brothers, Ben forms an alliance with a pair of gunslinging sisters who have a vendetta of their own against the McCartys. Together they must find a way to kill Elias a second time.
120 pages, Paperback
Published December 11, 2021
5 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Izzo
55 books25 followersHello, my name is Anthony Izzo and I'm the author of over 40 horror, thriller, and fantasy titles.
I love to write, but when I'm not writing I enjoy spending time with my wife and kids, playing guitar, and drawing fantasy and horror art. I've been told my drawings are as twisted as my fiction, but I'm actually pretty normal. Well, mostly.
Looking forward to hearing from you and discussing books.
I love to write, but when I'm not writing I enjoy spending time with my wife and kids, playing guitar, and drawing fantasy and horror art. I've been told my drawings are as twisted as my fiction, but I'm actually pretty normal. Well, mostly.
Looking forward to hearing from you and discussing books.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 12, 2022
[2.5 stars] Indie writer Anthony Izzo’s Skull Walker is an enjoyably pulpy splatter-western novella that doesn’t do much unexpected with its tale of an undead outlaw, but certainly goes about its business with bloody gusto.
We travel back to 1876 Colorado, where the bandit McCarty brothers — named Billy and Clinton, though I’m unsure if there was any humorous intent there or not — are wreaking havoc among homesteaders around the little frontier town of Harlow. Not exactly the sharpest barbs on the fence, the boys have managed, with the aid of a snake oil salesman’s magic necklace, to resurrect their eldest brother Elias — shot down by Sheriff Greer — as a Skull Walker. Basically a leveled-up zombie, retaining his intelligence and meanness while adding near indestructibility and super-strength, Elias now leads his hapless no-account brothers on a new reign of terror. The goal is to lure Sheriff Greer out so Elias can exact his revenge.
Izzo makes it clear his intended audience for all this are the gorehounds, who will derive much amusement from lovingly detailed descriptions of men getting their heads blown off. Izzo’s writing is basic, without pretentions to style, but it’s tidy, and shows he has well absorbed his pulp influences, where the point is just to get to the point. A good editor might have helped him buff out rough edges in his prose, but that’s indie publishing for you.
The story gains interest halfway through with the addition to the cast of Ella and Isabel Duncan, young women orphaned as children. They have their own vendetta against the McCartys to settle, and they join reluctant deputy Ben Burnham in tracking down the killers. Meanwhile, Elias is feeling “called” to a region of the countryside where it seems other Skull Walkers like himself await. I liked the notion that this tale is set in an alternate American frontier where all kinds of cryptids are just out there.
If only Izzo had done more actual character work than we get. We end up liking Ben and especially Ella and Isabel well enough that the climactic showdown feels inexplicably rushed, and the denouement in particular feels carelessly dashed off. It would have been nice to have a little more quality time with the sisters, before waving as they ride off into the sunset, in search of more monsters to slay.
We travel back to 1876 Colorado, where the bandit McCarty brothers — named Billy and Clinton, though I’m unsure if there was any humorous intent there or not — are wreaking havoc among homesteaders around the little frontier town of Harlow. Not exactly the sharpest barbs on the fence, the boys have managed, with the aid of a snake oil salesman’s magic necklace, to resurrect their eldest brother Elias — shot down by Sheriff Greer — as a Skull Walker. Basically a leveled-up zombie, retaining his intelligence and meanness while adding near indestructibility and super-strength, Elias now leads his hapless no-account brothers on a new reign of terror. The goal is to lure Sheriff Greer out so Elias can exact his revenge.
Izzo makes it clear his intended audience for all this are the gorehounds, who will derive much amusement from lovingly detailed descriptions of men getting their heads blown off. Izzo’s writing is basic, without pretentions to style, but it’s tidy, and shows he has well absorbed his pulp influences, where the point is just to get to the point. A good editor might have helped him buff out rough edges in his prose, but that’s indie publishing for you.
The story gains interest halfway through with the addition to the cast of Ella and Isabel Duncan, young women orphaned as children. They have their own vendetta against the McCartys to settle, and they join reluctant deputy Ben Burnham in tracking down the killers. Meanwhile, Elias is feeling “called” to a region of the countryside where it seems other Skull Walkers like himself await. I liked the notion that this tale is set in an alternate American frontier where all kinds of cryptids are just out there.
If only Izzo had done more actual character work than we get. We end up liking Ben and especially Ella and Isabel well enough that the climactic showdown feels inexplicably rushed, and the denouement in particular feels carelessly dashed off. It would have been nice to have a little more quality time with the sisters, before waving as they ride off into the sunset, in search of more monsters to slay.
Displaying 1 of 1 review