Karl Goodman lost his daughter and that has destroyed their marriage. Karl becomes aware that he is in the hospital and then in a different place know as world between Midnight. It is also called the land of fog.A little girl helps him adjust in this new place. Karl discovers that the man who killed his daughter is here. There is much Karl must learn and understand before he can get his revenge. By the time he goes after the murderer it is to save his wife from his daughter's murderer as intends to kill her.

There is a fair amount of old English folklore. According to the aftermath in the book, the author tells how the highwaymen were executed. It's written well. I was completed immersed in the story as I read it. The characters in the novel were perfect for the story. I enjoyed the supernatural aspects of the novel. Craig Saunders has a new fan!

First time reading Mr. Saunders. HIGHWAYMAN just didn't do it for me. I couldn't get into it. The slow parts were really, really hard to get through and a bit confusing in places. If I had cared more for the characters, it might not have been so bad.
That said, Saunders is definitely a good writer, I just didn't connect with this particular novel.
3 stars.

DarkFuse and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Highwayman. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

The author has based Highwayman in part on Old English lore regarding the Tyburn mask and highwayman/killer John Austin. Karl Goodman has been a witness to terrible tragedy, with an elderly man and woman as peculiar participants in the aftermath. When Karl himself is involved in a plane crash, he ends up in the Land Between Midnight being escorted by a little girl named Imke. Discovering an evil man with direct ties to him, Karl seeks out help from the man and woman, in order to keep both worlds safe.

Although I did find Highwayman to be interesting, there were gaps in the story that did not help with the cohesion. Evil for evil's sake is a hard sell for me and I do not think that the author went far enough to address the highwayman's motivations. The other plot hole involves the psychopomps and how they were chosen - the why question was not addressed properly. With that being said, the little horror and a little supernatural elements may appeal to readers who enjoy both genres.

This one has been hard for me to review. I love anything and everything that comes from the shed of Craig Saunders. That said, this one wasn't my favorite. I loved the prose which was as witty and intelligent. I loved the story line, which is Craig-like fantastical. As always, I loved the characters who were real, sometimes brutal, and humanly flawed. Certain parts did seem to get a bit rambly at times and a little more "out there" than I typically like.

Highway man was a book that I read right after I lost my wife. There were so many things in it I could relate with, including Bethany who I sort of wanted to hate but I couldn't because I could see reflections of myself. Karl, who is this hapless, self-centered guy, who finds his soul in a coma. And The Highway man who it feels like has been following me all of my life. If you find yourself getting a little lost in this book, the journey is well worth it.

This is Craig Saunders, one of my go-to authors whose work I can't wait to read. I am comparing this book to his previous books, so to say that it's maybe 'less than' one of his other novels still makes it a heck of a lot better than many other books and authors I have read. I'm saying that I liked Deadlift, and Masters of Blood and Bone, and many of his other books better, yes, but I'm not saying that you shouldn't read this. It's Craig. You should always, always read Craig.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and DarkFuse in exchange for an honest review.

I had enjoyed the couple books that I had read from Craig Saunders in the past so I was looking forward to Highwayman when I first heard about the novel. The fact that the novel was being published by DarkFuse did nothing to temper my enthusiasm and I hoped that the novel would be another great novel from the best dark fiction publisher around.

Karl and Bethany Goodman lived and idyllic life. They had each other, which had been enough for them, but then fate had blessed them with the perfect daughter. Fate turned cruel, however, and the couple found themselves ripped apart after the brutal murder of their daughter. The couple stayed together but nothing was ever going to be the same again. A year passed and the couple drifted further apart with each living separate lives while still legally married.

A year later, Karl decides to try to reconcile with Bethany but fate has something different in mind. A plane crash leaves Karl on his deathbed and Bethany is forced to make the final decisions for him. While his body is losing the battle to remain alive, Karl finds himself in a world between life and death. Karl learns that his daughter’s murderer is also trapped here and suddenly life becomes much less important to him. Karl is determined to learn the truth about his daughter’s death and to gain the revenge that he had been denied in life.

Highwayman is not a horror novel, per se, but it is very dark nonetheless. The story has a feel of a coming of age story in many aspects and I suppose that is a part of it as Karl must come to terms with his existence in the land between life and death. I was anticipating a straightforward tale of terror in this novel and was surprised to find a story that was more dark fantasy with maybe a dash of noir thrown in as well. Saunders give the story a touch of the surreal while maintaining a dark edge that keeps it from straying too far into the fantastic as Karl struggles to unravel the mystery of his daughter’s murder. The story also stays grounded in the real world with the emotions that Bethany is going through as she watches her estranged husband slowly sink toward death. This connection to the real world makes it easier for the reader to relate to the characters and events of the story.

There is a kernel for a great story in Highwayman yet, while I enjoyed the novel, it did seem slow to unravel at times and took a little too much work to get through the slow parts of the novel. There is a lot going on in this novel and Saunders takes the time to help form the strange limbo world and the forces at play. Unfortunately, this seemed to eat away at the urgency of the story and left my mind wandering at times. It almost seemed at times as if the main thread of the narrative wandered off into limbo at times and left the reader searching for the next event. I enjoyed the novel but I thought that it could have been so much more than it is. Highwayman is recommended for fans of dark fantasy and who do not mind a layered story that takes some unraveling to get to the core of the story.

I would like to thank DarkFuse and NetGalley for this review copy. Highwayman is available now.

Review of HIGHWAYMAN by Craig Saunders

HIGHWAYMAN is truly a wild ride, only to expected from author Craig Saunders. We are quickly introduced to a pair of soul-stealers, masquerading as a long-together elderly couple. These two nasties show up at the scenes of “unexpected” death: individuals who are at the brink of death, but possibly recoverable. This couple is not there to soothe the dying, offer medical assistance, or comfort the bereaved. They are present solely to steal the life light; the woman takes from dying females, the man from dying males. These are “highwaymen,” and one man, Karl Goodman, has witnessed their abrupt appearance, behaviour, and equally abrupt disappearance too many times. Now he himself is trapped in a void, “the Land Between Midnight,” and he is determined to avenge the loss of his daughter one year ago, taken by these entities.

Lost in Fog

Since "Deadlift" I see myself as a Craig Saunders fan, but with this novel I had some problems.
What we have here is a mix of different genres, a good part of fantasy mixed into it. It starts slow, but accelerates later on. Nothing bad with this.
There is this fog-world, a land where some people "live" after their death, and there are people, like the title-giving highwayman, who can change between the world of the living and the fog-world.
So what gets stated somewhere in the beginning (stated, not shown, or otherwise it is done so subtle, that one can overlook it) is that the highwayman kills people in our world, for example the daughter of the protagonist.
What he sees is that there is a elderly couple with his daughter, when she dies, not the highwayman, but he knows that this highwayman is the bad one?
This nagged on me from the beginning and certainly kept me from getting "into" the book.
So I am still a fan of the author, but this book did not work for me.

Wow. What a chilling premise, expertly crafted into a can't-put-it-down novel of suspense and horror. I literally devoured it, and was left craving more. Saunders is a marvelous author with the ability to draw you into his world and keep you in a choke-hold until the last chapter. I've not read Mr. Saunders' books before, but I can guarantee this won't be the last one I read. Highly recommended.

I admit it. When it comes to my reading, I'm a completionist. For better or for worse, I finish what I start. I can't remember the last time that my little idiosyncrasy has bitten me in the butt as hard as it did when I read Craig Saunder's Highwayman. So many times I wanted to quit this mismashed bore of a story. But no. I trudged on through the mud of staccato bursts of sentences, multiple points of view storytelling that seemed to lead to nowhere, and a hazy plot that was about as entertaining as watching metal rust. Was it all bad? Not totally, but close. There were, indeed, parts where he'd get the ball rolling and I'd start to get into it only to come to a screeching halt and a new chapter of mundane happenings would be in front of me. I'm sure there's a decent story somewhere in Highwayman. Maybe I don't get what Saunders was trying to create. But, what I read a tedious lesson in patience with no payout for my troubles. Sorry, but I can't recommend Highwayman to anyone.

2 Talking Deer out of 5


This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


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After the loss of his daughter and a horrible plane crash that left him shattered and on life support, Karl finds himself wandering in The Land Between Midnight. His wife Bethany, is home battling against her own conflicted feelings of despair and the days gone by that were full of hope and promise.

If they are to survive individually, they will need to find a way to search out and fight their own demons separately. Only then will they have a shot at redemption. Only then can Karl and Bethany get the justice (and revenge) they seek.

I am a big fan of Craig Saunders and the Highwayman is a good tale, but honestly, a wee fantasy-ey for me and I may have got confused a time or two in the Fog-World. It was still an entertaining read and written well, as I knew it would be from Saunders. 3+ Stars

I really like Craig Saunders' conversational, easy-to-read writing style, and this book is no exception in that regard. It's kind of difficult to categorize this one, because it has elements of fantasy as well as definitely horror, and as usual with Craig's work, some history and mythology thrown in.

The central figures of the story are a couple whose child was murdered, and as is often the case, their marriage is struggling to survive it. The emotions are real and written very well, and having had someone very close to me go through the loss of a child, I really identified with them both.

I don't want to go into too much of what ensues from there due to the risk of spoiling anything, but it delves into the afterlife and how it connects with our world, and its take on that was pretty fascinating. Honestly, there were some parts of it that I really didn't "get" how the connected with the rest of the story, and I pretty much had to accept them at face value - there is a LOT going on here. But that's been true of Craig's other works as well, and as with those, it really didn't detract from my enjoyment any.

This is definitely recommended for folks who like some history/mythology in their horror fiction. The characters are 3-dimensional, and while it gets a little "out there" at times, the payoff is good.

I liked this novel, interesting plot, heard of Green Man, etc. but no specifics. Never heard of the legend of the Highwayman. Recommended. Plot and story took off after the 25% mark. Read the final 75% in one sitting!

This is a hard one to review for me, because this book has so much promise and it wasn't that I didn't enjoy the book, but I found a lot that I didn't understand. For starters I thought the beginning was rushed. I felt it was a bit of a jump from the first death to the second. I would have liked to have seen more story between, such as more of Madeline Rose, as her death was pivotal to the plot and yet she was so lost in the background and there was no way for me to feel a connection to her. I also loved Imke, but her character was so much older sounding than she was in reality. Even with the time lapse, I still felt she sounded even older than that. The main part of this book is Karl seeking out the highwayman who killed his daughter and getting justice, yet in her death scene... there is nothing about him being the one to kill her? I don't know, I'm a bit confused. Despite this, the second half of the story was so good and the detail within the book was so beautiful.

Highwayman is a fantasy/afterlife novel from Craig Saunders. I've really enjoyed his books from the last few years, but couldn't get in to this one as much.

The pacing is very strange. At the beginning we jump forward in time and set up the story of what will ultimately be our protagonist, Kurt, in an innovative and exciting way. After this burst of action, the story slows way down. Kurt's story takes place in another plane of existence, and I didn't connect with the setting. Bethany (Kurt's wife) has her own storyline in our world, and I found this track much more interesting and was disappointed when the story veered away from it. As events finally shake out and lead to the climax I felt like I was fully engaged again, but I spent most of the middle of the book feeling antsy and not that interested.

The ending introduces some new characters in such a way that I thought I was supposed to know who they were. The afterword explains that Highwayman ties in to some of Mr. Saunders other works, so that would explain that, but I felt it could have been handled a little better for readers who hadn't read everything.

I have unabashedly loved what I have read of Craig Saunders over the past few years (check previous reviews for the proof), but Highwayman didn't do it for me. I would recommend starting with the classic Deadlift instead. 3 stars.

Highwayman by Craig Saunders was received direct from the publisher. Craig Saunders is a writer who has always been a no nonsense, non boring dark fiction type author. Highwayman was based on British stories that I had never heard of. This book was kind of hard to read, as it picked up then slowed (WAAAY down), picked up some, causing me to skim a lot. If you like this author or tales that happen between the worlds or the like, this is a good book for you. I like this author but this book was too slow for my liking.

3 stars

After forcing myself to skim a bit today, I'm throwing in the towel on this book.

For whatever reason, it's just not working for me and the pace is too slow.

I may pick it up at another time, then again I may not. This is not a reflection on the author, but instead a reflection of my mindset right now. Your mileage may vary.

A man who is attempting to overcome the loss of his daughter after she drowns, has been contemplating suicide, is involved in a plane-crash. Whilst the plane spirals to the ground he recognises an elderly couple sitting close to him on the plane as being in the vicinity when his daughter died. Were they involved? The drowning scene itself is very harrowing. As he battles between life and death he enters a Fog World where he encounters other beings and a shadowy world which may lead him to the cause of his daughter’s death. Although it had its moments, and was strong on atmosphere, I struggled to get through this book. It was a ghost story of sorts, but it just did not pull me in and large sections were rather dull. The folklore connections and the origins of the Highwayman were interesting enough, as were the sequences with the old couple gathering souls, but with so much high quality horror fiction around at the moment this novel didn’t really hit the mark for me, it might for others though.

Folklore abounds in this dark tale

I had a difficult time finishing this book. I almost gave up at the 58% point. It was just too foo-foo for me. I like more concrete tales, rather than dream-like wispy stories.

It reads like a dark fairy tale, with the last half of the book carrying some gruesome, gory scenes (and actually those were the scenes I liked the best. Macabre but true.).

Karl and Bethany Goodman lose their daughter to a sadistic killer and both lose their way in this world because of that.

Most of the story takes place in the Land Between Midnight, if that tells you anything. I have read similar stories in the past and actually enjoyed them, maybe because they were more rooted in reality.

Oh well...definitely not to my taste.

I received this book from Dark Fuse through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

HIGHWAYMAN, by Craig Saunders, is a complex novel blending elements of horror, revenge, fantasy, and love==both lost and found. Karl and Bethany Goodman had a perfect, loving family until the day their daughter, Madeline Rose, was brutally taken and murdered.

A year later, Karl has distanced himself from Bethany, both physically and mentally, in his grief. When he decides to go back, an unexpected plane crash puts him in a deadly coma. This is where he finds himself in a "fog-land", a world in-between, of sorts. Here is also where his daughter's murderer is, and Karl at once understands his purpose. Although much of what he encounters is fantasy in nature, he is cautioned early on: "Some things can be real . . . even when all else is fantasy. Some things can hurt . . ."

An elusive criminal known as the Highwayman is able to enter and exit the "real" world at will. This is the man Karl must destroy, yet the rules are never clear-cut.

"It was going to hurt. But then, things hurt. You get on with it . . . "

Karl is taken on an emotional journey, rediscovering the love for his wife, the futility of time lost, and the fact that he now has a new role to play in this land of the dead--for those that still have missions left undone.

"Sometimes facts or proof or belief have nothing to do with reality. Reality, it turns out, does 't give a f---."

In his land of "impossibilities", one man will progress and evolve into something more than he once was. The connections he makes and things he bears witness to become his new reality, and he will be tasked with keeping the balance.

". . . things that are true can never be denied."

A surreal journey full of emotion, purpose, and both love and heartache, brought to virtual life by Craig Saunders. It is a trip well worth embarking on.

Recommended.

The HIGHWAYMAN is a story of life, death and love. Once upon a time a bad man killed a child. When later the father died, before he expired, he told his wife what he saw on the other side.

Craig Saunders writing makes this a very easy story to get into. As you get deeper into the tale it becomes more dreamlike and fantastic. I enjoyed reading this version of his take on death and recommend it to all.

I received a digital version of HIGHWAYMAN from the publisher.