This Author has become one of my favorite authors of all time!
The fact that he has found fresh new ways to tell a story with a vampire character and erase, at least for a quick moment, anything you thought you knew about them and give you a fresh perspective of them, is nothing lest that freaking amazing! This is an “unputdownable” book, so use your time wisely!

<I>"I wanted to go back to those days. I hadn’t watched them with the right eyes, when they were happening."</I>

Following four novels in the world of the slasher, through the eyes of Jade Daniels and Tolly Driver, Stephen Graham Jones has turned on his heels and taken a different direction. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter incorporates supernatural horror alongside true, even more disturbing, events in Native American history. I read advice to do some research into the Piegan Blackfeet, and specifically the Marias Massacre, and I'm glad I did—Jones takes a historical atrocity and uses the story to help exorcise some of those demons, to explore ideas of revenge, and maybe take back some of the power from the napikwan (white people). It's all the richer, all the more devastating, for knowing something about these events before diving in, and I would recommend familiarising yourself with them.

Jones uses a Frankenstein-style framing device, the book opening with Etsy Beaucarne, an academic who needs to get published and is given the opportunity to read a recently discovered journal written by her great-great-grandfather, a Lutheran priest named Arthur. Hoping to be able to use this to gain tenure, Etsy begins to learn about the life of both her ancestor and a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who came to the priest to tell his story—perhaps his confession. This narrative style is in many ways less pronounced than in something like The Fisherman, with Etsy's contributions only bookending the main story, but they do so importantly and with great effect.

At its heart, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a vampiric revenge story, with Jones' take on the creature being unsurprisingly brutal. He adapts the mythology to make it feel a part of the Native American history and creates a character that my feelings changed on throughout the book. Vampires and body horror should be natural bedfellows, and that element is leaned into here—in addition to many, many deaths, both animal and human, there are some truly twisted and grotesque depictions of the creature. Without wanting to spoil any of the surprises, there's imagery here that will stick with me for a long, long time.

I adore the writing here, but it is very typical of Stephen Graham Jones. If someone has struggled with his style in the past, I don't think this is the book that will change it—especially the bulk of the narrative consisting of journal entries from the early 1900s. There's a lot of Native American terms used here, often without much explanation—I'm still not sure which animals are referred to in some cases, with the likes of real-bears, dirty-faces, and sticky-mouth referred to often. As always for me, though, I fell into the rhythm of the writing quickly and adored his more conversational, tale-around-the-campfire style. It worked well in I Was A Teenage Slasher, and it works just as well in the journal format here.

Slow-burn literary horror, crescendoing to set pieces of exquisite brutality and violence, framed within a story of family discovery—The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an equal parts challenging, disturbing, and powerfully satisfying journey. His third novel to be released within a 12-month period, it's easy to make a case for Jones as the best modern horror author.

Thankyou to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this e-ARC.

This is my first time reading a Stephen Graham Jones’ books, and I will be back to read more. The cultural aspect of this book, and Good Stab’s connection to his people and environment mixed with the element of horror was unlike anything I had read before.

I personally think I will revisit this title in the future with the audio version, as I think I would enjoy the story more if I felt like Good Stab was telling me the story the way he is tells Arthur Beaucarne.

My only critique of this book was that it was at times a bit slow and/or a bit too long.

Steeped in history and true horror, Stephen Graham Jones' The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a stunning reinvention of vampire lore that will transport you to the early 1900's American West. The epistolary format, reminiscent of Dracula, pulls readers into a chilling fragmented narrative that unfolds like a long buried secret finally coming to light.

Jones' character work is top tier. Pastor Arthur Beaucarne and Good Stab are vividly drawn, their perspectives rich with sorrow, faith and fury. Jones explores questions of identity and heritage alongside revenge and guilt in the face of the justification of atrocities. The horror hits hard - both the blood soaked violence and the quieter more insidious emotional wounds. Jones doesn't just write monsters - he writes haunted complicated people who will leave you questioning who the real monster is.

This is a slow burn novel where the mystery unfolds gradually, rewarding patient readers with layered revelations. At times the pacing lingers longer than necessary, stretching the suspense past the point of the reveal and yet the characters and their stories remain gripping. The modern day bookends of the novel don't resonate as powerfully as the historical core and I personally found the name 'Etsy' somewhat distracting.

But none of that dulls the impact. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an unforgettable, meticulously crafted work of horror. Thought provoking, terrifying, and impossible to shake, Jones proves why he's one of the genre's greats with a must read for lovers of historical horror and vampire lore alike.

After loving "I was a teenage slasher," I was excited to read another book by Stephen Graham Jones. Sadly, this one just wasn't for me.

It was difficult to read and just went on and on. I wasn't enjoying it, but I pushed on anyway in the hopes it would get better.

I didn't know who was who and, in the end, didn't care.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for the eARC!

"You put your reminders of pain on the wall and pray to them. We still hurt, so we don't need that reminder."

Where do I even begin with how incredible this book was? It's everything I love in a horror novel - suspenseful, jarring, exciting, and like all good horror books, able to make you realize that the real monsters are not as fictional as we may want to believe. Aside from the vampire aspect, I sometimes forgot this was supposed to be a horror novel - the realities of what the Indigenous people of North America experienced when they were colonized are far more horrible than anything found in fiction. The Marias Massacre is just one very real event amongst many of its kind where grievous violence was allowed to happen to Indigenous people.

The take on vampires in the West was so refreshing and so interesting. I loved the author's note at the end where he says that vampire stories are intrinsically time-traveling stories - and this is true to this novel, where we see this Pikuni man turned into a vampire and having to survive this new immortal reality alone while the rest of his people shun him and the world goes on without him.

The characters in this book were great because nobody was really "good", but that's really not the point or realistic at all. I found I really didn't wish to be rooting for one character or another (okay, except for the cats), instead just thoroughly enjoying watching how the events of the story affected and changed them. And as far as main characters go, Good Stab is a damn memorable one.

A slow burn horror that turns tropes on their heads. Extremely well researched and informative historical worldbuilding that invited the reader into the world without feeling preachy or educational. The epistolary element was a great touch, especially with the vampire element, echoing Bram Stokers Dracula in the best way.

"What I am is the Indian who can't die. I am the worst dream America ever had."
I consider it one of the great blessings of my life that every 6 months I get to read a new Stephen Graham Jones book and it's the best thing I'll read for the next 6 months.

Rooted in an actual historical event - the Marias Massacre in January 1870 - this novel is the style of slow build horror that is absolutely my preference. You can really feel the unease and the tension building as Good Stab’s “confession” unfolds and it makes for a very uncomfortable reading experience (in the best way).

The writing style took a little getting used to at first, mostly due to Good Stabs use of words that were unfamiliar to me, but telling the story in journal entries felt like a really nice nod to Dracula.

It always feels weird to say I enjoyed this kind of story but I do think this is easily one of the best vampire fictions I have read to date and it is one I would highly recommend.

I will have to admit that when I first started reading this I was thrown off because it was NOTHING like the Indian Lake Trilogy. But that didn’t last long as I next found myself admiring the way Jones could easily do both. Well.

Yes, in a lot of ways it’s a slow build, but the violence inherent in the westward colonizing of 19th Century America comes through right away, and if one has even a sliver of heart, then you will feel more sympathy for the Blackfeet vampire Good Stab than the for self-indulgent Lutheran Pastor, Arthur Beaucarne (Beaucarne, haha, good one, laughing emoji).

And the wraparound story of this tresayle’s (hint: it’s French) great, great-something granddaughter really adds to the story, in my opinion. She may be a bit pathetic at times (it runs in the family) but she turns out to be a lot stronger than she realizes.

The horror of vampires + the horror of what the white man inflicted on the indigenous people who were here waaaaay before we were here makes for a wonderful revenge/horror story.

And, I should add, what a unique take on vampires! Having written one vampire novel and working on a second, I always enjoy seeing vampires reimagined.

A story of revenge spanning decades, built on a colonial massacre, and threaded with vampire lore.

A story within a story, it lays bare the harrowing violence inflicted on a nation in the name of colonialism. The pace is slow, especially in the first few chapters, but then I got pulled into the narrative and the trap Good Stab weaves. I appreciated the unflinching mirror held up to America's origins—SGJ does not shy away from detail or critique. The paranormal element is introduced gradually, mirroring Arthur Beaucarne’s own skepticism, making for a fresh and compelling take on vampire horror. Personally, I would have preferred the entire novel to be set in 1912. I found the timeline of Beaucarne’s granddaughter less compelling—both in terms of character and how it shifts away from SGJ’s critique of American colonialism in the early 20th century.

It’s hard to explain how much I adored this book - it is a true horror story, and although tough to read at times (both for the storyline and the way that it is written), it sucked me in and I finished it across two sessions - I couldn’t wait to see how the story ended!
Written across two timelines, the book focuses on a diary of a Lutheran priest in the 1910s in Montana and his great-granddaughter reading the diary in our current timeline. Telling the story of Good Stab, a Blackfeet man, Jones did an excellent job of capturing the way of speaking of the time, almost too good a job as it can be difficult to settle in and get used to the writing style. It is an antiquated way of writing and telling a story, and is peppered with Blackfeet words and turns of phrase, which can make it hard to follow the story sometimes (I’m still not sure what some of the animals Good Stab mentioned even are). It is also hard to read because it is based so largely on real life - the awful things that happened in this book happened in real life, over and over again and the native Blackfeet tribes were decimated and unlike in this book, there was no angry vampire ready to take revenge. The atmosphere Jones created and the way he told this story was so novel and fresh, and once you make it towards the last 1/3 of the book is it utterly compelling and unputdownable.
This book at its heart is a revenge story. It is a story that reaches across time and place to explain Good Stab’s point of view and his mission, and it is not hard to feel sympathy for him and root for him to succeed with his revenge, even if it is gory and brutal. SGJ has created a unique and fresh take on horror vampires, and weaved real history and its horrors throughout the book in a way that is so effective and left me thinking about this book for weeks afterwards. Coming from a place where I was not overly familiar with the particular massacre in this book, it was such an emotional punch and really left me shaken. I am obsessed with this book, and if you enjoy historical horror fiction that is sadly based on too much reality, or enjoy rooting for the ‘bad guy’ I really recommend you pick it up when it releases - it’s such a fresh take on vampire fiction and creates an utterly American horror story.

Ok, this book blew me away. Not only because of how good it was, but of how it was written. The slow seductive way the author drags you in, making it seemingly one kind of story, all the while creeping up behind you with the most thrilling and shocking reveal. At first I definitely felt it was more historical than horror, but Jones really does know what he's doing and, much like the Vampire in his story, he dazzles us with this story of death and destruction until it's too late to realise that the predator is standing right in front of us, and we're the prey. I can almost pin point the exact moment when I understood just where the story was going, the moment the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end, when I comprehended just how good a story-teller Jones is and the most brilliant part is that we realise it right alongside the characters in the book.

Buffalo Hunter Hunter is told from three different POV's and over two main timelines. The book starts with Etsy Beaucarne, an academic on the verge of being pushed out of her career, but when a journal is found belonging to her great, great grandfather, she see's this as the perfect chance to finally get published. Arthur Beaucarne, or Three Persons as Good Stab call's him , the son, the father and the holy spirit. A Pastor in early 1900's Montana who comes to hear the confession of our final POV, Good Stab, a Blackfeet of the Pikuni tribe whose story Arthur finds fantastical until he slowly comes to realise the truth. We spend the most time with Arthur and Good Stab, and it's their characterizations that really make this story as special as it is.

Because of the time period Arthur's journal was written in, the writing and speech did take me a minute to get used to. It's archaic in a way, the turns of phrase and words not being used for centuries now, but we also have Good Stab who tells his story using a lot of Native American terminology for animals, places and objects. Blackhorn for buffalo, Sun Chief for the Sun. So while it did take me a minute to get my bearings, it really added to the authenticity of the story, making it almost seem like historical memoir rather than a work of fiction. Though the story is a long one, Jones' chapter structure and how he tells his story doesn't make it feel that way at all. Every Good Stab chapter was broken up by Arthur's own day to day life, as well as his investigation into the 'humps' the bodies found skinned around town. And I quickly found that, thanks in large to Jones choice to end these chapters on some kind of cliffhangers, I was always desperate to return to each POV, wondering just where the story would turn next.

I mentioned earlier that it does take a minute for the true horror to kick in. Good Stab tells his story at his own pace, littering it with flashbacks to his life before he became what he is now, and then following the journey after his turning. Some of his descriptions absolutely verge towards the horrific, but it never felt truly scary to me until we realise just why he chose Arthur to take his confession. But alongside the horror, it's heartbreaking in a lot of ways. Good Stabs story is not a happy one, even discounting the changes after he turned, and it's in these parts, the actual historically true events that we come to see the real horrors. How the Native Americans were driven from their homes, destroyed, raped and pillaged simply for existing in a land someone else wanted. How their beliefs, their culture was dragged away from them in a bid to civilize. But also in how the vampirism in this book worked. How Good Stab slowly turned into what he ate, and the internal battle that came from that. To remain Pikuni he would have to kill and feed from them, but to feed from the napikwan (white people) turned him into those he hated most, the monsters killing his own people. It's already an horrific act of cruelty, but reading it from the POV of someone who experienced this first hand, who saw his people's culture slowly being stripped from them... you can almost understand why Good Stab did what he did, you empathise with his actions and question whether you wouldn't have done the same thing yourself.

But we also can't talk about this book without mentioning it's namesake, because while Good Stab was watching his people get destroyed, killing them himself to retain what small link to them he could, the napikwan were hunting down the blackhorns (buffalo) systematically. Killing them for their hide only and poisoning the bodies so that the Native American people could not feed on them. These events, as well as the likes of the Marias Massacre mentioned in the book actually happened, and I would absolutely read up on them if you haven't to truly understand the horror of this book. But it was Good Stab's bond with Weasel Plume, a young blackhorn calf he saved and raised that became almost the heart of the story. He became the one thing that still tied him to his people, let him believe for a second that he could still be Pikuni, and that plot line pretty much destroyed me emotionally.

I'm still finding my way in the horror genre, still working out what I like and don't, but I think it's safe to say that historical horror is absolutely my jam. This book, Jones' writing style and his slow burn story telling gripped me from almost the first page. It's absolutely a hard book to read, as it should be, especially when dealing with the events that really happened, and I just know it's a story that's going to stick with me for a long time. The horror elements really did scare me, and I think Jones' take on vampire's might just be one of my favourites so far, but there is so much more to it than that, and it ended up being a much more emotional read than I was expecting.

Spanning over a century, and set primarily in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this is one very special story, that effortlessly blends horror and historical fiction.

As far as vampire stories go, this is right up there, with some very unique takes on vampire lore, incredibly visceral and gruesome scenes, and sharp-toothed tension throughout. I was enthralled from the very start and was just so until the very last word. The American mid-west is brought to life so vividly, with the brutality of that period made all the more terrible with the addition of a blood-sucking creature of unknown origin.

The switching narratives from which the story is told do involve mixed writing styles and whilst this took more focus than normal to really follow and absorb, it only added to the immersive experience. The way the plot rachets up during the second half of the book in particular as things come together resulted in some very late nights.

An absolute gem of a book that I know will stick with me for a very long time.

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for an ARC of this novel, and for Stephen Graham Jones for such masterful writing.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter both continues many of the central themes of Stephen Graham Jones' work and offers a fresh take on them. The novel's structure of a story within a story within a story is in conversation with both traditional Piikani storytelling and the classic of the vampire genre Jones is taking on - Dracula. Etsy, a modern academic finds a manuscript of a diary of her ancestor, Arthur Beaucarne, an ageing Lutheran pastor who lived through a series of mysterious murders in Montana in 1912. He was also visited by an Indigenous man, Good Stab, who slowly revealed his story. We follow Etsy, the academic, and then read Arthur's diary which chronicles the story Good Stab tells him during a prolonged confession. The structure is a nod both to the epistolary style of Dracula and the basic concept of Interview with the Vampire, whilst giving something completely unique in the end.

The novel continues the recent trend of representing vampires as monsters, rather than oversexualised larger than life people who happen to murder for a living (looking at you, Anne Rice, for starting this trend). The Buffalo Hunter Hunter has much more in common with 'Salem's Lot and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires than Vampire Diaries or Twilight. However, it turns the 'vampire is a monster' idea on its head in a different way, reminiscent of other recent Indigenous horror (Empire of the Wild comes to mind). The word 'vampire' itself is not used anywhere in the novel, so strictly speaking the supernatural aspect of the story owes more to the German nachzehrer than British and American takes on the Slavic vampyr.

Good Stab, the nachzehrer creature, is an Indigenous man murdered by colonisers during the 1870 Piegan Massacre, which haunts him for the rest of the story. Nevertheless, he is an irredeemable monster by nature, and his identity crisis and shapeshifting are central themes of the novel. His murders of other Pikuni people and his complex relationship with those moments of his existence are front and centre. He is no hero, or even anti-hero, but the slow reveal of his overall motivation and actions is compelling and fascinating. We get every drop of horror of his victims, and the unfairness of their deaths, even as he tries to explain them away or persuade himself that it is the right way for him. Imagine reading Lestat's story properly accounting for the feelings of all of his victims, but strip every ounce of privilege from that decadent aristocrat. The portrayal of Good Stab is something special and unique in vampire/monster literature, and the book is worth reading just for that.

Stylistically, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is towering. The three very distinct narrative voices - Etsy, Arthur and Good Stab - are all executed perfectly. Etsy is a T. Kingfisher heroine in an actually scary and horrifying story. I felt that her parts were a bit thin on the ground, and did not add much to the core of the narrative, although they did bring up interesting questions about generational guilt and generational responsibility. The text of both Arthur's and Good Stab's narratives shows the immense amount of research that went into this book. Yes, there might be slight historical issues here and there, but overall the text gives a very strong stylistic feel of the time and the place, especially evident in Arthur's flowery prose and old-fashioned vocabulary. In the Afterword, the author mentioned that he is sometimes worried that he's giving Erasure/American Fiction in his portrayal of Good Stab and that he is hoping he is not, and as someone who is not Indigenous North American, I am in no position to comment.

The heavy stylisation is at the same time one of the greatest achievements of this novel and one of the things that makes it somewhat challenging to engage with. Coupled with the very slow burn of the first half or so of the narrative, it might make some readers give up on the novel altogether. I almost DNFed it myself, as keeping engaged with the prose and the narrative was hard work. It did eventually pull me in and engross me, and I am so glad I persevered, but it is not the most accessible book out there.

Overall, a very impressive novel that demands attention, concentration and work from its readers.

Of late Stephen Graham Jones has become a read-on-sight author and my god has this emotional and horrific novel enhanced that statement.

The Buffalo Hunters Hunter is both a modern horror and also journal-based horror, much in the same way as Dracula.
Even though I found this a difficult read early on (much is written in a style keeping with the story's time frame), once I became used to reading this gramatic style, I found it only enhanced the reading experience. I became massively immersed, losing hours of my days without realising.
This was a story of massive loss, of faith and brutality on many fronts. It also did a great deal for educating me on the plight of Native American tribes during the formation of the United States. This being a subject which as someone who lives in the UK has very little knowledge of.
I can say with no doubt that this is a work of art in every way. It's characters are so well drawn, each scene is described to near perfection. Damn, I even felt the fear and cold on occasion.
I could write and write about this book for a long long time, but I will leave it at this.
Spectacular storytelling from one of the current era's greats.

Stephen Graham Jones is one of my must-buy authors, and I often purchase his books without even glancing at the blurb. However, I did read this one because it mentioned vampires and Native themes. I found the book to be a slow burn, which I believe was necessary to fully grasp the story's depth. While it may not suit readers looking for a fast-paced narrative, I feel that a quicker approach would not have done justice to the plot. The book immerses you completely in its world, and as someone who is Indigenous, I deeply appreciate the emphasis on storytelling within our culture. That is how I would sum up this book: a true testament to the art of storytelling. I eagerly await my pre-order copy so I can read it again and highlight the sections that resonated with me.

This book was EPIC! I have enjoyed Jones’ previous books and this one was just as good. I went in blind and I was not disappointed. Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book :(. This was my first from Stephen Graham Jones but I don't think I'm the target audience for this. While I don't believe SGJ is a bad writer at all, the slow burn, purple prose just isn't for me and I found it hard to remain engaged. So much so that when something gory happened, I was already too disengaged for it to have an impact.

So while this didn't hit for me, I can fully appreciate and understand the 5 stars reviews and like I said, SGJ is not a bad writer at all and I did enjoy the Native American history that he added in.

This line is a banger though: “What I am is the Indian who can't die. I'm the worst dream America ever had.”

Contemplative and just so thoughtfully written. This was my first Stephen Graham Jones and I am delighted it was. An almost gentle horror for the most part. I adored the chapters and found the writing delicious.