West by God

[cornerofmadness]

West by God by Tyler Bell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was on the fence about this book. It was a 3.5 read for me but I decided to round up because it's an indie book. I think what bothered me about it is the supernatural/horror aspects didn't appear until the last quarter of the book (Barring Adelaide's dreams) and it felt unbalanced as a result. Honestly, it felt like this story could have been told without the supernatural entirely and ended up in pretty much the same place. That bothered me.

CW - racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, religious trauma

Adelaide is a newspaper reported in Charleston WV who is sent to small town, WV (Targrady) to cover the mutilation/murder of an eighteen year old African American boy, Julien Burr. Before she gets there she is emailed a picture with a time stamp that should prove that the two suspects, White Supremacists, are innocent and being framed by the African American sheriff (whose family is the top tier of people in town) She's the only reporter to both to listen to this blanket email.

In town she meets another female reporter (tv news) and they instantly bond which she needs because she's now far from home and realizing she's pregnant which becomes a huge worry as she delves deeper and deeper into this case.

Adelaide is confronted with religious leaders spewing hate, abusive husbands, violent White Supremacists (so yes expect a lot of racism and homophobia between these three groups) and a sheriff who would rather she leave town. Everyone would rather that in all honesty but a storm strands her there.

She also finds some unlikely allies in the local diner and among the transgendered (and not) prostitutes and potential sources of information in the Pirate radio station that she stumbles over. As for the paranormal, there isn't much to say that doesn't spoil everything other than she keeps having bizarre dreams. As I mentioned above I don't think the supernatural part was handled nearly as well as the thriller part.

The ending was satisfying and over all I did think it was well written.



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