"I listen with a good heart."

Stephen Graham Jones new novel is historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912. A diary written by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits.

This novel had me intrigued from its description alone. Told as a part historical and part horror, it recounts awful events in gruesome details.

I liked how the author incorporates indigenous history into this tale as well as bringing a gripping horror story that will keep the reader hooked until the very end.

I enjoyed the darker parts as much as the mystery behind the truth of the story. Overall this was an entertaining read.

Stephen Graham Jones has done it again. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a haunting, deeply unsettling portrait of loneliness and obsession, written with his signature sharpness and eerie, almost hypnotic prose.

The story follows Toby, a man whose life is defined by routine and isolation, surrounded by stacks of unopened mail-order catalogs that serve as a twisted kind of comfort. Jones masterfully builds an atmosphere of creeping dread, making the mundane feel suffocating and surreal. The way he explores Toby’s psyche, his compulsions, his detachment from reality, and his quiet unraveling is both fascinating and devastating.

What makes this novel so effective is its subtlety. Jones doesn’t rely on traditional horror tropes, but rather an overwhelming sense of unease that lingers long after the final page. The writing is immersive, the character study is razor-sharp, and the slow-burn tension is executed flawlessly.

This is one of those books that gets under your skin in a way you can’t quite explain. Five stars, easily.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Stephen Graham Jones is a master storyteller, and this book continues to prove that he is doing horror with more heart and depth than most others out there. Without a doubt this is a vampire story, but to reduce it to that alone would be false advertising. Monsters and creatures in literature are so much more than they seem, and SGJ uses the vampire (not referred to as such though) as the backbone for a story filled with guilt and shame, revenge, deep and multigenerational grief, crises of faith, and hunger corrupted.

The horrors do not start or end with blood-sucking creatures of the night though, but with the true horrors inflicted upon the indigenous Blackfeet (Pikuni) by White invaders (napikwan). We see this through the eyes of one Pikuni man sharing his tale with a Lutheran minister and being read about generations later by the great-great-granddaughter of that priest. Even where fiction abounds, the truth of the slaughter of indigenous peoples never leaves the page. It is the blood giving the story life.

I could go on and on but it would end up full of spoilers, but I want to let you know a little more about what to expect:
-Body horror (some of the best I’ve read)
-Animal death (there’s no getting around it, but I do think it is always done with a purpose and not gratuitously)
-Twists and turns you aren’t likely to see coming
-Nuanced conversations about life, death, good, evil, colonization, justice, dehumanization, atonement, etc, etc

I think this book is really important. I think it is devastating. I think it is inspiring. I think it is brilliant in every

You know there’s something satisfying about fictional horror that addresses and sheds light on true horrors.
This is a gory, violent tale based on the worst American history. Rooted in the events of the 1870 Maria’s Massacre, I kept pausing in disbelief that I was never taught this in years of American and US history.
I am thankful for the Indigenous perspective and insight, and while the gore was a lot for me, it was likely more realistic than you would think for a vampire story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC

I discovered Jones by accident when I picked up THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS on a whim a couple of years back, and since then I've loved his playfully smart approach that both acknowledges horror's pulpy roots (I WAS A TEENAGE SLASHER) and moves it in fresh and exciting new directions.

THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER marks another unpredictable swerve in Jones's output while retaining that essence of his other works. A found-document horror akin in some ways to the Booker nominated HIS BLOODY PROJECT by Graeme MacCrae Burnet (although in this case the person who finds the document is not the "author" of the book) this tells a story of historical terror rooted in the early days of America, when the Native Americans were still treated as "others" by the settlers who had arrived in the country, and when such a huge land was filled with unknown dangers. A priest is visited by a Native American claiming he wants to give confession, but the confession soon turns dark when Good Stab reveals his true origins and intentions, and his unexpected connection to this priest and this place, and eventually to a character who uncovers the priest's own written account of this encounter over a hundred years later.

To say much more is to spoil the joy, but Jones creates a distinct voice for each narrator -- our priest, Good Stab, and Etsy (who discovers and reads the document in 2013) -- so effectively that we can truly believe in them as three distinct characters responsible for their own stories. He weaves in Native American beliefs and myths to the traditional vampire mythos in ways that shock and surprise and, most importantly, feel utterly authentic. It is not always an easy read -- this is horror, after all -- but it is utterly compelling and bound to appeal those who love the horror genre but feel that at times it can be constrained by certain points of view. Absolutely bloody brilliant, and confirms Jones's place as one of the most exciting authors working in the horror genre right now.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is Stephen Graham Jones doing what he does best, telling a story and giving a truly unique perspective. Nobody tells a story the way he does.

This one is his spin on a vampire story, mixed with historical fiction, revenge and sins of the past. I loved his portrayal of the Pikuni and their language.

I strongly recommend Stephen Graham Jones and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

This is a 2-part story of confession and absolution, and an intimate look at a nation who was here before us-one of many.

The crux of the story lies with Good Stab and a Lutheran pastor, Arthur Beaucarne, who shepherds a small church in the city of Miles City, Montana. Good Stab intends to tell his story, his confession, to man who would be familiar with the history of the area. As Good Stab allows his story to fall upon the ears of a white man, Beaucarne learns that this story may be more closely tied to him than he realized.

If ever there was a story that felt like a punch in the gut, it’s this one. Jones turns a vampire story into a history of the brutality laid upon the Native nations of the United States; Blackfeet is the nation of focus for this story, however. Set in the cold of a Montana winter, the two protagonists engage in the roles of storyteller and learner, and lead the reader down a journey of massacre and pain.

On the other side of this journey is Etsy, who discovered Arthur’s journals, and is piecing together his story a century later. What she finds will alter the course for her life, and tie her to the story that only she can end.

I loved this story. It was a necessary and terrifying story of injustice, revenge, blame-shifting, and real life horror. And no one tells a story of Indigenous horror like SGJ.

Unlike any other vampire story I've read. Jones masterfully weaves historical fiction with the fantastical with a writing style all it's own.

The Buffalo Hunter
Stephan Graham Jones
03/18/2025
S & S/Saga Press

There are a few things that I think everyone should know before they read anything by SGJ. First, you need to pay attention to every single detail. Everything is on the page for a reason, and it will come back around. Second, try not to read too many reviews or spoilers and let the story happen to you. It will always be worth it. Finally, you need to expect a lot of gore and death, but hey, you are reading horror so suck it up. The characters are so meticulously written that you will be invested in each and everyone of them. Promise.

We have three narrators and three timelines. Etsy (short for Betsy), a struggling associate professor. In 2012 a construction worker in Montana stumbles upon a hidden journal belonging to an unknown relative. The University reaches out to her as the next of kin, leading her to uncover the journal of her great-great-grandfather, a Lutheran pastor in Miles City from 1912. Beaucarne, the minister, has kept meticulous entries from his past including the confessions of Good Stab, a Pikuni who was involved in the 1870 Marias Massacre. The journal entries from the confession take a little getting used to because of the names of the animals, and places and objects that are described are from the Native American language as transcribed by Beaucarne. Once you get used to it, it just simply makes things so vivid, that you can’t unsee what you read.

The author seamlessly intertwines real people, with real events that happened in the settling of the west with an unsettling fictional narrative, morally grey characters and the perfect amount of vampire lore. The subject matter is undeniably dark and at times hard to stomach. Yet, it's both captivating and skillfully written, offering a sobering glimpse into a truly horrific chapter of American history. If you're a fan of horror and historical fiction and can stomach the violence and death that pervade the narrative, this book is definitely worth reading.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

I really enjoyed this book, I love books involving Vampires and this was different from other ones that I have read. I read it sxlow and took my time but I couldn't put it down

Thank you to Netgalley and Stephen Graham Jones for the advanced copy of this book. This is a historical fiction horror novel and is set around vampires, a Lutheran priest and the Blackfeet reservation.

I initially struggled to get into this book because of the writing style but I then finished the last 30-40% in one day. I couldn’t put it down. I looked up the historical background of the book and it really showed how expertly written the book was to weave the history into the rest of the plot of the novel. It is incredibly harrowing because of the factual element, especially when you look it up.

The writing of the horror was quite chilling and disturbing at times. Nothing quite like anything that I have read before.

This is the first book I’ve read by Stephen Graham Jones and I was very excited considering all the praise I’ve heard about him. However, when I first started this book, I was a little confused about that. Yes, the premise was incredibly interesting for many reasons I’ll get into, but the journal entries that make up the majority of this book are written almost too well. Most of the book is written from the perspective of characters from the 1800s/1900s and Jones perfectly captures their voice, which is a good and bad thing. If you like classics simply for their writing styles, then you’ll love this book. The writing was just too time period accurate for my taste. It was stiff and boring compared to modern writing, and it was hard for me to really get into the story at times. I have this same issue with actual classics—the story may be interesting but the way it’s written is just too old-fashioned for me to really enjoy. Now I know that’s not always how Jones writes because the last quarter of this book when we were in modern times, really hooked me. The writing was exciting and interesting and left me wanting more. Of course, this all just speaks to how great of a writer Jones is, but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me personally.

Now, considering just the storyline, this book was amazing. What a refreshing take on the vampire lore and how it could permeate into 19th century America. The vampires were scary and creepy and really more aligned with the Bram Stoker type of vampire. I think the idea that they begin to literally turn into the humans or animals that they eat the most of was really interesting and the way Jones described it just made the whole process just really unsettling. He was also able to perfectly weave real life events into the story which just added to the dread of what was happening. We all know about the broad tragedy of Indigenous Americans and the buffalo at the hand of European colonists, but using this book to highlight specific tragedies that we don’t really hear about was very well done. The book kept alluding to the Marias Massacre and every time it was brought up we learned more and more about what happened and it just kept adding and adding to the sense of dread. By the time we learn the absolute horrors of the full truth, including a specific character’s role in it, we are completely rooting for Good Stab doing what needs to be done. This was a perfectly done revenge story that doesn’t leave any room for debate on whether or not it was justified.

Ultimately, I will definitely check out another book from this author, but I really hope his other books are written like the last 25% of this story. I actually really enjoy history lessons (this book sent me down a ton of rabbit holes about parts of American history I’ve never heard of before), but I just need to be prepared for that style of writing.

I love this author so when I saw he had a new book coming out I was super excited to read it. When I somehow recieved an advanced copy? Well, I might have let out a shout and did a happy dance until my husband came to see what was going on and I told him this is the best day ever! And now that I have read it? It is a new favorite of mine.

I went into this book not knowing anything about it except the title. As with authors I love I tend to not read the synopsis and just start reading and see what I get. I will say when I first started I thought oh, this might not be for me as it is more historical, which is not my favorite, but by the end I couldn't put it down. I love how most of the story is an old journal and it really feels like you are back then. Like an old Pikuni guy is telling you a story. The language and the way the story was told did take me a minute to get into because it is so different from what I am used to, they have different names for things and so on, but I loved it. Sure I might not know all the animals referenced in his story, but I enjoyed trying to figure it out. I feel like this author always writes in a way that makes it feel like it is American Indian, but this story felt very different. It just fully embraced that history and way of speaking and I loved it.

This story also had some really cool ideas that I hadn't seen before. I enjoyed how the history was woven into the other horrors. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't say too much more other than give this one a read if that sounds like your kind of thing. I kept wondering how this was all going to end and when we got there? It was amazing. Definitely will be one I re-read.

Phenomenally unique take on the vampire myth. The word vampire is never said on these pages, actually, though it's clear that's what this draws on. I'm particularly taken by use of language here, with each character having a unique diction to describe the world around them which begins to imitate Good Stab's the further they listen to his confession. As such, it did take me a little bit to fully get Into the book and have a firm grasp but once I got past that I was hooked. Very fun too that the vampires take on the traits of what they consume. I usually approach vampire stories with some wariness because I think that a lot of the time we're doing oh the vampire feeding is sex, without stopping to think about what kind of sex involves an unwilling victim. And here this avoids that entirely, in part because we're focused much more on vengeance (I love you revenge stories). Just so many interesting threads going on here!


Thank you to NetGalley, Titan Books, and Stephen Graham Jones for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I needed some time after finishing this book to collect my thoughts.

I really tried to like it, but it was difficult when the only character I connected with was Good Stab. English is not my first language, so keep that in mind when I say that reading the pastor’s journal, filled with his thoughts, was quite a challenge. I understand that the writing style reflects the time period (1912), so I didn’t expect modern English. However, I didn’t anticipate understanding only about 30% of it.

Overall, The Buffalo Hunter is not an easy or particularly enjoyable read, as its subject matter is dark and often difficult to stomach. I can see that it is well-written, but in my opinion, it tries too hard. That said, I appreciate that it sheds light on a dark chapter of American history—one I might not have encountered otherwise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an advance ebook for review.

I've genuinely struggled to know how to approach reviewing this. I've sat with having finished the story for well over 24 hours now and still haven't found a definitive way of getting my thoughts down, so I'm just going to have let them flop out of me.

This is my second time reading something by SGJ. My first was My Heart is a Chainsaw, which I wanted so, so much to love but really struggled with the granularity of his pop culture references, that just wore away me and made my reading experience feel like ploughing through treacle.

However, I wasn't ready to bail so was genuinely delighted when I got approved for an ARC of this one. Again, I very much wanted to love it. Sadly, I didn't...yet I can also absolutely and unequivocally see that this book is wonderful - therein lies my difficulty in reviewing it.

As an original take on the vampire story, this is a fresh as the blood spouting from a newly-opened wound. While there are obvious nods to Dracula with the epistolary format and the mention of a character arriving on a boat - as well as what felt like an home to Salem's Lot, particularly Father Callahan - this was also unlike any other tale of bloodsuckers I've read before.

You see, this isn't your common garden vampire story; this is as much a piece of historical fiction, one that wants to avenge the real massacre of more than 200 Native people back in the 1800s and their subsequent starvation through endless poaching of buffalo. Yes, it's a vampire with a mission rather than just some horny bugger and I loved seeing that story unfold and understanding the motivations and actions of Good Stab, our main Native character turned biter.

This is also a story within a story, and it's done well. The wraparound is told by Etsy, an academic desperate to secure the publishing deal that will give her tenure. The story she tries to use to do that is the tale of her great-great-great grandfather, a Lutherean minister to whom Good Stab feels the need to confess about his existence and actions. I really enjoyed Etsy's parts, found her voice to me the most compelling and thought the frustrations and pressures of a mid-career academic were actually great fodder for a dark tale.

The story itself took its time, building atmosphere, shaping a sense of place, and punctuating the whole with quite gruesome moments of blood, gore and violence. It doesn't skimp, and is all the better for it.

There's also plenty of heart and humanity here too. You'll feel the tragedy and the injustice of the slaughtered Native folk, you'll hate the napikwan for what they did, and you'll love Weasel Plume. It is grounded and human.

So, why the struggle to review it and what didn't I love it?

In short, the writing style. Arthur Beaucarne's diary entries from the 1900s, and his transcription of Good Stabs tale were, for me, a slog to read. I think this is partly because they were true to the style of the time - the diary was pompous, waffling and over-written...exactly as I imagine a smarmy minister of the time would have done. While Good Stab's parts were so full of Native words that I was constantly having to stop reading and look things up. This is absolutely not a criticism - if anything, I enjoyed seeing the richness and logic of this vocabulary come through - but it so often popped any momentum I had built that it was hard to wade through.

And this is my trouble, right? It's not badly written, at all. The writing feels spot on for what it was aiming. But, boy, did that style not agree with me.

Etsy's parts, on the other hand, I did enjoy. They were direct, witty, and just staying on the right side of manic and I flew through those pages. Her section at the end of the book I also found the most scary, and really enjoyed them.

What SGJ has done here is hugely impressive. I'm glad I read it and would happily recommend others do the same when it publishes in March. I just don't think I will ever go back to it.

But, I do feel renewed in my desire to read more of his work...if nothing else to know for sure whether or not he is for me. I don't think the Indian Lake trilogy is for me, but I'm very open to trying some other stuff. This definitely isn't the end of my SGJ journey, and I know I'll be thinking of Good Stab for many winters yet.

Oh, and it was *way* better than the new Nosferatu movie!

Thanks too NetGalley and the publishers for the review copy, much appreciated!

This was my first time reading one of Stephen Graham Jones’ novels and it was genuinely incredible. I haven’t had a book be above a 3.75 in a while and I’m so glad this was the book to break that streak. Though I struggled slightly at the beginning with the various animal names and historical figures, as I read further that all fell away and I was just immersed in the story (I also googled some of the names to better understand the historical context).

Stephen Graham Jones’ writing is so compelling and the epistolary format enhanced the story in so many ways that made it difficult to put the book down. I loved his take on vampire lore and the historical setting, his characters are so distinct and memorable that I know Good Stab will be a character that will stay with me. I’m looking forward to picking up his other books that I have on my shelf and will definitely pick up a finished copy of the Buffalo Hunter’s Hunter when it’s out.

Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter is a haunting and introspective tale that delves into isolation, obsession, and the quiet despair of a life unfulfilled. Through the lens of its peculiar and lonely protagonist, Jones explores the depths of human longing and the strange coping mechanisms we adopt. His sharp, evocative prose creates a surreal atmosphere, making the story both unsettling and compelling. A deeply affecting read for those who appreciate dark, literary explorations of the human psyche

Well, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is my new favourite Stephen Graham Jones book! The story is structured like Frankenstein, but instead of the narratives being nested within one another, the two main POVs take alternate turns. Essentially, an academic comes into possession of a journal written by her Lutheran pastor great-great-grandfather, in which he chronicles his weekly visits from a Blackfeet called Good Stab. I found myself captivated even before we got into the blood and brutality of the vampire portion of the book.

The story builds and builds, with a creeping sense of dread eventually giving way to blood-soaked carnage and misery. At its heart, this is a revenge story. Often, revenge narratives lay out the players and their positions early on, but The Buffalo Hunter Hunter keeps some of its cards close to its chest and I found the payoff at the end to be entirely worth it. I loved all of it—from the setting to the vampire lore to the emotional gut-punches sprinkled throughout.