Black Goat Blues

October 15, 2017

Charlie Tristan Moore is on a mission to destroy The Man in Black, an Elder God who had brought her into the world of demons and monsters, and help her boyfriend Daniel recover from their last deadly battle. Having discovered her own power and wearing a magic coat created from the flayed skin of an angel and seized from her enemy, she sets out on a new quest for vengeance. Filled with Lovecraftian horror and dark emotion, Black's fast-paced sequel to Red Right Hand does not flag, as Charlie relentlessly hunts her prey and struggles in her own emotional recovery against previous trauma. VERDICT Fans of dark fantasy and horror looking for a mix of gore and graphic violence featuring a damaged heroine and smart prose will find it all in this second series installment.--KC

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2017
In Black's Red Right Hand (2016), a novel inspired by the mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, a woman named Charlie Tristan Moore battles the powerful Man in Black and emerges victorious . . . sort of. Now, in the sequel, Charlie is determined to terminate the Man in Black once and for all and to save the life of her boyfriend, Daniel. But Charlie soon learns that there are depths to the Man in Black's power and madness that she hadn't begun to suspect. Although the story revolves around horrors of a gothic nature, the writing is quite modern in tone. Charlie's first-person narration is perky and likable, like the girl herself, and the (mostly) short chapters propel us through the story at a much faster pace than was typical in classic gothic horror stories. Familiarity with Red Right Hand is helpful but not required. Highly recommendable to fans of gothic horror, modern horror, and anything in between.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)