I've loved every other book by SGJ that I've read but this one unfortunately was too hard for me to really get into easily. The priest's language was just /too/ flowery for me and it took me ages to read through his sections.

Maybe this is something for me to try again at a later date, but for now, I just couldn't finish it.

“The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” was painful, thought-provoking and intense. Good Stab was such a complex character and it was easy to empathize with him even as he described horrific acts. The premise was fresh and exciting, and I was inspired to research more into this time period based on the events that were touched upon in this book. The inclusion of diary entries was a personal favorite touch of mine, as I enjoy flashback elements in media. Highly recommend!

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I desperately wanted to love this one, as I've heard so many amazing things about this author, but I had to DNF at 25% into the story. I might try and pick it up again, but the writing style and characters didn't connect for me. Loved the premise, and the descriptions/location for the novel was intriguing, however I couldn't connect with the characters, and didn't feel any motivation to pick it back up.

Thanks to Saga Press & Netgalley for giving me early access to this eARC.

4.5 Star!

Wow! This book is gonna stick with me for a very long time. It took me a minute to warm up to the different timelines, and characters. But by the time I noticed, this story had its teeth sunk into me and wasn't letting go.

This is a harrowing tale of the American Indians and the horrors they endured and the revenge of one American Indian turned vampire - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter! It's brutal, it's bloody, and the horrors will remain once the book is shut. And it's worth noting, this story is so much more than a beautifully written horror novel - it explores deep rooted issues in humanity and survival and I will be reflecting on this tale for years to come.

The experience this story offers is destined to last.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter takes place over two time periods. We begin in 2013, with Etsy Beaucarne uncovering the diary of her great-great grandfather, Pastor Arthur Beaucarne, who disappeared in the early 1900s. She hopes to use the diary to secure tenure at the University where she works. As she transcribes Arthur's writing, she unveils the story of his life leading up to the disappearance and the curses that followed.
In 1912, Pastor Arthur Beaucarne adopts a congregation in Miles City after a secretive past that he alludes to but will not write of. He more often writes of a newcomer to his Sunday services named Good Stab, who shares the unbelievable story of his life leading up to his arrival in Miles City. These stories leave Arthur paranoid and fearful, and rightfully so.
--
SGJ has done it again. History already contains elements of horror and unimaginable events. Jones takes these elements to new heights, elevating the realities of a time and place with lore and grim fantasy.
I'll also say, I'm not much for vampire stories these days. So much of it feels like a "been there, heard that" sort of scenario. I loved this take on vampirism and the discoveries the character made throughout their transition. How they coped (and didn't cope). The side effects and unexpected consequences. For a story largely set in the past, the concept felt fresh.

I'd highly recommend.

A grand, expansive epic horror western, based on a found journal of a Lutheran pastor and his interactions with a Blackfoot vampire.

A heart-rending novel of vengeance and despair, about the murder of a people, a culture, an entire way of life, and the careless violence of the white settlers.

A whole new way to look at the vampire trope. Although Good Stab must feed on the blood of animals and humans, there is no question who are the real monsters in this novel.

This book is the real deal. It is a well researched historical of Lonesome Dove proportions wrapped in a Stoker-like bloody and disturbing classic vampire novel. It is everything it should be and so much more.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 🩸 Historical horror that haunts long after the last page
Listen, I need to confess something—horror isn't typically my jam, but THIS BOOK completely demolished my expectations! The Buffalo Hunter Hunter starts slow (seriously, I almost put it down), but once it sinks its teeth in? Absolutely impossible to escape.
Jones crafts this chilling historical horror set in 1912 that follows a Lutheran pastor transcribing interviews with a Blackfeet man named Good Stab. What unfolds is a vampire revenge story intricately connected to the horrific Marias Massacre where over 200 innocent Blackfeet were murdered. The narrative structure? Brilliantly unsettling—like discovering dark secrets hidden inside walls that were never meant to be found.
The vibes we're tracking:
🌕 Atmospheric Wild West darkness
📖 Journal-style narration that drags you across decades
🧛‍♂️ Vampire lore completely reinvented
💔 Historical trauma made viscerally real
Jones' character work SHINES here. Good Stab's voice haunts you, and those confusing timelines? They come together in an ending that left me staring at my ceiling at 3am.
The horror works because it's both supernatural AND deeply human. Jones makes you question who the real monster is in American history—and doesn't let you off easy.
Bottom line: This book will disturb you, change you, and consume you. Not a horror person? This might be your exception. A blood-soaked masterpiece that forces America to face its nightmares.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and absolutely did NOT disappoint! The premise is wild and the story had me hooked right away,

My god.
An absolutely riveting book.
Gorey AS FUCK.

Excellent writing as always.
A historical fiction feeling of the Marias Massacre with added vengeful vampires.
I loved the way this story timeline worked and how captivated I was the whole time. Sometimes extremely grossed out.

If you need to check the trigger warnings please do so!

Not altogether pleasant reading but very good.

Thanks to netgalley and Simon and Schuster for an eARC

I've tried to read Stephen Graham Jones in the past but it never felt like the right moment, the right book, etc... Well, I'm so glad I gave him another try because The Buffalo Hunter Hunter was incredible and I am grateful to have read it. Told in an epistolary/transcription style , the story weaves between the perspective of a Lutheran pastor and a Pikuni vampire seeking confession for violent actions. This is very much historical fiction with a supernatural twist, as Jones deftly reworks real history into this vampire story - giving the genre a fresh and meaningful take that I think it's been needing. I truly truly hated the POV of the pastor but also appreciated it for the context it gave to the the psyche of the American west at that time.

This book is very slow and very heavy, but it creeps on you in such a way that the moments of terror truly do shake you. I can see this easily becoming a classic in monster literature and the vampire genre!

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
By Stephen Graham Jones
Copy of ebook provided by Netgalley

First thoughts on beginning the book: This is going to a very bad place. Yep, it went there. Oh wait, Look it goes even further.

Final impressions: Incredible storytelling on it’s own even without the horror. Deeply unsettling.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is deeply unsettling.

It is not my daughter’s vampire. No sparkles here.

No delicate pin pricks on the throat.

In fact, no throat.

Clues to Good Stabs nature are revealed in small pieces, each adding adding to the sense of inescapable doom.

The book is an absolute horror.

It is a return of the classic horrifying vampire, not seducing by beauty, seducing as a predator.

Note: Do yourself a favor. Read both the “Dear Reader” and the “Acknowledgements”. Both contain a wealth of information about Dr. Jones creative process

Recommend: Yes. Exceptional storytelling. Horror on many levels.

Ratings:
Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Plot ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Writing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I will be using The Book Club Journal by Weldon Owen as my templates for my reviews from here on.

@Netgalley #StephenGrahamJones #GoodStabs

Thank you to Saga Press for my gifted copy!

SGJ is one of my favorite authors. No one can whisk me away like him. No one can craft a rich horror story with heart like he can. So when I saw his forthcoming novel, it was all I could think about. I was lucky enough to be one of the few to receive a physical advanced reader copy, and I treasured it. I set the stage for me to be able to fully enjoy this book, because that’s what SGJ deserves. But oh, how I struggled with The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. It wasn’t even Good Stab’s narration I struggled with, it was the Lutheran priest’s. It was so full. That’s something SGJ usually succeeds with. Fleshing out this full bodied story. But the language really made it hard for me to get into. That said, this was clearly a me issue, and I hope that this book is well received, because SGJ it’s one of the most prolific writers I’ve ever had the honor of reading.

Stephen Graham Jones is an author with fantastic premises for books that sound like a perfect book for me but sadly they never connect. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is again a great premise blending vampires with true history but I felt never connected with me. As a history lover, I enjoy Jones implementation of true events but I feel that he wants to be Jordan Peele or even Ryan Coogler but never pops like those stories do.

Etsy Beaucarne is a Communications professor who lives a quiet personal life with her cat, but when her great-grandfather's journal is discovered in an excavation. A Lutheran pastor in the relatively new settlement of Miles City, Montana, Arthur Beaucarne lives a peaceful life, giving sermons every Sunday and enjoying treats gifted to him by his parishioners. That is until Good Stab, a Blackfeet native, arrives at his pews, asking the man of the cloth to hear his confession. Good Stab is a well-spoken man with a few quirks--he always wears darkened glasses, he never eats or drinks anything that Arthur offers him, and despite his youthful appearance, he claims that he is in his eighties. While he's apprehensive to hear Good Stab's confession, he believes the man could have some knowledge about the bodies that have been showing up around the prairie--skinned all over except for their faces, which have been painted yellow and black.

'The Buffalo Hunter Hunter' is not an easy book to describe, nor is it an easy read in general. It's a long book with three different narrators, sprawling over centuries with plentiful side characters and settings, historically accurate portrayals of racism and colonialism, and what is one of the most interesting takes on vampires I've read in a while. Good Stab contracts vampirism from a caged man in a wagon train, and while he can drink the blood of any living creature, too much will cause him to begin taking on the appearance of that animal. Too many deer means he'll grow antlers, too many mice means his nose will stick out and he'll grow whiskers, and most devastatingly--a diet of white trappers and soldiers means he begins looking like a white man. It leads to some great twists, as well as a horrifying reason for Good Stab to feast on his own.

Even though it took me a long time to get through this book, I enjoyed my time with it. The body horror and gore was scary, but the history of the Marias Massacre was even more horrific. While the ending felt a little drawn out, it was overall satisfying and made the book better than if it had ended at an earlier point. It's definitely a story I'll remember for a long time.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an incredibly creative twist on the classic vampire novel. I loved Good Stab and the underlying theme of redress for the inhumane treatment of the Indigenous People of the Americas, as well as the whitewashing of history and the ingrained racism a surprisingly large number of people don't even recognize.

In 1912, in Montana, a Lutheran pastor's church stands as the last outpost of supposed civilization—until a Blackfeet man named Good Stab arrives with a dark confession. Stephen Graham Jones's "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" transforms this historical frontier setting into a crucible where supernatural horror collides with the all-too-human violence of America's westward expansion. Within the church's isolation, prayers echo against empty pews while old sins refuse to stay buried beneath the prairie snow.

The novel's central tension emerges from the arrival of Good Stab, a Blackfeet man whose presence in Pastor Arthur Beaucarne's parish disrupts the fragile peace of post-frontier Montana. Their encounters spiral into a complex meditation on guilt, survival, and the price of reconciliation. A century later, the discovery of Beaucarne's journals by his descendant Etsy adds another dimension to this tale of historical reckoning.

Jones excels at crafting an atmosphere of creeping unease. Within the forgotten church's walls, rot spreads beneath floorboards while winter storms howl through gaps in the weathered siding. The author's prose shifts between stark brutality and moments of dark poetry, particularly in passages describing the Montana landscape: empty prairies stretch toward the horizon like a burial shroud. At the same time, abandoned homesteads stand as monuments to failed dreams of conquest.

The novel refuses to offer easy categorization. While supernatural elements manifest in increasingly disturbing ways, horror often emerges from human actions - both historical and immediate. Jones weaves together Native American folklore, frontier violence, and psychological terror into a narrative that defies conventional genre boundaries. Good Stab's sections particularly shine, his voice carrying echoes of oral storytelling traditions that contrast sharply with Beaucarne's formal journal entries.

The structure mirrors the story's thematic complexity. Rather than following a linear path, the narrative moves like a shadow through time, each section casting new light on events while deepening the surrounding darkness. This approach creates a reading experience where certainty remains elusive—what appears supernatural might have historical roots, while seemingly mundane moments carry hints of ancient powers.

"The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" demands patience and attention. Its horror builds through accumulation rather than sudden shocks, though moments of visceral violence punctuate the slow-burning dread. The novel's engagement with historical trauma and cultural identity elevates it beyond simple scares while never losing sight of its genre foundations.

"The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" is not a novel that offers clean resolutions or comfortable morality. Instead, it presents a dark mirror to America's frontier mythology, where the lines between hunter and hunted blur with each fresh snowfall. For readers willing to follow Jones into these shadowed territories, "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" offers a unique fusion of historical weight and supernatural dread.

The novel speaks most strongly to those interested in horror that engages with cultural memory and historical violence. While fans of Jones's earlier work, "The Only Good Indians," will recognize his ability to blend cultural specificity with genre innovation, "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" charts new territory in style and scope. It establishes itself as a distinct meditation on how the past haunts the present and how some debts demand more than mere blood for repayment.

This review is of an advance reader copy provided by NetGalley and Saga Press. It is currently scheduled for release on March 18, 2025.

Thank you for the chance to read and review The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones.

I recently discovered Stephen Graham Jones when he was at the Portland Literary Festival. I was so excited to find an author who writes thought provoking horror from the indigenous perspective. This book so much fun to read as it was delivered through letters, newspaper articles, etc. Along with the fright and horror he weaves in a lot of historical fiction. A must read for any fan.

Interesting in premise, I found the writing to be hard to follow and I was not a fan of the main character. there were one or two supporting characters that stood out to me but all in all, one that I will not revisit.

I'm a real fan of Stephen Graham Jones, and he's built a very solid foundation in his past work, especially the Indian Lake series. I was so excited to get the chance to read this one, because the blurb looked great.

But I was very surprised when this one grabbed me by the throat and kept me engaged and riveted throughout what ended up being an incredibly wild ride. I can't point toward a horror novel I've read over the past several years, in all sincerity. The characters are deeply flawed and deeply fascinating. The common tropes of this type of story (without spoiling anything) aren't present here, but Jones has done an incredible job of creating his own archetypes and sticking with them until the (shocking) end. I'm still thinking about this book even now, weeks after finishing it. I can't rant enough about the beats throughout this story, the way it kept me on the edge of my seat, and the way it all wrapped up. Amazing stuff. READ THIS BOOK!

This is a hard book to review because while I personally did not enjoy it, it is objectively really well written/researched and has an interesting storyline. I think for me, the issue was the pace. I felt like it was a bit too slow for my liking and there were times where I took issues with the voice. The violence also took a bit too much out of me (which is accurate for the time in a way so I don’t want to complain too much there) but by around the 60% mark, I felt a bit overwhelmed by it all.

I do still highly recommend this to fans of the author and the historical horror genre, I think a lot of people are going to really enjoy this one, even if it wasn’t my personal cup of tea.