Review
“What wouldn’t be fun is someone trying to dig up something on me.” - Matt Jacoby Matt Jacoby is passing through El Paso in 1886 when Deputy Kearney enlists his aid to help track down a couple of locals who have been kidnapped. Jacoby has something of a reputation for getting to the bottom of things and resolving conflicts. Along with a local outlaw and ex Mexican military Doctor the duo are soon on the trail of the culprits. But not all is as it seems when the posse is attacked by zombies of all things! Soon Matt and his crew are embroiled in the undead, Inca black magic, and more outlaws than you can poke a gallows at. Can the fast thinking and fast shooting Matt Jacoby sort these green apples out? Welcome to the first of our “It followed Us Home” reviews, where we take time out of Downunder dark musings to have a look at what might be seeping in from beyond our fatal shores. Author Lincoln Crisler, and is that the best name ever, assures me he has family and friends Downunder and hence should almost be adopted as an honorary Aussie. Fair enough and Wild provides a good place to start on the odd foreign publication review, let's get down to it. Wild hits a bunch of Western cliches, dialogue and the like, to cement it's pedigree in that genre. Without a doubt the novella is a Western with touches of crime and a large dollop of horror thrown into the mix to keep things interesting. While the whole wild wild west thing has taken a bit of a back-seat in modern culture, the remake of True Grit not withstanding, US dark genre writers and film makers seem to have realised that there's gold in them there hills if you take a Western setting and situation and then switch on the supernatural. Recent examples would include The Burrowers and Dead Birds. Naturally someone had to take the whole concept over the top, and that someone was Mr Crisler. While zombies in the old west isn't something that leaps straight to mind, Lincoln Crisler makes it sound awfully plausible. The first zombie attack, on our small posse, comes out of the blue and is so matter of factly written that the Reader is going to go along with the ride without wondering how the hell flesh eating zombies suddenly exploded onto the Texas landscape. And right there is the key to Wild, we're being forced feed the most outrageous notions, but are asking for seconds as Crisler keeps his pace happening and has us wondering what the hell is going on. The narrative is at such a breakneck speed that you really don't have time to question what you are reading. One of the more bizarre things about Wild, and this should have irritated the hell out of me but didn't, was that we never actually get the reason why the kidnapping happened. The Author doesn't bother explaining much in terms of our protagonist or what exactly his motivations might be. There's a feeling throughout the novella that something diabolical is going to happen if our square jawed hero doesn't put things to right but we never actually learn what that something is. No doubt regular Lincoln Crisler readers can fill in the blanks, as Wild would appear on the face of things to be part of a larger body of work. For example Sheriff Jackson, who is talked about during the book but only appears in the final few pages, clearly recognises the enigmatic Matt Jacoby from some place else, though we never learn where that place might be. As a Reader I had the feeling that there might be the odd previous story featuring Mr Jacoby that would help explain our current plot. If you need further proof then how did Matt know the Inca magician's name was Yayauhqui when the magician's name was never mentioned prior in the novella? So if you are after a book that ties up the loose ends and then proceeds to explain everything to the nth degree then you are out of luck. I guess you will be needing to hunt out more Lincoln Crisler material to fill in your need for closure, or whatever the current term is. I don't believe you'll get any less enjoyment out of Wild, not knowing the reasons behind things happening, it's a romping good yarn in all other aspects. About the only real criticism, and there's a misuse of a word, I would lay at the feet of Wild would be the mix and match dialogue that's going down. Seemed to me a few more modern expressions crept into the novella from time to time. But then again without doing copious amounts of research into the linguistics of the time I could be completely wrong. What the heck Matt shoots guns out of peoples hands, we get amputations to avoid infection, and did I mention the zombie plague is running rampant in Texas? No not the Bush clan, though you could be excused for thinking Matt Jacoby missed a few walking dead with Dubya Jnr. Overall I had more fun than a barrel fill of monkeys reading Wild. I'm not about to claim it's 2011's best release, but by heck the narrative motors, dragging you along to the conclusion. Fingers crossed we might just get a few more Matt Jacoby yarns, I for one wouldn't mind finding out a bit more about the enigmatic character. Wild is due for release in March 2011 by Damnation Books, though as of writing details were not appearing on the site. So sorry don't have a price for ya, but keep checking Damnation's site for details, which should appear shortly.
ScaryMinds Rates this read as ... Best Western/Zombie tale ever!
|
