4.5/5 stars! Grave robbers! Murder! Lovecraftian cosmic horror!

TL;DR - Surprisingly rich world building for only 150 pgs. Vivid, gory details while still somehow remaining tasteful? I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I cared about the good guys and loathed the bad guys. I appreciated that this book, although written by a white man, pays a lot of attention the historical black experience in early America. The black characters in this book were complex, neither purely good nor bad, but REAL. Also, the saviors were black men. There was no "white savior," pretty refreshing tbh.

Set in post-revolutionary New York City, medical science is in the midst on revolution. Cadaver dissection is illegal, but how are doctors supposed to learn about the human body if they can never see inside one? Resurrection Men were hired by doctors to steal bodies of the recently deceased from their graves to be used to dissection. Shady, but ultimately necessary right?

During this time, the majority of the black population in the newly formed United States were still enslaved and those that were free were hardly considered to be people by most white men. Because of this, the cemeteries for people of color were robbed more than that of whites.

Also common was prostitution and these women would often go missing with no one who "mattered" caring to look for them. They disappeared and were gone forever. Murder as a method of procuring bodies for anatomists is not fiction, it actually happened (search Burke and Hare). The author runs with this idea with an even more horrific twist! Doctors murdering people to try and bring forth the elder gods to our plane of existence!

Our protagonist, Salem, is a recently free black man that fought on the colonial side of the revolutionary war and earned his freedom because of it. Being one of the few literature people in his community, he is roped in fighting for the rights of those buried at the black cemeteries and their families. Sometimes, the necessary thing feels very wrong and Salem finds himself doing some unholy things in an attempt to prompt a law banning the stealing of bodies.

Without giving away too much, Salem gets into trouble with the cultist doctors and chaos ensues! It ends in a total cliffhanger and I think I must read the next installment to see what happens next.

*I received an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for my fair, unbiased review.*

Over-written and remarkably misogynist and racist, despite what I'd hoped early on would be a black hero figure, this novella describes the work of white doctors who are intent on bringing forth Lovecraftian horrors into post-Revolutionary War New York. The gore and body horror is described in minute and tedious detail, and the inclusion of stereotypes like the sexy exotic black sex worker with the good soul makes this a definite miss.

Thank you to NetGalley, Michael Patrick Hicks and High Fever Books for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review

A beautifully written tale, blending historical fiction and cosmic horror with vivid imagery and not for the faint of heart.

This novella is fast paced, unputdownable and straight to the point. The imagery is powerful, and has the potential to make you squirm. It's gory, but I didn’t find it overpowering. Lack of equality features, you feel the disparity, the anger, the emotion and it all makes it all feel quite real, putting you there and making you feel the same way.

Salem is a well flushed out character that you cannot help but to like, fighting for what is right. I look forward to seeing what he gets up to next.

The novella ends fairly abruptly, but it is a series so we just have to wait on the edges of our seats for the next one!

This is my first read by Michael Patrick Hicks, and I will definitely be reading more!

3.5 stars.

Sadly, this book didn't work for me on several levels. I'm a fan of Michael Hicks and that makes my disappointment all the worse. I wasn't able to connect with the characters, which is always a problem. I saw several elements that felt borrowed from a some other stories. The story failed to hold my attention and I forced myself to keep on going. If the author reads this, I'm sorry man. It just didn't dig it.

Salem is now a free man after fighting for the colonies to free this new land from original tyranny, only to find another war here at his home after one of his good friends wife's and baby's graves was robbed. They claim they rob graves to further medicine, but some go to far, the Resurrectionist, doing things that might wipe out the new colonies and possible the world if they are not stopped for they know not what they are doing.

This is another wonderful book by author Michael Patrick Hicks, I really like his style of horror. This book was a bit different since it was set so far back in time but it worked so well, it made it so interesting. Hicks has a way of painting the whole picture for you in detail but at the same time not being wordy, he makes me feel as though I am really there seeing everything in full gruesome color. I love his characters and I can not wait to see what happens with Salem in the future.


this will appear on my blog on 6-4-2019

★★★✯☆

Right. Let’s get one thing straight up front – I’m a massive wimp. I find squirm at gore and used to run from my bathroom to my bedroom as a kid because I was convinced that the toilet witch would murder me during a midnight pee.

HOWEVER. Horror books have always piqued my interest because you chose the pace. You can hide from the pages for a few days until you’ve mustered up your courage. It was time for me to brave the world of scary books.

The Resurrectionists caught my attention for a few reasons:
1. It’s a novella so a good way to dip my toe in without committing to a beast of a book.
2. It’s historical fiction. Enough said there.
3. It sounded bloody awesome.

So why only 3 ½ stars, Jen. WHY? Because I feel like it could have been so much more.

Yes I found myself wiggling around on the bus when things got gory
Yes, I tore through the book because I was gripped by the story.
Yes, it’s intriguing, brilliant and creative.

You follow the story of the baddies and the good guys through the cleverly twisted retelling of the 1788 New York Doctor’s Riots and, thanks to an impressive amount of character work for such a short book, you’ll find yourself wanting Salam to triumph over the evils that the resurrectionists unleash on the earth.
Side note: part of me wanted things to go completely tits up and for the weird tentacle monsters to just run rampant on the city, but a girl can’t have everything.

All sounds great, right? Here’s the downside – you’ll be right into the story and then it just ends. It’s a little too abrupt for my liking and it felt like the start of a bigger book. I get it. It’s part of something bigger and there’s more to come, but I just wanted more.

Two final things:
1. This isn’t for the weak stomach. It’s gory AF.
2. That cover is BEAUTIFUL.

Blog will be published on 28th May.

Cosmic horror at its finest! I loved every page of this book. The descriptions are solid and take you immediately into the scene, which is no small thing given the content of these scenes. There is a lot of gore, and a lot of terror, and you have a front row for it all. We get to rip into another dimension, and believe me when I tell you, there are NOT nice things waiting to greet us there. This book gives us flawed characters with all the weakness and petty desires we humans love to dwell upon, and it shows the awful and spellbinding results of those urges.

I am delighted to find out this is the first in a series! Bring on the next read, Mr. Hicks!

A very well written and dark Lovecraftian tale from Mr. Hicks.

The plague doctors are looking to rip open the “thinnies” and bring forth the creatures that lurk behind the curtain.

They just might do it, too.

Another super solid effort from MPH and highly recommended.

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*An ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion.*

I came to this looking for a good old-fashioned horror story and I was not disappointed, although somewhere in the middle of the carnage and viscera I did wonder why I do this to myself. I really liked the character of Salem Hawley and wish there had been more of him. I suppose something needed to be saved for the future of the series. I also appreciated the utilization of a somewhat underrepresented time-period (post-Revolution, pre-Civil War), and the usage of the events leading to the New York Doctors' Riots of 1788 as a backdrop. I understand why this is considered "Lovecraftian" but I would recommend this to those who like their cosmic horror a little less cerebral and a lot more somatic. Congrats, Mr. Hicks. I was totally grossed out.

The Resurrectionists was a deliciously dark and tortuously good rollercoaster ride of cosmic horror. I’m so glad to see that it’s the first in a series as Mr Hawley’s work clearly isn’t through and I am already eager to read more of his adventures.

Salem Hawley is a former slave living in late 18th century America and recently having earned his freedom, fast learns that being a free man just means you don’t know from which way the oppression or beatings will come

The underlying theme of this novella is the strong sense of community that the recently freed slaves have and how, on some level, they each depend on one another to get by. Whether it’s writing a letter for those too illiterate to do so for themselves or taking up arms against those oppressing one of their fellow ex-brothers in chains.

The Resurrectionists focuses on those in the medic profession who unearth bodies to use in their experiments. Not simply experiments to further the human understanding of medicine. As cruel as stealing bodies is, that would be a noble and forgivable reason compared to the actual reason … desecration in the name of calling forth cosmic gods of darkness to our mortal plane.

In the opening line of this review I said that it was ‘tortuously good’. That wasn’t just a pretty tagline or play on words. That’s a genuine clue as to what to expect. If you don’t like reading of torture in extravagant detail then this book most certainly is not for you. You pretty much get hit in the face with a vast array of human suffering right from the get go.

Also, if racism (the N-word in various forms gets thrown out quite a lot, as do senseless beatings) then do yourself a favour and do not read this as you’ll only give the author a poor review score, which he genuinely does not deserve.

The Resurrectionists is a fantastic novella-sized offering of the dark and sadisticness of human nature from a time that is thankfully long in the past. The novella is set in 1788 and, as such, the Doctor’s Riot focuses heavily in this piece. The author did take a few liberties, as any good historical fiction author is want to do (after all, history doesn’t always happen in such a way that accommodates the sudden appearance of cosmic gods of darkness), but does so in such a way that does not detract from the story and his liberties blend in seamlessly.

I’ve enjoyed the fiction of Michael Patrick Hicks for a couple of years now, an author who specialises in blending fast-paced pulpy horror with a smattering of science fiction, check out Mass Hysteria or Broken Shells for some terrific examples of his work. I raise this in the opening paragraph of this review because The Resurrectionists is a major departure from this pulp-horror blue-print. I appreciate authors attempting to stretch the boundaries of their writing and Hicks succeeds admirably well in this outstanding change to direction. Taking us back to the 1780s for an intriguing tale of cosmic horror and grave-robbing, set in America a few years after the country gained its independence by kicking out the British overlords.

Kindle readers can always appreciate a fine work of fiction when they are cursing the author at the end. Why? The Kindle version finished with a cliff-hanger at 90% on the page clock and I would have happily carried on reading. Damnation! I want that promised 10%!!!! Bearing in mind this was a novella and is being promoted as book one in the Salem Hawley Series, it could still have been longer as the story seemed strong enough for a full novel. However, we will have to see where Michael Patrick Hicks intends to take the series when future releases appear. He certainly has my attention.

One of the three main characters is Sam Hawley, a black man who fought for the colonies (America) against the British and is now a free man who is drawn into a grave-robbing mystery which will continue into the second novella in the series. Set in New York, it is common place for graves, mainly of black people to be robbed, and after a friend of Sam’s spouse is dug-up he attempts to help catch the culprits. Although the Resurrectionists is a horror story it also has a sense of social justice and the question of race is a key theme.

This leads us to the two other main characters Jonathan Hereford and Dr Richard Bayley who are amongst the Resurrectionists of the title, both whom are very nasty pieces of work and occultists. Bayley is obsessed with pain and, specifically, with the idea that extreme pain (torture) can bring forth something otherworldly, the cosmic horror element of the story. Hereford is the perfect assistant as nobody enjoys inflicting pain like this guy. The end result is probably the most violent and graphic book Michael Patrick Hicks has written, but it never glorifies the nasty torture scenes. Chapter one opens with an unpleasant torture scene and sets the bar for what you can expect later on.

The very informative author end-notes reveal that the bones of the story is inspired by a real instance in 1788 where there was a riot against the medical profession in New York. I enjoyed Hicks’s vision of the dirty dangerous city where unwanted body-parts were randomly scattered around the city by resurrectionists attempting to feed the needs of medical and scientific advances. Of course, Sam Hawley, himself a former slave, has to tread very carefully as he lives in a white man’s world which cares little about grave robbing in black cemeteries. But when a young white woman is exhumed that is a different matter entirely…

There is a flash-back to an earlier battlefield where one of the occultists witnesses a weird looking smoke coming from those in great pain and close to death, which reminded me slightly of Philip Fracassi’s Shiloh where something similar happens on an American Civil War battlefield. There was definitely scope for this novella to be longer, although I’m sure unanswered questions will be picked up in the next instalment. Hopefully we will see more interaction between Hawley and Bailey as they pass each other in the night in this opening sequence.

I was interested in how the author would merge the cosmic horror angle into a story about grave-robbing with the background theme of race. However, they bleed together successfully and I’m sure this aspect of the tale will be further developed in the next instalment. This was a very entertaining read and deserves to bring the fiction of Michael Patrick Hicks to a wider audience.

I love when a book is both eerie and creepy and you're terrified to sleep with the light off.
This is one of those book, an engaging and very good novella.
I look forward to reading a novel by this author as this was very good.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Resurrectionists takes place during the time where the illegal practice of body snatching for medical schools was rampant. Salem Hawley, a free man after winning his emancipation for fighting on the side of the colonies during the American Revolution, is now fighting in another war after his friend's family graves fell victims to the criminal gang - the resurrectionists. He vows to find the perpetrators but unbeknownst to him, Hawley is about to stumble upon something malevolent and sinister that may endangers his life.

This is one engaging read right from the first page! It is a well-written novella - from the intriguing plot to the storytelling. Historical fiction blends with cosmic horror makes one unique plot. I liked how Hicks puts a twist to the New York Doctor's Riot 1788. It is brilliant and creative! For a novella, you usually don’t find much depth in the characters but this is not so in this case. I find the characters are pretty well developed - just enough for this novella and enough to entice you to read the next book in this series. I find Salem Hawley character is endearing and I am rooting for him right from the beginning. It is also interesting to know that there are two characters which are based on real historical figures (although not an accurate depiction) - Dr. Richard Bayley and John Hicks Jr.

In a nutshell, this is one intense and eerie read! I am thrilled that this book is part of a series and it did compel me to pick up the next book in this series. I really enjoyed the plot and am curious to see how the whole story pans out in the series. But I am not sure if I could stomach the gory, bloody (oh so much blood!) part of the story. Yes, this book is not for the weak stomach!

***I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from High Fever Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

I’m going to get right to the point: I had a BLAST (the capitals should further reiterate my point) reading this book. I feel like my reading pace, as of recent days, has been akin to trudging through knee-high mud. It’s been painfully slow, frustrating, and I was in danger of expiring before making real progress. Then I happened upon this jewel of a novella; I was reminded that reading doesn’t have to be a much-dreaded chore. I was so completely immersed from the start – it didn’t hesitate to plunge right into the nauseating particulars of body snatching and desecration of the dead. Scenes were graphic and often extreme, in the sense that it married sexual arousal and violence. It wasn’t pretty, but it was seriously addictive. The fact that a lot of attention fell upon the villains and their own ambitions also interested me on a deeper level. They were despicable, yes, but no matter how terrible their work, my curiosity wanted them to succeed. That’s the thing about this sub-genre: I so desperately want the monsters to cause havoc. All hail the tentacles!

Salem Hawley was the likeable sort, and I feel I was properly introduced to his character despite the short length. His experiences honed in on the persecution the black community had to endure – unlicensed exhumations going ignored by society – and so I felt invested in his struggles to make change. To be frank, the ill-treatment was heartbreaking, packing that extra punch due to the realness it represented. I applaud the level of emotion that was found in the writing and conveyed through Salem’s own anger. In that way, he was a genuine person, and I can’t wait to read more of him; to see his development and how he overcomes the bane of the knowledge he acquired.

The portrayal of the 1788 Doctors’ Riot of New York City was tremendously compelling with its blending of historic events and aspects of a more cosmic nature. In all honesty, I can take or leave historical fiction. It’s not something I actively seek out, but if I find myself reading it, I can appreciate the author igniting an interest that motivates me to research the topic. Did you know that Richard Bayley and John Hicks were real people? Obviously their depiction here is not accurate, but one hell of a spin was put into their story. I think I like this version better.

In conclusion: I’m so thrilled that The Resurrectionists is the beginning of a series, as I got the distinct impression Salem’s journey was far from over. This novella captivated me from the get-go, introducing me to an array of characters that were fascinating in their own right. The last chapters held a special kind of mayhem, and I was in my element throughout.

There are a lot of great ideas here, and the overall concept-- Lovecraftian horror during the 1788 Doctors' Riot-- is a firecracker. Ultimately I felt like the book fell a little short in that it felt a little uneven-- I felt like I got a lot more of a villain's arousal at dead bodies than the protagonist and his motivations, outside of plot-specific things like trying to stop bodies from being stolen. That said, I think this really could be the launching point for what will end up being a very solid series, all faults aside.

I for one sometimes get tired of books being compared to movies. I hate the pigeon-holing that can occur from a comparison and an immediate image that we all generate. As an example – if I told you a horror book I was reading reminded me of a comedy movie, you’d be thrown, confused and not sure what to think. If I said a horror book reminded me of a horror movie, if you hated that movie, then you might not give the book a chance, right?

Well – at the end of last week, I found myself doing just that over on Twitter. People either saw I was reading this on Goodreads or they themselves tweeted that they wanted to read it and I chimed in.

So to go straight to the guts of what I said – this book is like watching a mashup of the following movies; Gangs of New York and Sweeney Todd (no singing!) Throw in Lovecraftian themes with a medical-gallows narrative running throughout and you have a somewhat good starting point.

Hicks also throws in social themes, based off when the story is set, and he has another winner on his hands.
Lately, I focused more on what the book brought to, minimizing the synopsis a bit, simply because you all can go read the synopsis on Goodreads, or if you’re reading this on Kendall Reviews you can scroll below this review and it’ll be there.

But there’s a few plot points I’d love to expand upon a bit here.

The story follows two distinct narratives. The first is the physician’s side. Bodies are being stolen from graves, predominantly from the African-American cemeteries. On the surface it appears to be more of the same and continued poor treatment of that group of people. Underneath though, we learn of horrible experiments being conducted – a book being used to try and open a door. Hicks does Lovecraft and cosmic horror better than most here. The battle field scenes were astounding and you’ll find yourself smelling gunpowder and hearing injured men crying for help.

The other part of the story follows our main character – Salem Hawley. Salem is a free man now, and once he finds out about these grave robberies takes it upon himself to bring some attention to it. Soon though he is pulled into something far deeper than he imagined.

If you follow Hicks on any of his social media’s he is very vocal about the state of the world currently and posts/tweets frequently about social injustices and I enjoyed seeing this come through in the character Salem. Not much back story is given about Hawley, but we don’t need it. The way he moves and reacts and cares is enough for us to see the lifeblood Hicks has poured into this character through his words.

I chuckled at the beginning when Hicks included a character with the last name Hicks (Jr too be accurate). ‘Here we go,’ I chuckled, the author pulling a Stephen King movie cameo. But that was my ignorance to the real life story that this book was based off of, and I was glad to see Michael lay out the story (with links) and the liberties he took in the afterword.

I said it before on Twitter, but this was one of the few times I went into a book knowing it’s a part of a trilogy and was happy it was. Usually I struggle with some of those titles because I know not everything will be wrapped up, but in this case it works really well. The main part is wrapped up and Hicks gives us Hawley’s next direction, which I can’t wait for.

5/5 stars for a stunning blend of medical thriller/cosmic horror and grim-filled gutter violence. A must read!
**Please note this review will be featured on Kendall Reviews and when it is Goodreads/Book Bub and Amazon will updated accordingly!**

Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis

Having won his emancipation after fighting on the side of the colonies during the American Revolution, Salem Hawley is a free man. Only a handful of years after the end of British rule, Hawley finds himself drawn into a new war unlike anything he has ever seen.

New York City is on the cusp of a new revolution as the science of medicine advances, but procuring bodies for study is still illegal. Bands of resurrectionists are stealing corpses from New York cemeteries, and women of the night are disappearing from the streets, only to meet grisly ends elsewhere.

After a friend’s family is robbed from their graves, Hawley is compelled to fight back against the wave of exhumations plaguing the Black cemetery. Little does he know, the theft of bodies is key to far darker arts being performed by the resurrectionists. If successful, the work of these occultists could spell the end of the fledgling American Experiment… and the world itself.

The Resurrectionists, the first book in the Salem Hawley series, is a novella of historical cosmic horror from the author of Broken Shells and Mass Hysteria

Review

Thanks to the author for an advanced reading copy of The Resurrectionists (The Salem Hawley Series, Book 1) in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this eARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novella.

THAT KEALAN PATRICK BURKE COVER, THOUGH

Not since Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom have I been so intrigued by a Lovecraftian inspired novella, though the shock and awe presented in Hick’s work is truly captivating.

The character of Salem Hawley is one you can truly stand behind as he fights for the betterment of his fellow Black Man, though to say he simply falls into a greater conspiracy is putting it lightly. Something otherworldly has awakened and it’ll take more than pikes and shovels to force it back from whence it came.

The only downside I can be a little nitpicky over is that I felt like it ended abruptly. Even knowing that it is apart of something greater, I felt too wound up for it to be over. Having said that, I do like how Hick’s builds up for the coming sequels and the author notes give us a glimpse into his inspiration.

All in all, a very enjoyable read for fans of Hick’s work and for those who enjoy Lovecraftian/Cosmic horror.

I would have read this novella just because of the author, whom I admire; but the combination of history plus the Lovecraft Cosmos (a century prior to Lovecraft's own advent) made the story all the more delectable, as did the plot thread of overcoming injustice, bigotry, racism, and sexism.

A decade after the bloody American Revolution, a freed former slave, Salem Hawley, is inadvertently involved in trying to stop nefarious body-snatching in the blacks' cemetery, from which corpses are removed for anatomical studies (much as the notorious Burke and Hare in Edinburgh). The resurrectionists are not the sole issue at hand; a small group of megalomaniacal physicians at New York Hospital have seen Cosmic Truth on the battlefield. The infamous Al Azif in hand, the intent is to bring the Old Ones into our dimension, and let our world burn.