Stephen Graham Jones’s latest novel released earlier this month, but I received it back in January as an ARC from NetGalley and finally got to read it. The story opens as Etsy Beaucarne, a junior professor, discovers a manuscript from 1912 penned by her great-great-grandfather Arthur, a pastor in Miles City, Montana. The document contains Beaucarne’s accounts of his exchanges with a Blackfeet Indian, Good Stab, who attends Beaucarne’s sermons and convenes with him for a multi-chaptered confession. We find out early on that Good Stab was turned into a vampiric monster and condemned to live apart from his Pikuni culture, endlessly preying on humans and animals to survive. Eventually, Good Stab begins to hunt the settlers that have massacred his people and the buffalo herds. As the confession continues, it becomes clear that he’s also hunting Beaucarne—but why?

There’s so much going on in this story at once that it’s difficult to encompass it all here. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a historical horror novel, an American gothic western, a revenge quest, a vampire story, and a scathing critique of Christian hypocrisy, manifest destiny, and settler-colonialism. The story weaves between Beaucarne’s verbose, overdetailed ramblings and Good Stab’s candid recountings of the miseries and horrors he’s endured. The charged interplay between the two narrators is one of the more electric elements of the story. While vampires are an overwhelmingly populated genre, Jones’s bloodsucker lore inhabits a world entirely of its own. More to the point, the horrors that Jones fabricates pale in comparison to the real horrors he recounts from America’s history, one of the darkest chapters being the Marias Massacre.

While I’ve only read three works of Jones’ expansive oeuvre, I got the sense as I was reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter that this may be his magnum opus. There were a few lines and exchanges that actually made me exclaim out loud because they were that good. The horror also goes extremely, extremely hard. I have very mixed feelings on the ending (hence the four stars), and sometimes the structure and pacing become repetitive, but those are pretty minor trifles in a book as good as this. Reading it also reminded me of The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich, so I was very happy (and #validated) when Jones shouted it out as a huge inspiration in his acknowledgements.

THE BEST HISTORICAL HORROR NOVEL I'VE EVER READ!

MY TOP CONTENDER FOR MY FAVORITE BOOK OF 2025!!

THE MOST THOUGHTFUL VAMPIRE NOVEL I'VE EVER READ, AND PROBABLY EVER WILL!!!

AN EXCEPTIONAL AUDIOBOOK PRODUCTION -- GET YOUR HANDS ON IT IF YOU CAN!!!!

I CRIED REAL GROWN-LADY TEARS AT THE END!!!!!

I'm not sure I need to say too much else about this. I'm sure from the stunning declarations above, you get the picture of my thoughts and feelings on The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. I would also say though, as far as the content of the story goes, the Publisher's synopsis really does a good job of telling you everything you would want to know going in. The book is best served if you just take your time with it, and let it reveal itself to you in the way SGJ would want. Trust him. He knows what he's doing.

If you follow my reviews at all, you probably already know that Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favorite authors; bested only by Stephen King in my rankings. I always look forward to his new releases and I feel like every time I finish one, I end up saying, this is his best work yet!
I know I said that last year upon completing my favorite book of 2024, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and I'm about to get repetitive, because THIS IS his best work yet.

When I tell you I was engrossed in this story, I mean it. Every fiber of my being was invested. The way it was told, it was like I was there. Each aspect of the narrative was blended seamlessly together for maximum impact. I couldn't stop once I started. I needed to know the truth behind this story; the everything behind this story.

The audiobook production was a master class in bringing a story to life; in transporting the Reader to another place and making them a part of the action. Particularly, in the final act. OMG, I cannot express how good it is. If you have the opportunity to get your hands on the audio, in addition to the hard copy, I would 1,000,000x recommend that.

At the end of the day, Stephen Graham Jones is such a talent. His edgy-style brings a distinct voice to all of his stories. You can tell that he pours his entire soul into his work. It shows. Every book is a journey that I don't want to end. Thank you so much to the publisher, Saga Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

Finally, a sincere thank you to the author, Stephen Graham Jones, for continuing to hone your craft. Your ability to stay creative and keep pushing boundaries always astounds me. You are so appreciated. I can't wait to discover what's next!!!

This is my first Stephen Graham Jones after all of my coworkers being (rightfully) obsessed with him for ages. It is gross and sad and humane and absolutely one of the weirder takes on vampire biology I've read. It's a beautiful example of the horror renaissance and the genre's ability to deal with historical atrocities.

Stephen Graham Jones delivers a haunting and brutal reimagining of vampire lore, weaving historical trauma and supernatural horror into a blood-soaked narrative. The concept of Good Stab as a Blackfeet vampire was fascinating, and I appreciated the way the novel tied into real historical events like the Marias Massacre. It felt raw, unsettling, and deeply rooted in revenge—exactly what I was hoping for.

That said, this book read like a fever dream. The complex language and shifting perspectives sometimes left me struggling to follow what was happening, especially when it came to distinguishing animals from monsters. I don’t mind graphic content—in fact, I was expecting even more scalping—but the dense storytelling style made it easy to get lost in certain sections.

Still, the eerie atmosphere, the unique take on vampires, and the brutal, historical edge made this a compelling read.

Stephen Graham Jones is a fucking master class. This one, however, sadly, not really for me!!! I’m upset!!! Extremely well-written but, this is a historical novel, which I just! don’t! like! I would’ve never picked this up if SGJ hadn’t wrote it.

But, SGJ did write it, and I did pick it up, and I did like parts of this! I love the idea of an Indian who can’t die. I love the Indigenous revenge. I really liked Good Stab.

I definitely liked it, there’s no way this gets any less than a 3, I was just pretty bored throughout honestly :( the writing is so beautiful but lacks SGJ’s campy style that I so so love.

Stephen Graham Jones is a master storyteller. He brings to life a story of revenge and absolution det in both the modern era, and the late 1800s as Montana Natives are impacted by the arrival of the white soldiers bent on pushing them put. And since it's SGJ, we get some paranormal horror that takes it from a Western to a monster novel.

I sucked this down, a self referential pun, I'll be going to hear SGJ read from this novel this month and can't wait to hear him discuss the spoilers within.

This one hurt in some ways (let’s talk about how cows are my favorite animal so by extension bison are too and SGJ knows how to make you love an animal before heartbreak okay) but felt healing in others. Stephen has this talent of weaving together components of loss, anger and growth into beautiful stories and BHH is no exception.

One of the biggest pitfalls I hear people talking about when trying to get into his reading is how he writes too conversationally. I’ve felt that was part of the charm, as most of his characters and stories tend to be Native and oral story telling is part of that culture, so his writing style lends an air of genuinity to his stories. BHH really feels like a response to that negative feedback, where we see him write in three voices (well, two if you wanna get in the nitty gritty) that wildly differ from each other. Good Stab’s repeated “like this” show and tell of speech made me wish I was sitting in those pews witnessing his story first hand. I love this response, intentional or not, from SGJ, and I love this book.

I also found myself cross referencing so many things. I’m not usually a historical fiction fan, but being able to see how much reality he was able to fit into a vampire story

(SPOILER ALERT:


surprise Titanic reference)

was such a gratifying adventure for the reader in me. I’m inspired to try and read more books in this vein. I really hope this book finds a home on bookshelves; it’s got sad and funny and heartfelt moments, but it’s got a message as well. “This is an Indian story (…) and you’re on Indian land whether you admit it or not. We all are.”

This is my first full dive into Stephen Graham Jones and what a start. I have been meaning to read his books for a while now and will definitely be reading more. My only "negative" is the book to me felt over long but the payoffs were so worth it I can't really knock it for the length. His take on the vampire is wholly unique and mixture of other cryptids and folklore type monsters that blends incredibly well. A lot of the situations you knew were coming or how they would go but at the same time incredibly original and surprising in payoff. Its historical backing also makes it all the more terrifying. In its quite moments it is tense and contemplative. In its loud moments it is bloody and brutal. This book tears you open and curls inside where it will stay for many years to come.

I want to preface this review with my {strong} belief that not every book captivates every person. More specifically, not every person loves every book. And, quite honestly, that is okay. There now, I have conveyed my belief and can proceed with my most honest review of The Buffalo Hunter. I gave this book two stars and stand by that rating. I found this book to (here goes...) strange. At face value, the plot was interesting. However, I really struggled with how the author used, and convey meaning for, Indian names for animals, places, people, and things. I do not have any problem with those names occurring, especially in a historical fiction book whose origin lies in Indian lore. However, names were often introduced without explanation of translation into English. Translation did not occur until pages, or even chapters later, and often required inferences as to what was being discussed. Overall, I felt that this add an element of confusion to the story that I struggled to overlook.
I did feel that the book’s slow point occurred during the first 250 pages but gradually improved in both speed and overall enjoyability. Enjoyability also improved as I begin to learn and associate the words used by Good Stab during his confessions. Overall, I would caution any reader before picking this book up to be willing and ready to undergo a literally challenge by taking on this book. Is it a bad literally challenge, no... but it is a challenge.
Thanks to the Stephen Graham Jones, the publisher, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

I am absolutely enamored with this book! I found the layout and storytelling to be amazing, though my only issue is that I feel that it took a bit too long to truly get into the story.

I really struggled with this one! The premise and the story were so good, but I found the writing really hard to get through. It was written like it was from the 1800s and a lot of indigenous words were used that I didn’t understand. It took me a long time to finish because of that. But it was really good otherwise.

“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worse dream America ever had.”

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a chilling historical horror novel set in the American West, where a Lutheran priest transcribes the life of a vengeful vampire haunting the fields of the Blackfeet reservation. The narrative is rooted in the real Marias Massacre of the Blackfeet in 1870, during which the U.S. Army killed 217 members of the Blackfeet nation - primarily women, children, and elderly men suffering from smallpox.

“We just wanted to live…how could you shoot us in our winter lodges?”
“You weren’t even there,” I told him.
“The best part of me was,” he said."

Written in an epistolary format, this is an unflinching tale of revenge (possibly the most brutal revenge arc i’ve ever read - like that ending??!) that unravels over the course of 100 years. Pretty sure my heartrate was steadily increasing throughout the course of the story, and once I passed the ~250 page mark, I could not put the book down. The tale is immersive, disturbing, gut wrenching, and thrilling all at once, and I wish I could experience it for the first time again.

I particularly liked the way that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter offered a haunting reinvention of vampire lore - I won’t spoil the details, as the surprise is part of the thrill, but as someone who is often drawn to stories of immortality, this one stands out as perhaps the best I’ve read. SGJ captures the emotional depth of Good Stab's heartbreak so vividly, as the immortal Indigenous vampire is forced to live through the gradual erasure of his people, culture, and homeland. The narrative also so masterfully subverts the conventional notions of monstrosity, and is just a brilliant story overall.

This is definitely a book that I will be thinking about for a long time (it's already getting better and better the more that I think about it) - that said, please note that this book gets extremely dark and graphic at times, so please proceed with caution.

“This is my telling for today. The pipe is empty.”

DNF @ 50%

I was listening to this one on audio and found my mind wandering the majority of the time. It’s a slower pace and just not what is going to hold my attention with my current reading mood. I gave this one to the halfway point and decided I was doing myself a disservice and stopped listening.

4.75 stars

Thank you to Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Shuster, and Netgalley for the free copy to review.

This book is so incredibly crafted and cleverly plotted. I did struggle a little bit to become sucked into the story at first, but it didn’t take long for me to find it hard to put down. Cover to cover this book is filled with history, horror, and humor. Good Stab is one of the best antiheroes I’ve read in a long time. He was the villain of the story, yet I feel like everything he did was definitely well deserved. This is only my second SGJ book and I cannot wait to read more by this author.

Book: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Author: Steven Graham Jones
Publisher: Saga Press
Pub Date: March 18, 2025

Let me start by saying that I have never read this author and he is a very well-loved horror novelist. But I could not get into this book at all. I really struggled and I tried. To sum it up – short version – I didn’t feel smart enough to read this book. This is essentially a story within a story within a story and told from three different points of view – Etsy, Arthur and Good Stab. I didn’t understand one word of Good Stab’s point of view – it was as if it was in a foreign language. Also, if the summary hadn’t told me that this was tracing the life of a vampire who was haunting the fields of the Blackfeet reservation I would have never known. I love the cover of this book and I so wanted to love it. I may pick it back up later and try to slowly get through it and see if I can better understand it.

Thank you Saga Press and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is March 18, 2025.

Thank you to Saga Press and Netgalley for my advance e-copy and Aardvark Book Box when I was too impatient for a physical copy.

This is my 7th Stephen Graham Jones book so there's no doubt here that I'm already a fan of his. Not everyone connects with his rambling style but I'm fully invested in this man's work not just because of how he writes, but what he writes about and how he approaches the genre of horror.

This particular story is a new take on vampire lore. This is a historical fiction book about a horrific period in history where buffalo were being hunted to extinction and native tribes were being massacred - both by white settlers. This is a revenge story about one man with a curse he didn't ask for figuring if he can both satiate his hunger and maintain his identity. This is about another man hiding behind virtue and religion to avoid addressing his role in the horrors. It's about how history informs the present and how we look at the harm caused by our ancestors.

There's layers upon layers of good shit here. Endlessly impressed with this man's work and I do think this one is masterful.

Something about Stephen Graham Jones's writing style occasionally irritates me. Not always. I have enjoyed a few of his works (Mongrels, Night of the Mannequins).

This isn't one of those.

I was bored early on, and he never hooked me. But I'm sure everyone will disagree, and this will win all of the awards again.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a fantastic historical fiction horror story from one of my favorite authors. It has a pacing similar to his other work so I found myself flying through this to find out what happens. In the beginning, I had a little trouble with all the different names but got used to it soon enough. I wish I had read about the events this book is based on, it would have given me a heads up to who was who in the story and what was being avenged. This is a great story and the ending will blow you away. Loved it!

Thank you to Saga Press for the digital ARC and Libro.fm for the ALC prior to release!

This was my first five-star read of 2025 and a book I will be thinking about forever!!!
Stephen Graham Jones is absolutely brilliant. He wrote this book in 10 weeks, and I am afraid of his brain, truly.

This novel is told in epistolary format from three different narrators—each with their own voice actor on the audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend for a very rich experience.

In 2012, Etsy Beaucarne is contacted about a journal hidden in a church house wall, written by her ancestor, Arthur Beaucarne, a Lutheran pastor. Dated in 1912, Arthur’s journal describes his experience preaching in rural Montana and his encounters with a Blackfeet man named Good Stab, who claims he is an immortal vampire. But in listening to Good Stab’s story, Arthur reveals some secrets of his own…

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is rich with so many things, but above all, this novel is a story about revenge and justice and REAL horror—not rooted in the mystical, but in racism, murder, vices and guilt. Good Stab’s tale is full of Blackfeet culture and legend, but he also describes the way white settlers destroyed Indigenous communities’ native grounds and the people and animals dwelling there, like the buffalo. Having this story recounted by Arthur—and paired with his biases and offhand comments about Native Americans—showcased the tensions of the time period and the terrors inflicted upon the Blackfeet.

“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”

The mystical is primarily the framework for the story, but wow is it great. I loved SGJ’s take on vampirism and the ways Good Stab survives and evolves as he learns about his fate. He feels so many things about what happens to him—guilt, shame, regret, power, vengeance—and we see them all acted on over the pages.

The voices in TBHH were very rich but at times challenging. Arthur’s sections, in particular, were rambly (the man loves a tangent about food) and dated, while he postured as “educated” and “high-brow.” Good Stab’s voice was much more grounded, even though he uses Blackfeet terms for animals. These were unfamiliar to me at times, but context helped a lot. The way the POV shifts between Arthur and Good Stab’s chapters kept me engaged, and I was eager to push through slower parts to discover what happened to this small but intense cast of characters.

TBHH is historical, terrifying, shocking and funny all at once. It has a very different tone to some of SGJ’s other books (for example, I was not a huge fan of Teenage Slasher, but devoured this one). It’s simply an outstanding, gruesome, slow-burn read that, like Good Stab, you can really sink your teeth into.

I am a huge SGJ fans so I am very grateful to Saga Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a historical horror fiction novel. The story follows a diary written by a Lutheran Priest transcribing the life of a vampire set our for revenge.

Rating: 4/5 stars ⭐️

Historical fiction and horror are two of my favorite genres so I was excited to dive into this book. I was not disappointed. The historical elements mixed with horror were incredible and had me on the edge of my seat. This book is devastating in the best ways.

This novel speaks on historical events and it’s devastating to read but it’s incredibly important to be educated. It definitely gives more understanding to Good Stabs motives.

The pacing is a bit slow, so there were times my mind did wonder while reading, but I was always drawn back in.