This was well written, and I see how it could be the best book for a lot of people but I just could not engage... Like it was a struggle for me. Maybe I was not in the right mindset? Either way the book deserves at least 3 stars because the writing was great. I feel bad not liking it as much as everyone else.

An epistolary novel that follows a vengeful Indigenous vampire in 1912 in the Old West/Frontier? LOVED! I liked this more than I thought I would and was hesitant at first because I recently read Wister’s “The Virginian” and strongly disliked it, but this novel got me out of the Old West slump “The Virginian” put me in. This is not my favorite novel of all time, but I loved the characters, the diary feel to it, the details involved, and the original plot that tied the setting and the characters together.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!!

This, I believe, is the story of America...

This epistolary story is told in three parts. We have Etsy Beaucarne, a Communication and Journalism professor who is looking for a pathway into tenure by finding something important to publish. She thinks she gets her chance when she is contacted about a recently-found journal from 1912 maintained by her great-great grandfather, the Lutheran minister Arthur Beaucarne, ending right before his disappearance. Arthur's journal covers his series of encounters with a Blackfeet Indian man, Good Stab, who reveals to Arthur that he is a vampire - something Arthur refuses to believe, but will by the time Good Stab is done with his confession...

This is definitely and without qualification, the best story I've read from SGJ. He did something with vampires I didn't think you do could anymore - something new! They are glorious and I can't stop thinking about the way they function. I was extremely impressed with how each narrator sounded completely different from each other; I was never confused as to whose part of the story I was in. Good Stab's sections especially cut me to the bone. It is a slow-moving tragedy, with bursts of pure horror. I was on the edge of my seat, turning page after page. I even had to put the book down twice when I knew a terrible decision had been made that would have dire consequences, but this story is being told to us after-the-fact, and I knew it had already all gone wrong. This book is like a hand cupped to your eyes, forcing you to watch every moment of the white supremacist genocide attempt against the Blackfeet, to force you to listen to every excuse made for it after the fact, to feel pain. It made my heart hurt in a way no other horror novel has.

Unfortunately, I also must say this is terrible epistolary writing. SGJ has smacked face-first into one of its biggest pitfalls: constant quoted conversations between people recorded hours after the fact. It's SO bad. But... the sections from the perspectives of Good Stab and Arthur work because I forget that I'm reading a "journal" and fully buy it because it feels like I'm reading a memoir instead, and those often have long passes of quoted text you know aren't actual, direct quotes. Good Stab in particular is literally giving a verbal memoir to Arthur. It's poor Etsy that's the weakest link. Even a first-time journaler wouldn't be writing the way she does as she discusses her life and the diary. She makes very trite comments directed at "hackers" (the only people she can imagine ever reading her Word document) and also records sections verbally. Some of these passages breached into "note you pick up in a bad horror game" territory. It is a testament to the heart and the horror of the story that this glaring flaw doesn't reduce my opinion of it. It rises above its faults. This is going to be the 2026 Stoker winner for Novel, I'm calling it now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Stephen Graham Jones has a peculiar style of writing that takes getting used to. I have read all of his books up to date and was really excited for The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

Sadly, try as I did, I just could not get into this one. The writing seemed a bit trickier to navigate than usual with me having to research quite a few words to just understand what was being said. The pacing was too slow and the story just didn’t ramp up.

With that being said, Jones is still a spectacular writer but for whatever reason, this one just wasn’t for me. I do recommend fans of Jones to still give it a read and if your new to Jones, perhaps start with another of his novels first because as I said, his other books are fabulous!

Thank you NetGalley and Saga Press for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

There are a lot of things I didn’t learn about my country’s history until I got to college. One of these things was the decades-long efforts by the US Army to hunt the American bison to extinction, as part of the larger war on Indigenous peoples conducted by the American government. The idea—schemed up by General William Sherman and General Philip Sheridan—was to cut off the primary source of food and supplies for Plains tribes to make them more “amenable” to being forced onto reservations. That I’ve been able to see bison on my visits to Yellowstone National Park is a miracle. American bison are a glorious animal and the fact that we almost lost them, that they were hunted, skinned, and left with their meat poisoned turns my stomach. All of this is to say that, even though I shouldn’t cheer on the efforts of Good Stab in Stephen Graham Jones’s excellent new novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, I couldn’t help applauding the extermination of some white buffalo hunters.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is built up of many layers of story-tellers. First, Etsy Beaucarne receives word of a very fragile journal purportedly written by one of her ancestors. The journal has to be handled incredibly carefully because even the gentlest touch will cause it to disintegrate, due to burn through from the iron gall ink used to write it. Through Etsy, we get to read the words of Arthur Beaucarne, a Lutheran pastor who lived and worked in Miles City, Montana before the First World War. And through the elder Beaucarne, we hear the incredible story of Good Stab. (The layers get even deeper when Good Stab recounts stories from others.)

For reasons of his own, Good Stab arrives in Miles City in 1912 to tell his story to Beaucarne. It’s hard not to be skeptical of what Good Stab says, initially. For starters, he claims to have been born in the 1830s, although he’s far too young-looking and spry to be that old. Good Stab claims to have been attacked by a monster he calls the Cat Man—a creature those familiar with Dracula will recognize. He tells Beaucarne that he’s still walking around even though he’s been fatally wounded many times. Good Stab doesn’t drink water and even candlelight hurts his eyes. Beaucarne is swept up by Good Stab’s story—how could he not?—though he grows very uneasy when Good Stab starts to drop hints about an 1870s massacre of Blackfeet by the US Army.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a slow burn of a novel, punctuated by scenes of gristly violence as Good Stab fights his shadow war against enemies of the Blackfeet and the buffalo. Graham Jones is a master of blending real history with supernatural horror. And, just as he does in his Indian Lake trilogy, Graham Jones is so good at describing his wild settings that you can smell the pine and the bite of a prairie winter wind. He’s even better at creating morally complicated figures that, while I can understand (some) of their motivations, I would never want to meet on a dark night (or ever). I worry a bit that all of these superlatives might be too much hype but The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an astounding novel.

This is my second book from this author, and I have twice now enjoyed the themes and storytelling they portray. But I would not recommend this book as someone's first book with them.
It was great to tell this story as an old gothic tale set in early 1900s Montana while intermingling Native connections, though the writing was sometimes pseudo-realistic for the times.

One of the most compelling books that Stephen Graham Jones has written to date. Really really enjoyed this one.

An incredible work. Gruesome. The homage to Dracula is clear, but worked in a new way that is specifically Indigenous and American. The build was slow, but the ending was as punchy as I could have hoped for.

Stephen Graham Jones delivers another mesmerizing, unsettling tale with The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. It's a blend of historical fiction and horror.

The biggest complaint I have about this book is that the writing style is dry and drags on unnecessarily. Regardless, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter delivers. It’s an unsettling but rewarding read.

This was fantastic. Probably my favorite Stephen Graham Jones book. The only reason that I'm giving it 4 stars is because it felt extremely long and dragged a bit. I would probably give it 4.5 because of that. The other issue I had was that there were a ton of words that I didn't understand, which made parts of the book confusing. That's not a huge deal, but I think a glossary at the end would help a bit with some of the terminology and names, because there are quite a few points where I had no idea who or what the narrator was talking about. Everything else was great, though. Even though it is sort of like a western version of Interview With the Vampire, it's still probably the most unique vampire story I've ever read. I loved the setting, the lore behind what happens when they drink blood from different animals was really neat, and I was dying to know where everything was going the entire time. I think if maybe like 50 pages were trimmed to make it a bit more concise, it would have dragged a lot less and for sure be a 5 star book. Thanks for the ARC! I really enjoyed this.

Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a historical horror novel about vampires. I ended up really enjoying this book. It is told through a series of journal entries that are found in 2013 and being read by a woman who is a descendant of the man who wrote this journal in the early 1900s. The storytelling and the writing did take me awhile to get into and I struggled a bit at first, though I admit that was likely a me issue since I was very sick at the time. But it really started to grow on me and I enjoyed the unraveling of this story of Arthur and Good Stab. It is definitely very gory but I liked learning about this retribution and revenge. Honestly, good for him.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Stephen Graham Jones
ARC viewed courtesy of Saga Press and NetGalley

To call The Buffalo Hunter Hunter a western Interview with the Vampire would be a terrible oversimplification. Stephen Graham Jones’ latest novel is a compelling blend of gothic horror and historical fiction, interlaced with magical realism derived from Native American mythology.

It begins in 2012, with academic Etsy Beaucarne, alerted to a 100 year-old journal discovered hidden within the wall of an old Lutheran parsonage. It is the journal of her great-great-grandfather, Arthur Beaucarne, a German-American Lutheran pastor in Miles City, Montana, written in 1912. Here he documented the “confessions” of a mysterious Blackfeet indian, Good Stab, mainly relaying events beginning with what was the Marias Massacre of January 23, 1870.

Written in three different timelines, from the POV of the three main characters, with period-correct grammar and thought process unique to each character. The characters are complex, lusciously peeled back layer by layer as the story progresses. The writing and pacing keep you on your toes, with gradually building suspense and dread.

It is a novel of transformation, from the innocent Weasel Plume to the man Good Stab, to the monster Takes No Scalps / hero Fullblood. It is about how revenge can transform us. It is about injustice and genocide, about treating “others” as subhuman, about revenge and atonement, about the death the plains buffalo and of a way of life.

"What I am is the Indian who can't die. I'm the worst dream America ever had."

Living a stone’s throw from “the Backbone” (GNP), this novel was a particular treat for me, learning the significance to the Blackfeet of days gone by (and of today) of places that heretofore have been mere attractions and hiking spots. Also precious is the insight into Blackfeet cultural heritage and mythology. Lastly, if this book only makes you learn about the Marias Massacre, it would have been well worth it. I have read quite a bit of SGJ, and I must say this, I think, is one of his best works.

5 stars

CW: Graphic violence, rape, sodomy

I’d not read a Stephen Graham Jones book before but this one had an interesting premise so I gave it a shot. I am not sure if this is the usually style of writing for him but it was just not one I enjoyed or could really get into. It felt like everything was almost written in a backwards, overly wordy style and I found myself having to look up way too many words to even figure out the meaning. The Indian Good Stab’s whole POV was exhausting to follow and I still don’t know what some animals he referred to are. Everything felt like it was written to feel intentionally over your head. I loved the historical aspect but overall, this wasn’t a book for me to really enjoy and feel interested in.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read and review this book and give my honest opinion.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a love letter to Montana and a unique take on the vampire mythos - a blood soaked and gore stained journey through the "Wild West" from past to present.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter follows three narratives: Etsy's POV reading through her great grandfather's recently found journals in hopes of writing a tenure worthy piece on the subject, Arthur Beaucarne's POV as a pastor writing the tales of one of his more mysterious constituents, and Good Stab's POV as a Pikuni narrating the story of his life...and afterlife.

I enjoyed the setting, especially because I have been to the majority of locations mentioned in the novel and I think that helped a lot. Chief Mountain is just a stones throw away from the very place I call home, Glacier National Park is right in my backyard, and I've visited many of the towns mentioned in the novel as well.

The book, overall, was slow. It built off the historical setting, the locale, and the vibes for the majority of the novel with punches of gore here and there. I had expected a lot more vampire-ness(?) but it was more a story about human morals and generational guilt/trauma. It was good, but I just wanted...more.

4.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for this arc! I’ve only read one other book from Stephen Graham Jones, but I really enjoyed it and was elated to be approved for this one.

SGJ is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors for his unique story telling. This book is told through a journal of a woman’s great grandfather, who was having conversations with an indigenous man named Good Stab. This story includes some of the experience of reading this journal in present times, the mindset of this white man in 1912 while hearing this story, and the experiences of Good Stabs life. All of this comes with a bloody vampire-like twist that keeps the story eerie.

As per usual with a SGJ book, throw everything you know about horror writing out the window. This book was dark and gruesome, however not just from the on-page gore. This book centers around the experiences of indigenous people in North America during the mid/late 1800s and early 1900s. It has a unique approach to bringing awareness to the atrocities occurring during this time period, both to the indigenous people and the land itself. It is a bit slow, but the underlying tension that develops as the story goes keeps it intriguing.

Stephen Graham Jones is a phenomenal author and I was so excited to be able to get my hands on The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. I'm not sure what I was expecting but when I started to read this book just wasn't it, I felt like I was reading a chemistry textbook. Nothing made sense, everything was dry, and I had a hard time even staying awake. Super disappointed in this one, for a horror story falling asleep just wasn't what I wanted.

Told in the form of 100-year-old journal entries, interspersed with the modern-day commentary of a descendant and researcher, this book provides a supernatural explanation for the very real Marias Massacre in the form of a Pikuni vampire seeking revenge.
I was really excited for this, but unfortunately I am reviewing at about 15% completion, with the intention to try it again later.
I should have known, given that I've read some other SGJ, that the writing style would be difficult for me to engage with. If you are someone who likes or at least doesn't mind reading prose in the style of early 1900s diaries, this is for you. The 3 star rating is my personal opinion that stems from my shortcomings as a reader - this felt too narrative, like a screenplay, where I prefer books with more character immersion. Other than my inability to grasp the value here, objectively, it is well written with SGJ's trademark talent and flair. I just don't like it enough to keep reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: I talked about this in one of my recent booktube videos and I will do so again for this books video. Stephen Graham Jones writes two distinctly different kinds of books. Either they are slasher horror or historical horror. I have LOVED every slasher horror I've read from him. I wish I were able to enjoy more of the historical ones. This is not his fault, it's mine. I really struggle to keep up with the story and understand the metaphors, deeper meanings, etc. With his books, because they are incredibly so well written and cerebral, I feel like I can't understand enough of the story to read it. If you liked The Only Good Indians you will love this.

I think in the future I will try again to read this but with a pen and highlighter like it's a text book. I want so desperately to love it but I just didn't understand it. This is not a bad review, it's more of a me problem. I mostly just want people to know that if you like his more historical stuff Only Good Indians you will love this. If you're more in the camp of I Was a Teenage Slasher you may struggle. If you're lucky enough to understand both, well, you go girl.

This was my first book by Stephen Graham Jones. This was an interesting read! I enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more books in this genre.

Etsy is given her great grandfather’s journal from 1912 which tells the story of his interactions with Good Stab- a member of the Blackfeet who tells him he wants to make his confession. As a Lutheran minister, this should not be a big deal but it quickly becomes obvious that both men have something to hide. Great historical novel/ vampire tale.
The language at the beginning was a bit daunting- I had no idea what some of the animals were- but it became easier the farther the novel progressed.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC- my opinions are my own.