A Hunter Called Night by Tim Waggoner.
A sinister being called Night and her panther-like Harriers stalk their quarry, a man known only as Arron. Arron seeks refuge within an office building, a place Night cannot go, for it’s part of the civilized world, and she’s a creature of the Wild. To flush Arron out, she creates Blight, a reality-warping field that slowly transforms the building and its occupants in horrible and deadly ways. But unknown to Night, while she waits for the Blight to do its work, a group of survivors from a previous attempt to capture Arron are coming for her. The hunter is now the hunted.
I loved this book. My imagination went wild with this book. I did like blight and night. I loved the names. Different. I will definitely be reading more from this author. 5*.

Good solid horror story. Some classic horror creatures and even, yes, the Blob. Great vacation or airplane read. This is a great buy.

“In the beginning, the Omniverse was dark and formless, and then the Gyre opened its great mouth and vomited forth all realities….”

Tim Waggoner’s novel is an addictive horror story where Arron is on the run and seeking refuge in an office building. Hunting him is a sinister being called Night. Not of this world and with her panther like harriers, she seeks to flush out Arron by creating a Blight. A reality bending force that transforms the building and those inside into something deadly and otherworldly. Little does Night know that a group of survivors from a previous attempt are also hunting her down to put an end to this once and for all. The hunter has now become the hunted.

The novel has been said to appeal to fans of Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix or Authority by Jeff Vandermeer. I’ve read both of those books which had me interested in this one straight away.

Firstly it’s such and easy one to get lost in quickly. The pacing and dialogue were easy to follow to the point I didn’t want to put it down. In a true horror story style this hunt that we are introduced to progresses quickly into something full of macabre and dark events.

What I loved about these incidents that occur was how explicitly they were written. There was no shying away from the gore and disgusting imagery which made the scenes more real and thrilling to experience.

I liked the premise of “the hunt” however I was in for a surprise when the truth about what the actual hunt was about. That made me shout out “WTF” 😆 I loved it though.

This was a fast paced horror story with monsters and other dark beings. With some vivid imagery and a cool twist I think a lot of readers would enjoy it.

ARC Review A Hunter Called Night by Tim Waggoner
I was given an advanced reader copy by @netgalley and @flametreepress @timwaggoner My reviews are always honest and all opinions are my own. #AHunterCalledNight #TimWaggoner #FlameTreePress #ARCBookReview #Horror #NetGalley #BookReview #gifted

A Hunter Called Night is everything you come to expect from a Tim Waggoner novel. It’s gory, it’s fun (and often dark), it’s chaotic, it’s unique and it will stay with you long after reading. At the basic level A Hunter Called Night is about just that, a sinister clearly supernatural being called Night and her panter-like Harriers who stalk their quarry, a man called Arron. Knowing Night cannot come into ‘civilised’ areas with her domain being nature Arron seeks refuge in an office building. But Night is not to be deterred creating a blight that slowly turns the building and its occupants in horrible and deadly ways. But Night is unaware that this game of cat and mouse has a new player, a group of survivors from her previous attempt to capture Arron are hunting her down and now the Hunter is the hunted.

I want to start by saying I was immediately biased towards wanting Night and her Harriers to triumph. I blame Waggoner for making her a creature of the wild with Panther like minions. I mean how was I not meant to like her? Even if she does kill and corrupt people and the world around her – everyone has flaws. But I digress. I adored this horror novel which comes with a lot of warnings for gore and violence. I loved the unique characters and the dual time line of flash backs and forwards. It basically ticked a lot of my boxes.

The one thing I have to say, which is a testament to Waggoner’s writing, was I did not like Arron right until the end. This may have been why I wanted Night to win all along as well, but it was probably the Harriers if we are honest. The plot is brilliant in that is brings a sort of organised chaos to the novel. There is a lot happening, it’s wild (literally) and brilliant. And while it is chaotic the world building means it almost just makes sense within the world that has been created.

I particularly loved the twist at the end, again no spoilers, well one of the twists the other not so much. But it was a brilliant conclusion. If you enjoyed We Will Rise or love a good horror story of survival this is one you do not want to miss!

Sadly this book wasn't a hit for me. Lots of gory set pieces but I found the actual story to be very thin and by the time things all came together I had kind of lost interest. Thank you NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the opportunity to read this book. Sorry I cannot be more positive this time around.

In A Hunter Called Night, Tim Waggoner expertly blends elements of fantasy and the supernatural, then adds healthy amounts of action, violence, and gore to create a wonderfully original, and downright fun story to read.

Thank you Netgalley and Flaming Tree Press for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for a copy of this E-ARC.

This has all the horror feels but an extra fantasy element. It has both human and supernatural characters. I was not sure what to expect. I enjoyed the writing style and would be sure to pick up something from this author again. The ending was a bit hurried, which I knocked off a star for. Just be aware of the trigger warnings going into the book. 4 Stars

I absolutely loved this book. It is easily one of the best I’ve read this year. A man is being chased through the woods by a creature called Night and her 4 Harriers. The man makes his escape into an office building, and things begin to get really freaky. Looking for protection, he affects each person he runs into to being his helper and thus they each get really bazaar powers. Night can also call protectors from the building for protection as well. Ah, but this has all happened before, affecting the whole town instead of just a building.
This story has so much more to it than I can describe, and I hate giving away too much in a review. I would highly recommend this book. The author is flawless in the delivery of this story. I look forward to reading more of his work.

As always, Tim nails it! Haunting, horrific and utterly fascinating! Loved this book & can't wait for more!

This read was a trip! Total mayhem! It made me think I playing a horror/fantasy video game.
I thought it would’ve made for a good series too!
Great fun! I definitely recommend.

I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into with A Hunter Called Night. It was much more fantasy world building than horror for me.

This covered two timelines and had many characters. I did enjoy the present timeline and setting. One of those office buildings with all kinds of different businesses; Therapy, Orthodontics, Weight-Loss, Blood Testing. This created all kinds of different characters and situations. My favorite was the phlebotomist turned vampire with needles for fingers.

I felt like I didn’t get invested enough in any of the characters. I wanted to like Arron, who seemed like the main protagonist, but I didn’t feel his character had much of a back story.

There was a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming and the last several chapters were really fun to read.

When I read the summary for this book I could not wait to read it and I must say it lived up to all my expectations a hunter call Night is hunting a man name Aaron but the hunter and her four cats which are called herras cannot go where civilization is but she can send a blight to ruin the civilization wherever the blight goes the hunter and her cats can then walk over it but if humans walk over it it changes them either into warriors for the night or people that are willing to help Aaron.Little does the Night know back in Bullock Ohio she left four people alive who were helping Aaron but now they are hunting her. There is way more to the story than my brief summary there was the reason why Night is hunting Aaron in the first place which OMG what a twist was not expecting that! We get to meet the king of the wild and he is scary on his own. Is this was just a book about how people become superheroes it would’ve been awesome because there’s that… But OMG the storyline grabs you at the beginning and does not let you go until it’s over and when it’s over just a fair warning you will totally contemplate what you read. I read this book yesterday and woke up thinking about it it’s a totally immersive read in one you will not want to put down. I have never read a book by this author but signed me up because I definitely am going to read more from him in the near future. I received this book from NetGalley and Flame Tree press but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Arran is being hunted by Night and her Harrier panther-like creatures. He takes refuge in a building Night can't easily breach, and seeks the help of a kind looking woman. Night uses her powers to create a blight around the building so that anyone entering the building immediately becomes one of her hunters. As the number of human hunters increase, Arran not only has to find a way to escape but needs to kill Night once and for all.

I would say this book firmly falls into fantasy horror. I was sold on the concept of this character being hunted and intrigued to find out how he would get out of a seemingly impossible situation. However the story felt a bit disjointed and flat for me. Arran as a character, doesn't actually do much in this book, and was too passive for my liking. We understand why this is with the revelation at the end but still, I wanted him to do more in the book and not just rely on the other characters to carry him through. I wasn't a fan of the final twist and the rushed ending.

4 Stars!

Tim Waggoner knows how to craft a scary, and often brutal, story. He likes to take readers on tours along the more extreme side of horror and often leave them cringing yet captivated by his imagination. When I saw A Hunter Called Night and its wicked cover, I knew this was a book for me.



When Arron stumbles into the office building at the edge of the woods in Ohio, no ones life is going to be the same again. Arron is on the run from Night, a supernatural hunter aided by four panther-like creatures called harriers. Night is a creature of the Wild and cannot enter places ruled by civilization, so Arron is safe for a little while. But Night creates a type of rot called the Blight that will slowly erode the manmade structure to a more primitive state and allow her to continue her hunt. Even worse, some of those within the blight will become her mindless servants to hunt down Arron. It is only a matter of time until he must face Night. It is time to get prepared.



Arron is not without his defenses, though, and a group of those around him find themselves mutating into guardians of the mysterious man. Other monsters seem to be popping up as well until the building becomes a living hell in which the only rule is kill or be killed. Night is slowly closing in, though, and even though Arron has a quartet of friends on the outside hunting Night as well, it may not be enough to stop her from finally reaching Arron and attaining her greatest goal of ending his life. Or maybe there is an even more sinister goal here than just Arron’s death, for even the King of the Wild has taken an interest in the hunt.



A Hunter Called Night opens with a bang and then checks all the boxes for what I expect in a Waggoner story. There is a lot of violence, some very bizarre occurrences, and a strong story setup that is intriguing and intricate enough to keep the reader guessing. The action starts quickly and really does not let up throughout the course of the book. Waggoner does bring it down a little after the opening sequence, but then things ramp up quickly. Not only does the novel get action-packed and violent, it gets weird as well. The story is somewhat disjointed by design as it goes back and forth between the present and a confrontation between Night and Arron five years earlier which makes it a little difficult to follow at times. This method of storytelling, however, is necessary for the way in which the novel ends when Waggoner pulls everything together. . .and pulls the rug from under the reader’s feet.



That ending is a little shocking and completely changes the feel of the story, but it also feels a bit rushed and a little forced. It carries some shock value but it comes to a head way too quickly to that point that it does not feel real. The other drawback to the story is that there really are no characters in the story to really sympathize with. The reader comes to hate Night from the outset but there is no character to set up as a direct counterpoint to her evil. Arron could easily fit that bill, but he remains enigmatic and a kind of non-entity throughout most of the story. He is the center of the story, but not really a part of it. That being said, the novel is still a very fun read and the pages seem to fly by. There is a lot of action and gore. Waggoner keeps things fresh by throwing in new curves in almost every chapter. A Hunter Called Night is gloriously weird and violent while keeping a central theme of the darkness that is humanity. Fans of Waggoner’s last novel from Flame Tree Press, We Will Rise, as there are many similarities both in the events and the way in which the story is told through several overlapping viewpoints. I wish the story had a more thorough ending and wonder if the story may have been told more effectively as two separate books, even if they were novella length, but it still comes together to form an entertaining work as a whole. Waggoner is a master of the weird and the violent, and A Hunter Called Night is a prime example of a master working in his element.



I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. A Hunter Called Night is scheduled to be released on May 9, 2023.

I had mixed views on this one but I have to say that I did find it very original and I kept wanting to see how it ended, so it was worth it!

Without any explanation we're brought into the action from page 1 where a powerful and beautiful woman called Night and her panthers pets are hunting down a man called Arron. Meanwhile he's hiding into a building where Night and her panthers can't go in as they can't step into a "civilised" place.

As Night starts spreading a Blight, a moldy looking stuff that transforms everything artificial into wilderness again so that she can gain access, at this point it's where things become really crazy and everyone in the building starts changing without understanding what's happening. Meanwhile the hunter Night is also hunted down by a group of people with incredible powers that want their revenge!

I found this read very interesting and unique as I've never read anything like it, a mix of horror and fantasy very well written. Throughout the story the book goes back and forth present and future and although it made sense in the end, I struggled to understand why at times. Also in the first part of the book we are introduced to lots of people one after another without giving time to the reader to digest all the information.

Having said that, the revelation and the twists at the end made all of the downsides really worth it and I would really encourage you to read it!

One of my favourite quotes was: "This is a place of illusion. In the Wild, there is nothing that is unreal - things either are or they aren't. But humans are geniuses when it comes to deception, especially when they are deceiving themselves".

I really enjoyed this story by Tim Waggoner. It gets off to an immediate, exciting start, with someone being hunted by Night and it immedately throws you into this strange world, with certain rules to it, that make you sit up and take notice. The characterisation is on point and the story moves along at quite a pace!

Tim Waggoner is a writer at the height of his powers with this one. Having read his Writing in the Dark blog posts and his Writitng in the Dark book, I know how much work Tim puts into constructing a story and thinking about character, pace, plot and atmosphere.

A Hunter Called Night is an excellent horror thriller and I hope it does really well.

***NetGalley Review***

This book is a masterpiece of contained chaos and I loved every page! I was reminded of a movie where we’re introduced to a group of strangers who through a series of seriously demented and unfortunate events become intertwined in a web of weirdness.

Each chapter introduces either a new character of another piece to the fantastical puzzle from hell. You get a hint of a heist story but with werewolves, vampires, and blobs. Oh yeah, and a big a$$ bear!

The writing is straightforward and fluid making for a quick and easy read. There are several grammatical errors, not a ton, but I definitely hope an editor can fix them before the official release.

10/10 would recommend

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5/5 Stars

TL;DR - If Quentin Tarantino dropped some acid and then got into an Uber with Guillermo del Toro, who just ate a handful of magic mushrooms, and they rode to Studio Ghibli and stumbled into Hayao Miyazaki’s office for a brainstorming session, not even they could come up with anything remotely near this book. Holy shit. An absolute wild ride that I can’t even put into a neat little summary. I completely understand why this author has won so many awards, because this is next-level horror.

A big thank you to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for providing the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

‘A Hunter Called Night’ by Tim Waggoner is a horror story that also encompasses several other genres - sci-fi, a bit of fantasy, existential philosophy, psychological thriller, a bit of comedy here and there. The story is told in two timelines, one taking place in the present in a small Ohio town, and the other takes place five years ago in a small town in Illinois. Though it’s told through the POVs of like 20 people, maybe more, it all centers around a man named Arron, who is being hunted by an otherwordly woman, the titular hunter named Night. Arron, in both timelines, comes into a small town seeking shelter and help from the residents, and things get absolutely WILD from there.

**Trigger warnings for attempted rape, fatphobia, eating disorders, and extreme gore/violence.**

We’re inside the heads of maybe dozens of characters during this book, and some of them are pretty messed up. I’m going to to cover this ground first as spoiler-free as I can, just so everyone has an idea of some of the potentially triggering things before y’all dive in.

There is an attempted rape around 39% of the way through, and I was really sad to see it because it’s my policy to DNF books for my own safety as soon as an on-page rape occurs, and I was really digging this book and didn’t want to stop. But, spoiler for everyone’s peace of mind, the character doesn’t get raped, she’s okay, and in fact, the would-be rapist gets his spooky horror comeuppance almost immediately, which I’m always here to see. Bullet dodged for me, but please be aware that this all happens while we’re inside the dude’s head and he thinks some really messed up things both before and during the attempt. Please proceed with extreme caution if this is a trigger for you.

One character is incredibly fatphobic, beyond the scope one might expect from a morally-questionable dietician. She thinks some really gross jokes to herself, thinks very demeaning thoughts about the clients she’s supposed to be helping, and in general has very harmful opinions about fat people. That said, this character also deals with body dysmorphia, and potentially anorexia, so please be aware of that before you go in.

Lastly, THIS BOOK IS GORY. Like, insanely gory. Whatever you have in mind, double it, and you might come close. Not just blood, but all kinds of grotesque and horrifying bodily things involved. If you’re squeamish, this is not the book for you. I’m the kind of person who can read violence and blood without blinking, and even I was a little green around the gills from this book. Major body-horror and gratuitous violence going on here.

That out of the way, on with the review.

This book is all over the place, and I mean that as a compliment. We go from deep explorations of characters’ personalities and problems to some X-Files-level sci-fi weirdness, to inter-dimensional beings and their gods, to gory slasher horror, and round and round and round. It’s enthralling, watching how all these people’s lives are cruising along as normal, and then completely turned upside down by Arron and Night’s arrival. It all culminates into a fever-dream, gothic horror thriller that I could not make myself stop reading if I tried. I had to keep going, I had to watch this train crash, I had to know how it would end. And DAMN if the ending isn’t the juiciest twist!

This book has a LOT of POVs, and at first I found it overwhelming, but as I got into the book, I really started to appreciate it. Each character we spend time with is complex and flawed, each struggling with their own issues, and I enjoyed each little slice of life presented. As mentioned above, some of these characters are bad (or at least morally gray) people, but all of them are deeply human in an extremely realistic way, so it was fascinating to see how they each interacted with the absolute batshit insanity erupting around them.

If I had to find fault with this book, the only thing that comes to mind is that sometimes, the descriptions can feel superfluous and boring. We’re told everything every character is wearing, every detail about the surroundings, and it’s a bit much at times. We also get told every little detail about the “main” characters daily routines (except for Arron and Night, of course), and the beginning felt really bogged down by it, at least for me. In hindsight, I can sort of see an argument for contrasting the boring minutia of everyday life for humans and the cosmic-level chaos that descends and messes that up, but for me, it really just dragged for a while. I’m here for spooky, not mundane! However, I'm so glad I stuck it out because it picked up speed and did not slow down until the end.

Final Thoughts:

Did I come into this expecting to love this book as much as I did? No, I really didn’t. I was here for a weird, paranormal romp (and expecting some violence based on brief review perusal) and didn’t really expect to be wowed, but man, I am GLAD at how wrong I was proven. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I will be purchasing a physical copy when its published!

Even having read the synopsis, I didn't know what to expect going into A Hunter Called Night. Enough of it sounded intriguing that I decided to give it a try, and what I found was a briskly paced, fun, "weekend movie" horror story.

The blurb on the back of the book states "a reality-warping field that slowly transforms the building and its occupants in horrible and deadly ways" and boy is that an understatement. I was fascinated, and in some cases absolutely disgusted, by the changes some of the occupants underwent. It was like reading the origin stories of my favorite Marvel mutants, except I had no desire to have any of their powers.

The writing is very clean, and the story is told from a plethora of viewpoints. You would think the sheer amount of characters would make for a muddled mess, but Waggoner did a great job of giving them each a clearly distinctive voice. Action scenes, of which there are plenty, are described well, and in gory detail. I especially liked the switching of perspectives during the same action sequence, as it segmented the fights in a way that made it very clear what was happening.

Up until about the 70% mark, I was loving the book and ready to give it 4 stars. I was rapidly approaching the culmination of the story and...it just fell flat. I really didn't like how rushed the ending felt. I remember seeing I had 20 pages left and thinking "This can't possibly wrap up well in this amount of time" and it didn't for me. Enough to knock a star off.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and I would recommend it to any fan of horror. It's a quick, fun read and I would watch the hell out of a movie, but I might turn it off a liiittle bit early.

Thank you to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one wasn't for me. I have a hard time being dropped into a world I know almost nothing about. I did understand what was happening, but it felt rushed and super slow at the same time.