Hell’s Bounty

A bounty hunter named Smith comes to the town of Falling Rock to claim a bounty, only to die a stupid and meaningless death. But . . . he gets a second chance at life in the most unexpected of ways when the devil himself recruits Smith for a mission: stop an ambitious demon from welcoming the Old Ones back into the world and taking over. Armed with an otherworldly steed, silver bullets, and a chip on his shoulder, Smith returns to Falling Rock and prepares for a monstrous showdown.

Nobody writes a smug, jackass hero like Joe R. Lansdale, and Smith is a terrific addition to the silver-tongued foul-mouthed pantheon of Lansdale characters. But Hell’s Bounty has more to offer than just banter; it’s an engaging mash-up of Westerns, zombie films, and horror movies, as the background characters from any old horse opera take center stage battling an army of wisecracking, none-too-clever undead and their bat-winged monster of a boss. It’s gross and funny and veers wildly between established tropes and tongue-in-cheek reversals of what you’d expect.

And quite honestly, if that’s not enough to convince you to read it, I don’t know what else to tell you.