Hell's Bounty

by Joe R. & John L. Lansdale
190 pgs

Hell's Bounty is a book that turned out to be exactly what I was hoping it would be. It's a Western-Faustian-Zombie mashup, and really, how could I not like that? I also appreciated the fact that it didn't take itself very seriously.

It's a story about Smith, a dynamite-loving bounty hunter in the Old West, who blows himself all to hell--literally. He meets the Devil, who's a bartender named Snappy in a saloon and makes a deal that would spare him from spending eternity in Hell. Snappy tells Smith about Quill, a demon who has escaped from Hell and who is now preparing to open a portal to earth through which the Old Ones, an ancient group whom even the devil fears and would be subject to, could arrive through and take over the Earth.

Smith is sent back in order to stop Quill and save the Earth. Upon arriving in the town of Falling Rock, where quill is operating, he finds that Quill has been killing the townspeople and changing them into zombie-like creatures, who Smith will have to deal with before he can get to Quill.

I'm not embarrassed to say that I enjoyed this book. I was not aware that Joe Lansdale had a brother, not that the brother was a writer as well, but I was familiar enough with Joe to know that He's a fantastic author, who has written books in a wide variety of genres, and for a long time. I wasn't disappointed. The story is entertaining and fun. It's genuinely funny and clearly a tribute to some of the masters of horror like Lovecraft and George Romero.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆