This was a great "creature feature" western horror story!

A small backstory:

U.S. Deputy Marshal Joe Longtree has been sent out to Wolf Creek in the Montana territory by the U.S. Marshals office to investigate a series of murders that no one seems to know "what" or "who" is killing people. Rumors have reached the Marshals office that it could be just wild animals, but the rumors are sketchy so with everything being up in the air and no one being sure what is going on, Longtree goes out there to see if he can dig up clues.

Once Longtree gets out there he comes up against some resistance from not only the townspeople but especially from Sheriff Lauters who doesn't want any outside help with the murders in his jurisdiction and is violent toward a deputy marshal stepping on his toes.

Longtree learns that a Blackfoot indian had been hung and the murders seemed to start not too long after that happened which leads Longtree to think that someone is on a revenge hunt for the men that hung the indian, but what Longtree finds out with his deep investigation is so much worse than just a "someone" on a revenge hunt as it seems "something" has been conjured straight out of hell to deal with the culprits that killed the indian.

Thoughts:

This was my first time reading this author and what an entertaining ride it was into the deep recesses of the wild west. I normally don't read westerns but I will read that genre if it is entrenched deep with horror elements.

I became caught up with the investigation of what the character Longtree has to go through to find out what was going on as there is quite a bit of suspense and mystery surrounding what is really committing the murders.

The pace of the story is about medium as there is some world building in the beginning of the book with the character Longtree getting settled into the town and trying to gather information from the townspeople. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, but nothing that slows the pace of the story as everyone is just weaved smoothly into the storyline. Will be looking forward to reading more by this author. Giving this book five "Creepy Creature Feature" stars.

Note: I do have a warning though for this book as there is graphic gore content within along with descriptive animal mutilations' within this story. So for those of you that do not like to see animals hurt then this warning is for you.


For more thoughts on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/2021/10/skull-moon-by-tim-curran.html ( )

This is the second book by Curran I read, and weirdly enough they are both horror stories set in a wild west environment. I never heard of Curran before, and I definetly never would have thought that I could be even vaguely interested in Western.

Because of that I went into reading these books without much expectation at all; honestly, I picked up his book [b:Skin Medicine|6669316|Skin Medicine|Tim Curran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348546460s/6669316.jpg|6864241] from a Riffle sale for 99 cents as an impulse buy after reading the summary. I loved it, and I also loved the setting, so I found [b:Skull Moon|988786|Skull Moon|Tim Curran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1180029998s/988786.jpg|974279] also on sale and decided to pick it up.

This is what you can expect:

Western setting - check [x]
Good story - check [x]
Believable characters - check [x]
Creepy premise - check [x]
Brutal settings full of gore and lots of splattered organs - check [x]
Believable historic setting - check [x]
A little non-cringe-worthy romance - check [x]
Ancient Native American (fictional) Mythology - check [x]


As I said, I never would have thought that I might have enjoyed it even slightly as much as I did - if you are undecided about it, give it a try. It may turn out to surprise you in unexpected ways.

This is the second book by Curran I read, and weirdly enough they are both horror stories set in a wild west environment. I never heard of Curran before, and I definetly never would have thought that I could be even vaguely interested in Western.

Because of that I went into reading these books without much expectation at all; honestly, I picked up his book [b:Skin Medicine|6669316|Skin Medicine|Tim Curran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348546460s/6669316.jpg|6864241] from a Riffle sale for 99 cents as an impulse buy after reading the summary. I loved it, and I also loved the setting, so I found [b:Skull Moon|988786|Skull Moon|Tim Curran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1180029998s/988786.jpg|974279] also on sale and decided to pick it up.

This is what you can expect:

Western setting - check [x]
Good story - check [x]
Believable characters - check [x]
Creepy premise - check [x]
Brutal settings full of gore and lots of splattered organs - check [x]
Believable historic setting - check [x]
A little non-cringe-worthy romance - check [x]
Ancient Native American (fictional) Mythology - check [x]


As I said, I never would have thought that I might have enjoyed it even slightly as much as I did - if you are undecided about it, give it a try. It may turn out to surprise you in unexpected ways.

( )

This is the second book by Curran I read, and weirdly enough they are both horror stories set in a wild west environment. I never heard of Curran before, and I definetly never would have thought that I could be even vaguely interested in Western.

Because of that I went into reading these books without much expectation at all; honestly, I picked up his book [b:Skin Medicine|6669316|Skin Medicine|Tim Curran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348546460s/6669316.jpg|6864241] from a Riffle sale for 99 cents as an impulse buy after reading the summary. I loved it, and I also loved the setting, so I found [b:Skull Moon|988786|Skull Moon|Tim Curran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1180029998s/988786.jpg|974279] also on sale and decided to pick it up.

This is what you can expect:

Western setting - check [x]
Good story - check [x]
Believable characters - check [x]
Creepy premise - check [x]
Brutal settings full of gore and lots of splattered organs - check [x]
Believable historic setting - check [x]
A little non-cringe-worthy romance - check [x]
Ancient Native American (fictional) Mythology - check [x]


As I said, I never would have thought that I might have enjoyed it even slightly as much as I did - if you are undecided about it, give it a try. It may turn out to surprise you in unexpected ways.

( )