Red Rabbit

4.5 stars.
I love when a western is paired with fantasy and/or horror. There's something intriguing and a little frightening when it works, and it definitely works well in this novel.

Alex Grecian weaves several story threads together stemming from the opening scene of a man deciding that his fiancé was killed by Sadie Grace, a witch, and that Sadie must die. A bounty is raised and word spreads far, pulling in numerous people: a witch master (hunter) with more book learning than anything and proves irrelevant quickly, a series of violent men eager to kill an unarmed woman, and the main characters, who are an odd group: a recently widowed and lonely woman, a pair of cowboys deciding going north is just as good as any other direction, and who are accompanying an elderly witch master whose claims and knowledge are a little suspect, and his charge, a seemingly mute girl.

Along the way, the five encounter a variety of threats, including a demon, shapeshifters, ghosts, and cannibals. Grecian weaves the different story threads together, creating a story of people looking for meaning and direction, and who make numerous mistakes because of faulty assumptions and biases, or poor information.

For all that this is a story full of sadness and sudden violence committed by hard, bigoted men, there is clever humour in the way several, separate people are drawn to the town of Riddle, where Sadie lives. Sadie herself is highly capable, dispatching various threats with a minimum of fuss.

I loved the rhythm of Grecian's dialogue, the compelling characters, and the atmosphere, and greatly enjoyed this story of magic, misfits, dusty roads, strange creatures, and big skies.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Rebellion for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This book was SO much fun. We following a ragtag posse as they travel through the Wild West on a mission to kill a witch and collect the bounty on her head. Along the way they encounter plenty of other horrifying creatures, from ghosts to demons to cannibals.

I found the writing style to be incredibly readable and I didn’t have an issue with the large cast of characters—everyone felt very distinct so it wasn’t a problem to keep them separated in my mind. I personally would have liked the descriptions of the horror to be pushed just a little bit farther and I could have done with some more characterisation, but those are really minor points.

Red Rabbit is adventurous and fun but also spooky and thrilling. It’s a winning combination and now I’m desperate to read more Western horror!

Hollywood should buy the rights to this book because it would make a great film or even Netflix tv series
Very good indeed

Embark upon a remarkable odyssey across post-Civil War America populated with demons and ghosts in the hunt for a witch

I am a sucker for strange novels and doubt I will read many to rival Alex Grecian’s Red Rabbit this year, a slow, mediative, meandering odyssey across the southern states of America in the years following the Civil War. Grecian has previous published several novels, novellas and graphic novels and if they are of the same standard of Red Rabbit then he is definitely an author to revisit, as this (sort of) horror western was incredibly striking and lingered with me long after completion. Normally I take the hype which accompanies book blurbs with a pinch of salt, but on this occasion name-checking Red Rabbit in comparison with Stephen Graham Jones, Nick Cutter, Alma Katsu (The Hunger), Charles Portis (True Grit), film The VVitch or tv show Deadwood are all bang on the money. These are only points of reference and ultimately Red Rabbit is a highly original work which more than holds its own against any of these big names.

Others have called Red Rabbit Folk Horror; however, I am undecided how comfortable this odd book fits that label (or whether it needs a label at all), beyond how the supernatural element of the story worked which effortlessly genre hops. Set in Kansas, Arkansas and other southern states the participants have a peculiar acceptance of the supernatural, not enough to assume this is an ‘alternative’ version of post-Civil War America, but sufficient to raise eyebrows. Witchcraft is tolerated in some parts, there are even witch hunters and seeing ghosts seems to be accepted as fairly normal. None of this is given much explanation and the end result is a superbly described and dangerous world where life is cheap, threat is everywhere, cannibalism exists, demons inhabit men and it is hard to trust anybody when one wrong move might turn you into a ghost, unable to leave the immediate locality of your final moments.

At 464-pages Red Rabbit was a long book, but if you enjoy these rambling types of epics it did not feel like a slog and I quickly lost myself within its sprawling vastness, multiple narratives (there were a lot of characters) which took its time revealing what the main storyline truly was. At its heart Red Rabbit was an odyssey (with lots of things thrown in the way) of an odd group, who are flung together by circumstances, to find the witch Sadie Grace. However, they all have different reasons for seeking her out, whilst some have none at all, but principally the large bounty on her head is enough for most. Told from numerous perspectives, including Sadie and even some ghosts, she is aware of the group approaching her farm in Burden County and the threat they pose.

It was fascinating to see genuine witch hunters with real powers, one of the group Tom Goggins uses a charm or hex to wake the spirit of a dead man, who then follows the group and meets other ghosts along the way. These supernatural encounters had deeply melancholic vibes to them, with some not realising they were dead or having any notion how long since they passed on. Ghosts drift in and out of the plot as the group head towards Burden County, with a terrific character, only known as the Huntsman playing a bigger role as events move on. Connected to the witch, the Huntsman was a man of few words, but one who oozed threat and danger in every move.

Why was the book called Red Rabbit? ‘Rabbit’ was a mute little girl a couple of vagabond directionless cowboys stumbled upon under the care of witch hunter Tom, not fully trusting him with the child join his hunt for the witch. On their journey they pass the home of the recently widowed Rose Nettles, who takes the little girl under her wing and also joins the expanding party. Why do these individuals tag along on Tom’s hunt for the witch if they have no interest in killing her? Little Rabbit is part of the answer and is clearly much more than she seems, even if the rest of her party do not quite realise it, and the reader has great fun following the various layers of plot as they are stripped away.

Red Rabbit puts its many characters through the wringer and some are lost along the way with horrible toad possessions, demons, cannibal towns and all sorts of unpleasant episodes. If you are patient, Alex Grecian’s version of the wild west is a revelation; vibrant, dangerous and soon you will be hedging your bets as the big showdown against the witch approaches. But what is something much worse than Sadie Grace lurks in the shadows? Blessed with an outstanding and moving ending Red Rabbit goes out with all guns blazing.