A HUNTER CALLED NIGHT - Tim Waggoner


 It was nearly ten years ago when I first read a Tim Waggoner novel (Night Terrors) and I was impressed enough with the outrageousness and originality that I've been seeking Waggoner's books ever since. He has really become a major force in the horror fiction world.

In A Hunter Called Night, a man known as Arron is on the run.  He is keenly aware that he is likely to die at any moment, but he is unwilling to simply give up. He is running from the Hunter known as 'Night' and he has been running from her for many years now when he reaches the relative safety of a building in which Night cannot enter.

To ferret Arron out, Night creates Blight which slowly transforms the building where Arron is hiding, and all of the people inside of it, into something disturbing and otherworldly. Will Arron leave the relative security of the building, slowly transforming and its unknown dangers to face the known hunter, Night and her feline beasts, 'harriers'?

Arron has been chased before and there have always been casualties in the hunt, but now, some of the survivors of previous hunts have banded together and are doing some hunting themselves ... hunting the hunter, Night.

Waggoner isn't shy in his horror writing.  This will be dark, grotesque, and full of keenly described bodily horrors. If you don't respond well to a high 'ick' factor, this isn't for you.  But unlike the splatter-punk genre of horror, Waggoner uses his descriptions to really provide the full horror of a situation, not to just try to gross the reader out with gore.

I did find the creativity of the concept to be highly engaging and the writing is smooth and enchanting.  It's almost as though Waggoner is the Hunter, lulling the reader in.

There were moments of cloudiness when I didn't quite follow what was happening.  Sometimes this added a level of unease but sometimes it just made me confused.

I don't think I could read only Waggoner - it's just a bit too intense - but when I'm in the mood for a good, solid, horror story, Tim Waggoner is definitely a go-to author.

Looking for a good book? A Hunter Called Night by Tim Waggoner is a powerful, sometimes gross, easy to read novel that ratchets up the horror to intense levels.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

A Hunter Called Night

author: Tim Waggoner

publisher: Flame Tree Press

ISBN: 9781787586345

hardcover, 256 pages

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