I’m a fan of Victor LaValle. So much so I’d request his new Netgalley ARC without doing research into it, on name recognition alone. And sure enough, he doesn’t disappoint. In fact, this might be his best one yet. Not perfect (more on that later), but really, really good.
Do I love Westerns? No, not particularly. I’m not even sure this one qualifies, although it is a novel of American West with the place as prominently featured as any character and deadlier than some.
Into this windblown and isolated Montana setting, a woman arrives. She plans to homestead, taking advantage of the opportunity offered by the government, and to that end she acquires a small remote property. All she has with her is a large heavy trunk.
A trunk that we as the readers watch her leave her parents’ farm with in the stunning first scene. The farm behind her on fire, the bodies of her parents left behind to burn. It’s positively cinematic.
But Adelaide is a woman with secrets. All will be revealed in good time, just you wait.
In Montana, she finds a patchy community of self-determined resolute wind-beaten womenfolk she proceeds to associate with, however reservedly.
But then the trunk is opened and her secret leaps into the world. Danger sighs flash as Adelaide panics. All the while the world around her with the local politics and local powers that be have their own ideas about the land and the people of it…and that’s a different but all too real sort of danger too.
Negotiating her traumatic past and her complicated present, Adelaide proceeds. With a marvelously variegated cast of friends she acquires. And as a reader you can’t help but cheer for them
That’s how emotionally engaging this book is; how well written it is, how exciting it is.
It really is such a great book; one of the few I read and had it play as vividly as a movie in my mind.
But remember that thing about it not being perfect…well (and this might be purely personal), I don’t care for speculative fiction that overpowers itself with messages. Or more like MESSAGES.
While I appreciate diversity (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) in my reading, LaValle seems to really lay it on heavily here. Yes, the book is very Girl-Powered, with a strong feminist message. Yey. Yes, the book features characters of different races and ethnicities and queerness and all that. Yey.
But does it have to be handed quite so heavily?
I mean, almost literally the book is divided so that all the good and moral characters are people of color and LGBTQ+ umbrella and all the evil ones are white sisgendered individuals.
At least the gender thing isn’t as divisive: there’s a nice pair of female villains to counter all those virtuous ones.
But really? LaValle is too good of an author for such unsubtleness.
Then, there’s the ending – so feel-good and quaint for a story that dark, it’s almost jarring. But then again…by then you care about the characters so much, you kind of want that sort of resolution, no matter how twee or over-sentimental.
In the end and overall, this book was a pleasure to read. And a thrill too. The best of both worlds. Wildly entertaining tale of secrets, redemption, forgiveness. Just call it the Sisterhood of the Traveling Trunks or something. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Lone Women opens like a frontier saga about black women finding a safe place to live. The author builds a strong case for why it is so difficult for any woman alone, much less a black woman and, goodness, other than white nationalities. Little one-liners however drop clues that all is not known yet.
When someone gives women power over great odds that seem insurmountable, it is tempting to say, "but of course". Those little clues become the manner Mr. LaValle uses to provide power to the seemingly powerless and level the playing field: a true monster against everyday monsters.
A great romp with zingers when you least expect them.

A complex fairytale about family curses set in the old West, Lone Women is an odd and wonderful story. A murder mystery turns quickly to a classic Western tale of independence and survival, branching out into friendships and families and a touch of fantasy. All the disparate parts blending together into a very satisfying ending.

This is a great horror novel! It's got everything I want in horror: women characters with a wide range of strengths and abilities, queer and trans representation, bringing down corruption, a happy (-ish) ending for the monster, who isn't really a monster, and super-creepy surroundings, ghosts, and lore. Highly recommended.

I'm a big fan of Victor LaValle and as soon as I got this ARC, I jumped right in. Lone Women is the story of Adelaide Henry, a black woman fleeing a dark past to be a pioneer homesteader in 1910s Montana, carrying with her only a single traveling bag and a mysterious steamer trunk. It's a difficult life, and she soon meets a cast of engaging characters, and other lone women like her. The main thrust of the plot is of course what's in the trunk, and all throughout my read I kept yelling, “What’s in the trunk?” all Seven-style. The reveal is satisfying, and propels the subsequent events that kept escalating. LaValle is so adept at ramping up tension, layering complex characterization and a strong sense of place. And it's scary as hell! All that with the incisive social commentary, sharp attention to historical detail, and gorgeous prose–what more could I ask for?

Wow. I have never read anything from Victor LaValle, and so wasn't sure what to expect. This book was great. I really enjoyed the characters, and enjoyed that I wasn't sure where it might be going as I read along. I will definitely need to read prior novels from Victor LaValle, and any future novels. #LoneWomen #NetGalley

Another incredible journey from the mind of a master.
This titillating mix of historical fiction and horror is a mind bending experience. Go into it blind, you'll be rewarded!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the arc!

What a deeply entertaining book! It's a little outside of my normal genre and yet I was pulled into this strange and unexpected story. A little bit western, a little bit of horror, a pinch of magical realism.. and a whole lot of feminine power. Loved it! Thanks for the chance to read an early copy.

An intriguing twist on a little known time and place in American history. The reader will be rooting for Adelaide to succeed while constantly wondering why she ran away from home in the first place. A story full of hope, mystery, friendship, and fear. This was an interesting book.

Adelaide Henry carries a heavy burden. She harbors a steamer trunk full of mayhem and destruction as inescapable as death itself. To hide her terrible secret, Adelaide must disappear, leave California without a trace, and start over as far away as her limited funds will allow. But unable or unwilling to leave the trunk behind, she lugs it with her. Up and coming Big Sandy, Montana seems full of promise, offering Adelaide the anonymity and simple life she desires. Except Big Sandy has dark secrets of its own, a place where scoundrels abound, where hopes and dreams go to die. LaValle’s action is relentless, and his imagination goes way, way outside the box. The story is intriguing, inventive, and filled with wonderfully awful things that engage all of the Reader’s senses. Gentle readers be warned, there is a good bit of gore in this one. Still, a compelling read with plot twists galore.

Lone Women is a perfect blend of thriller, historical fiction and horror in a western setting that shows Victor LaValle's prowess when it comes to characters, setting and overall suspense that crafts a beautiful, sweeping story.

LaValle creates characters that feel realistic and feel like they have been pulled from a history book which lends major respect to LaValle as a writer. Adelaide as a protagonist is written spectacularly and the suspense that is built from the trunk that she is carrying is great as well as other characters including Sam and his mother, the other townsfolk and even the villains are all superb.

LaValle also is great at blending these genres and never falling into cliches that could hurt the book or cause me to want to stop reading and I never felt like that while reading this book.

Lone Women is a must read and one of the best horror books that I have read in a long time!

I have been waiting for so long for a book just like this and it was delivered with tension, fully realized characters, and loooots of mayhem.

My only complaint is that I can’t read it for the first time again.

Unfortunately, I don't think I truly understood this book. I thought when it started it was very intriguing and I was entertained. I thought the premise was unique and I was excited to see where it went. However, as the story progressed, I wasn't really sure where the storyline was going or what was the point. The ending was just as puzzling as the middle. I was left wondering "why". I think my lack of interpretation played into this lack of understanding. Thats all I can think. I wish the best for the author and hope that many people read and love this book. Just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, Victor LaValle, and One World for providing me with an advanced reading copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 5
Pace: 4
Plot development: 4
Characters: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of Reading: 5

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

This was such a fascinating read! My first by the author but I’m intrigued to read more of his because I loved his writing style and the development of the plot. Lone Women had so much mystery that you wanted to keep turning the page.

Adelaide Henry is leaving her family’s farm for the first time in over 30 years, and with her she brings a lot of baggage. Literally. She is bringing a very heavy trunk with a secret she has been protecting for all her life. This secret gets out while she is trying to make a life for herself in Montana, and this is the biggest plot line.

The woman making lives for themselves in Montana are bad asses but each carrying their own secrets which makes for a compelling novel that will continue to leave you hooked each chapter.

Thank you to NetGalley and One World for the eArC!

I will be posting my review on my Instagram, Bookishlyshan within the month.

Creepy, fantastical historical fiction that complicates the stories we tell about the past. LaValle is a master at creating tension. This comes out in the spring, but it would be excellent fall/spooky season reading.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

This isn’t a book I had on my radar, and not one I’d typically pick up. But when the publisher reached out to me and asked me to review it, I decided to give it a chance. And man am I so glad that I did! I am truly blown away by this novel. It is something else, something other, in a class all of its own, and I was hanging onto every word. It’s so much better than I ever could have expected.

Part historical, horror, fantasy, and western - it is all these things and so much more. Set in the early 20th century, the world-building of this story is impeccable. I felt like I was on a journey in the Western frontier, in the harsh, cold, desolate plains of Montana. The culture and society the author builds within the story creates a climate that is representative of the era.

And throughout it all, this story speaks to the difficulties experienced during the beginnings of the womens’ suffragettes movements during this time period, as well as the struggles that people of color and people of other cultures/nationalities faced. We see the enmity and oppression that the characters are confronted with. It is also a story about the bonds of family, especially the consequences when those bonds are strained. It shows the stark impact that a child’s upbringing can have on their life, for better or worse.

This book is gripping in its intensity. The magical comes to life in the most believable way. The story is haunting, full of dangerous creatures and humans alike. Adelaide’s family secret is unlike anything I could have predicted. Creepy hauntings and violent decisions throw the tumultuous plot into a surprisingly twisted chain of events. The story is sorrowful, gory, and completely immersive, with all of the characters enacting their own furtive agendas.

Reading this book is an experience, one I enjoyed immensely. This story is a brilliantly-crafted narrative. Genre-bending novels can be a feat, and this one pulls it off perfectly. I highly recommend this book! The synopsis doesn’t even do it justice. It deserves all five stars and way more hype. This author is definitely now on my favorites list, and I’m looking forward to checking out his other books.

Victor LaValle continues to amaze with his novels. I read The Changeling and the Ballad of Black Tom. Lone Women is just as good as the other two award winning titles. If creepy were a genre, Lone Women would be in it. It has elements of thriller, mystery, horror, slasher, and western. The first chapter starts with a bang and each chapter builds tension and suspense until the conclusion.

Parts of Lone Women reminded me of Percival Everett's The Trees, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Elmore Leonard's western short stories. As in The Trees, Lone Women explores the diversity which existed in the west, in this case Montana, after slavery but before Jim Crow when blacks, indigenous people, and the Chinese were homesteaders. Like Toni Morrison's Beloved, the story is a suspenseful mystery of what really happened to a family. There are family secrets which haunt, literally ghost, the present. Lastly, Lone Women is a western in the tradition of Elmore Leonard, exploring vigilante justice, lawlessness, and the nutty character of people who move to in isolated, habitable lands.

Every element of the novel is masterful. The main characters draw your sympathy. You pray for the five main characters' survival. LaValle makes you feel the hostility of the Montana landscape -- alkaline wells, frozen soil, brutal winds, and blinding night. The landscape is a character and a character builder. The denizens are eroded, hard, cold, and dark. The language is deceptively simple. Again, like Elmore Leonard, the scaled down language makes the philosophical issues interesting but not tedious. There's no preaching and pedantry. Lastly, the book contains unexpected moments of hilarity. Similar to Paul Beatty or Sloane Crosley, LaValle sneaks in unexpected jokes.

No spoilers, but the ending is hopeful. I cried with joy. Part of what I loved so much about The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones was the hopeful ending in which the young female character defeated generational trauma in the form of a demon elk. Lone Women offers a similar sort of triumphant ending.

I am so onboard with Victor LaValle.

So good! Western horror is that a genre? I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into but this writer has a way with words. The characters, the setting, everything just embraces you and comes alive on the page. Several twists I wasn't expecting which made it even better. I fear there is very little I can say without giving anything away but this is not your average homestead finding your place in Montana story.

I feel like I am in the minority with this review. I have never read Victor LaVelle before, so I just might not be used to his style, but the story felt pieced together and did not really reach me as a reader. The story had a good foundation, however, there were little pieces of other characters added to the story that just did not make sense to me. I went back and reread sections wondering if I missed a plot point that connected things, but it's just the way the author wrote it. The ending also seemed to fall flat for me. There was a momentous moment when Adelaide confronts Elizabeth, but then they just move on. I expected more 'drama' in their reunion.

This book may be for some readers, but not for me.