Stephen Graham Jones has such a specific, unique, peculiar voice & style of writing. I find it deep & compelling & candid, but also sometimes difficult to understand, which (for me) chopped up the pace of this horror novel.

We follow four indigenous men 10 years after they make a disturbing choice during hunting season. They're grappling with the ghosts of their past & tradition ... while an elk entity seeks to complete a karmic circle (justice? or maybe just vengeance).

The first and second halves of this book feel like completely different stories, with a huge shift in POVs and location. While I was interested in both, that threw me off stylistically and I had to reread quite a few sections. There would be a slow building ... then BOOM a whole lot of action ... then a huge slip back down into slowburn territory. It was a bit confusing.

SGJ builds dread and tension very well, and the rise of atmospheric horror as the entity approaches is delicious. There's also a thoughtful thread of social commentary here (and this is an OwnVoices story). I'm not sure I would say I was ever scared, but I was certainly disturbed.

I want to add a warning about intense dog death - lots of human death, too, but the descriptions and gore of dogs dying felt even more grotesque and was a little overbearing at times.

“When the whole world hurts, you bite it. Don't you?”

CW: death, gore, animal death (very graphic), animal cruelty, blood, gun violence, racism, alcoholism, drug abuse, child death (mentioned)