A very atmospheric book, but I found it very dark with many disturbing characters. I never connected to the characters, even with Carol who is arguably the most likeable. However, I can see this book appealing to others, so I'll encourage others to give it a try.

This a very good interesting read . Full of outlaws guns and science fiction fantasy it is very different read . I guess the best way to describe this is a cross between Deadwood and sleeping Beauty ..Carol Evers slips into comas and appears to be dead and falls into a void she calls Howltown . Her husband Dwight decides he wants to keep her in the coma and tells everyone she is dead . Throw in a villain called Smoke and hero James Moxie Determined to save Carol,and you are in for a fun extremely unusual ride

My rating (***) -- The book keeps you guessing from the start, first about what kind of world the story takes place in, then about the mystery central to the book. There is an otherworldliness about it that progresses to horror. I have to say that I did not like being inside one character's head. I also thought the book ended with unanswered questions.

I felt the world-building/timeline was far too jarring/abrupt to really get into. While Carol's 'condition' was interesting, I don't think it was explained well enough to make any connection to. Thus, when she goes under the first time, I had no investment in the character and stopped reading. I'd love to see more done with more detail and development at the start.

For a thriller, the novel seemed to be stuck in first gear. I made it to 18% of the novel and decide to put it down. The storyline seem like a good one for the description, reading seemed to be very slow paced.

"I'm a thing old enough to know that old was once young and that because young becomes old there is not love of life, only a fear of decay."

Unbury Carol is sort of a mash up between a spaghetti western, the Brother's Grimm's Sleeping Beauty and do I dare say it, a Quentin Tarantino movie? I could seriously see Tarantino doing a movie with this book. Some of the characters are almost cartoonish such as Smoke - and I do mean that in a good way. He is a nasty piece of work.

I am not a fan of westerns, True Grit and a couple of others are the exception to this. I'll be honest. I requested this book because I LOVED Bird Box. I was hoping that this book would be in the same vain - it's not. It's unique and as I stated it feels like a mash up of the various interests of the Author. Having said that, this book started slow for me then my interest grew and I was intrigued.

Carol Evers has a secret that very few know - she slips into coma's. She appears to be dead but has a slight very hard to feel pulse. While in her comas she literally falls into a place she has named Howltown. After the funeral of her close friend, she slips into one of her comas, and her devious husband, Dwight decides to make his move. He has married Carol for her money and now that she appears to be dead, he decides to Cash in. He plans to bury her alive and feels no one in town will be the wiser. But being devious makes a man paranoid, so he hires another man, by the name of Smoke to kill the only other person who knows about Carol's condition - her former boyfriend, the famous outlaw, James Moxie. Moxie is famous for killing a man in a duel without even pulling the trigger. No one knows how he pulled this off and for this reason he is feared.

"Can a man set right his past?"

Dwight has a right to be afraid because James Moxie has received word of Carol's "death" and he has sent a telegram stating that she is "not dead". James takes to the infamous and dangerous "Trail" in hopes of arriving in time to save Carol. He has tremendous quilt over leaving her upon learning her secret and wants to set things right. Along the way, James encounters those who idolized him and want to help such as Rinaldo and Moxie's former partner, Jefferson.

"A hero is always recognizable to those who adore him."

Along the way, the reader learns about Moxie's past and his feat of "magic" during a dual. Moxie is also haunted by Rot who does not want Moxie to arrive to save Carol. Rot, I akin to a demon or a devil. Moxie is in a ways also wrestling his own demons as he makes his way along the trail in hopes of rescuing Carol.

"I am present when things fall apart."

Then there is Smoke, hired by Dwight to catch James Moxie on the trial and prevent him from saving Carol's life. Smoke has his nickname for the obvious reason that he likes to burn things, he is also crippled and walks on fakes legs. Legs he uses to hide the oil he needs to start his fires. He is a scary man and is feared by all who he encounters. Smoke is scary and dangerous. He enjoys what he does and has no problem taking life. He gets off on watching things burn.

"Hell, I let you live. You wanna live, doncha?"

I'll be honest, when I started this I thought "WTF am I reading?" I also felt like Annie Wilkes from Stephen King's novel Misery.. I wanted to say "What is this Cock-a-doodie book about, Mr. Man?" But I kept with it, because I loved Bird Box, and this book grew on me. Honestly, at first I didn't know if I liked this book or not. It is one that I thought about a lot as I read and after...but that is what I kinda love...when a book has me scratching my head trying to figure out if I like it or not. One that stays with you and you are not sure why. This is one of those books. It's very clever and as I mentioned Quentin Tarantino earlier, this book felt very much like a Tarantino movie to me, not in way in the story or plot but in the feel of it.

I will say that I wanted more excitement at the end. More of a BOOM, if you will. Things got tidied up pretty fast and I would have liked a little more action. But there were a couple of surprises as the end. One that I did not see coming. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was great storytelling. This book is very clever, strange, entertaining, and fun.

I received a copy of this book from Random House publishing - Ballantine and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to them

My gosh, what an extraordinary story! The tale takes place, I think (because it's not mentioned... or I didn't find it) in the late 1800's. Carol is inflicted with a most unusual and aggravating condition: She frequently falls into a strange death-like state, one where she is so deep in this "coma" that doctors can't even detect a breath or a heart beat. This is, of course, devastating for those who love her... not so much for those who wish her harm, like her husband. But don't despair, because an old and dangerous friend of Carol's is on his way to protect her. Loved this book, and would like to see a sequel...??