What do I not see enough of in books? Horror stories full of scares and violence set in the old American West featuring spooky abandoned (or not) gold mines and a climactic fight of Biblical proportions. How do I know I need more of this? Because I just finished Hunter Shea's Ghost Mine and loved every second of it!

The tale is about two immediately likable rough-and-tough leads, Nat and Teta, who team up to explore a mysteriously abandoned mining town in Wyoming at the behest of President Roosevelt. Nat is an aging ex-soldier/ex-cop, and Teta is his Dominican sidekick who has been with him through thick and thin. Together they have survived insurmountable odds, but this latest assignment is beyond anything they've ever seen.

I absolutely love these two characters, and I was onboard from their very first wisecrack and background story. Their violent tendencies and slight insanity would seem a little much in a normal story, but these are exactly the characteristics that may help them survive the horrors in the mines. Nat in particular is given a lot of depth and complexity in his character, and I found it quite easy to sympathize with him along the way. Teta is very much the sidekick painted in broader strokes, but he's still an integral part of the story and is given moments to shine. Nat needs him, and so do we.

I also love the pacing in the story. Shea does an amazing job of building suspense; slowly peeling back layers of the mystery while also peppering the story with moments of dread or outright fear. It really kept me on my toes trying to guess what would happen next, and I love all of the twists and elements that I did NOT expect (unfortunately I can't discuss them here because they're spoilers, but also because this book works best going in with no expectations). Is the story about ghosts, monsters, creatures, demons, or something else? The answer is yes, and that's all I'll say.

More things I liked? Okay! How about the two characters that were introduced halfway through that made for an intriguing dynamic to the cast, or literally any creepy part set down in the mine shafts (seriously, I'm afraid of the dark and claustrophobic, and Shea's brilliant writing made these scenes all too visceral and terrifying)? How about the blend of mythology, folklore, and the supernatural? Or the way almost every chapter ends in a cliffhanger (I've never seen so many ways to say "and suddenly things got a whole lot worse")? I could go on, but I won't. And things I didn't like? Ummmm I'm going to have to get back to you.

If you wanted to make comparisons you could use The Descent, Bone Tomahawk, Constantine, The Lone Ranger, Scooby Doo, and Indiana Jones - but then throw them away because none of them do this story justice. Instead you need to stop everything, go get this book, and then buckle up because it's a hell of a ride. This is my first time reading Hunter Shea and I'm hooked! Excuse me while I go get everything else he has ever written!