The current issue of Booklist has my STAR review of the upcoming Stephen Graham Jones and I cannot stress enough what a masterpiece this book is.
You can access the review for free because it is a STAR, but below I will have my draft review as well as bonus info below.
STAR
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
By Stephen Graham Jones
Mar. 2025. 448p. Saga, $29.99 (9781668075081).
First published January 1, 2025 (Booklist).
What I am is the Indian who can't die. I'm the worst dream America ever had,” says Good Stab, a Blackfeet, vampire who roams the Montana prairie in 1912 looking for vengeance, to Lutheran minister Arthur Beaucarne, as he visits each Sunday to give his confession. Told through the journals of Beaucarne both his own and his record of Good Stab’s story, as being read by the pastor’s great great granddaughter, Etsy, in 2012, readers are quickly immersed in their world. From the Marias Massacre of 1870 to 1912, following the atrocities done to the Buffalo and the Native peoples, each time Good Stab visits his confidence grows, the confessions get more tense, violent, and accusatory while Beaucarne begins to unravel and reveal his own horrific secrets, secrets that reach across time to Etsy. A riveting story of heartbreak, death, and revenge, a thought-provoking tale filled with existential terror, unease, and a high body count, this remarkable work of American fiction transforms, in Jones’ deft hands, from the unapologetic horror novel it most certainly is to a critique on the entire idea of America. A critique that despite the horrors, both real and supernatural, is infused with heart and projects hope.
Further Appeal: There are so many more words I could use to describe this book: unsettling, disturbing, unflinching multiple narrative, epistolatory, vampire, unique, great American novel told from the native point of view, thought provoking, authentic voices, and finally...MASTERPIECE.
I don't think you will read a better book in any genre in 2025.
This is national book award worthy. I would compare it to James by Everett which just won the National Book Award. In this case, instead of retelling Huck Finn, we are watching a retelling of manifest destiny-- of the "settling of the west." A retelling that looks a whole lot worse than what we were taught in school. It is a new version of the great American novel. One that wrestles with the history we have been told; history we have been taught to be proud of; history that is not 100% representative of what actually happened.
It pairs perfectly with The Only Good Indians by Jones as the historical counterpart to that 21st century story. This is the Blackfeet of Montana from 1870-1912 (mostly) and beyond as Etsy's story takes place in 2012-13.
We have 3 narrators here. It begins in 2012 with Etsy (short for Betsy) a struggling assistant professor of communications who is trying (and failing to get tenure). When a construction worker finds a hidden journal from an unknown relative of hers in Montana, the University there contacts her since she is the next of kin. That journal is by her great-great grandfather, a Lutheran pastor in Miles City Montana. His journal also contains the "confession" of Good Stab, a Blackfeet who claims to be a vampire (although he he never uses the word) whose reasons for confessing his story become clearer and clearer as the story goes on.
A lot of the narrative centered around the 1870 Marias Massacre as well which I bet like me you knew nothing about. Yeah, see what I mean about the history we aren't told. And I was an American History major who took a class on "The West" that was willing to deconstruct standard narratives.
Jones works to nail the narrative voices as well. Beaucarne (the minister) and Good Stab are meticulously developed. They are period specific. It will take readers 20 pages or so to fall in, but once you do, you are there, in 1912 Montana, in the chapel every Sunday with the two men. I read the second half of the book in one 4 hour sitting. I think it is written to get you to do that as well, as the chapters/sections of Good Stab telling his story get longer as the book goes on. Longer and more nefarious and more accusatory. The tension and unease ratchet up and you are unsettled and yet cannot look away.
The less you know about this book the better. It is a story you need to let happen to you. It is devastating yes, but also surprising, unique, and enlightening. And the way he brings it all back to the present is moving.
Like all SGJ novels, every detail matters-- which is what I love about his writing, if something is there it is there for a reason and it will come back Although he does not ever make you feel dumb for not keeping track. He reminds you of the detail and keeps the story flowing. This is very important with the original vampire mythology he develops.
And also like every SGJ novel, even though bad things happen and there is a high body count (of the good and bad people) the story is infused with heart. There is hope at the end that this generation will do better than the ones before it, that while revenge is very real here, we may be able to acknowledge our wrongs as Americans (against the Native population yes, but the way SGJ writes it is about all of the American racist wrongs). This is a terrifying story or horrors real and supernatural but there is heart and hope. What more can you ask for.
Readalikes: I had to drop the readalikes from the review in print, but online there are in the aside bar. Here is the quick sentence I cut: For fans of Louise Erdrich and James by Percival Everett as well as The Keep by F. Paul Wilson. If you take those 3 and smoosh them together, you get a sense of what to expect. For Erdrich any of her historical are a good choice such as The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, but also the style and themes Round House is a great match here too.
I don't think you will read a better book in any genre in 2025.
This is national book award worthy. I would compare it to James by Everett which just won the National Book Award. In this case, instead of retelling Huck Finn, we are watching a retelling of manifest destiny-- of the "settling of the west." A retelling that looks a whole lot worse than what we were taught in school. It is a new version of the great American novel. One that wrestles with the history we have been told; history we have been taught to be proud of; history that is not 100% representative of what actually happened.
It pairs perfectly with The Only Good Indians by Jones as the historical counterpart to that 21st century story. This is the Blackfeet of Montana from 1870-1912 (mostly) and beyond as Etsy's story takes place in 2012-13.
We have 3 narrators here. It begins in 2012 with Etsy (short for Betsy) a struggling assistant professor of communications who is trying (and failing to get tenure). When a construction worker finds a hidden journal from an unknown relative of hers in Montana, the University there contacts her since she is the next of kin. That journal is by her great-great grandfather, a Lutheran pastor in Miles City Montana. His journal also contains the "confession" of Good Stab, a Blackfeet who claims to be a vampire (although he he never uses the word) whose reasons for confessing his story become clearer and clearer as the story goes on.
A lot of the narrative centered around the 1870 Marias Massacre as well which I bet like me you knew nothing about. Yeah, see what I mean about the history we aren't told. And I was an American History major who took a class on "The West" that was willing to deconstruct standard narratives.
Jones works to nail the narrative voices as well. Beaucarne (the minister) and Good Stab are meticulously developed. They are period specific. It will take readers 20 pages or so to fall in, but once you do, you are there, in 1912 Montana, in the chapel every Sunday with the two men. I read the second half of the book in one 4 hour sitting. I think it is written to get you to do that as well, as the chapters/sections of Good Stab telling his story get longer as the book goes on. Longer and more nefarious and more accusatory. The tension and unease ratchet up and you are unsettled and yet cannot look away.
The less you know about this book the better. It is a story you need to let happen to you. It is devastating yes, but also surprising, unique, and enlightening. And the way he brings it all back to the present is moving.
Like all SGJ novels, every detail matters-- which is what I love about his writing, if something is there it is there for a reason and it will come back Although he does not ever make you feel dumb for not keeping track. He reminds you of the detail and keeps the story flowing. This is very important with the original vampire mythology he develops.
And also like every SGJ novel, even though bad things happen and there is a high body count (of the good and bad people) the story is infused with heart. There is hope at the end that this generation will do better than the ones before it, that while revenge is very real here, we may be able to acknowledge our wrongs as Americans (against the Native population yes, but the way SGJ writes it is about all of the American racist wrongs). This is a terrifying story or horrors real and supernatural but there is heart and hope. What more can you ask for.
Readalikes: I had to drop the readalikes from the review in print, but online there are in the aside bar. Here is the quick sentence I cut: For fans of Louise Erdrich and James by Percival Everett as well as The Keep by F. Paul Wilson. If you take those 3 and smoosh them together, you get a sense of what to expect. For Erdrich any of her historical are a good choice such as The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, but also the style and themes Round House is a great match here too.
Also The Reformatory by Due and In the Valley of the Sun by Davidson are great readalikes as well.
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