Dead Acre by Rhett Bruno, Jaime Castle, and Roger Clark review

    DEAD ACRE is an audiobook is written by Rhett Bruno (The Roach) and Jaime Castle (Sidekick) while narrated by Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2). It's an exceptional pedigree as I love the work of all three individuals. It's a short work of about only three hours long but it's also free with my Audible subscription so I'm hardly going to complain about its length vs. price.

    The premise is a outlaw gunslinger is gunned down after turning on his gang due to what's implied to be their habit of being a bunch of murderous rapists. A better reason than most betrayals in Westerns, I suppose. Raised by God as a undead bounty hunter, James Crowley goes from town to town to kill the supernatural while working off his debt. If he's successful, he won't go to Hell but he probably won't be allowed into Heaven, which is a really bad deal from a religious perspective.

    This is the kind of premise that would be at home in a Deadlands game and even has some similarities with Crowley being somewhat similar to a Harrowed. It's more likely both were inspired by Clint Eastwood films Pale Rider and High Plains Drifter, though. Two very different movies that deal with cowboys sent by supernatural forces to unleash the wrath of God (or the Devil). Given I'm a fan of both movies as well as Red Dead Redemption, this is something I found quite interesting and would be interested in a whole series from the man's perspective.

    Crowley has the biggest benefit of a 1st person urban fantasy (albeit Weird West 19th century) protagonist in that he is immensely likeable. He's not laden down by a desire to do pop culture quips nor is he aping the overused film noir detective. Instead, the adjustment of a classic Western plotline, "hero rides into town to solve the problem" to supernatural forces is one that breathes life into a tired genre. I also appreciated that Crowley is, uh, incapable of returning affection as a revenant so that precludes any sort of sexual tension.

    The actual storyline is simple and to the point: our hero has been drawn to the town of Dead Acres where there's been some evil afoot and a man has gone missing. There's also been some bodies that have been disturbed. Our hero eventually figures out the mystery and does some business with the big iron on his hip (thank you, Fallout: New Vegas). Telling you anymore would probably spoil the story and the investigation is entertaining throughout. The final confrontation with the baddie is lacking something, sadly, because their personality does a complete 180 but that's a small flaw in an otherwise excellent book.

    Roger Clark is someone that any fans of the aforementioned RD2 will know is a fantastic voice actor. Crowley has a lot of Arthur Morgan-esque qualities and a cynical detachment from life as well as fatalism due to, you know, being a damned soul given only a quasi-reprieve. I'd say his acting is leagues above most among narrators and what really brings the book to life. Still, it feels a bit like a taste rather than full-course meal and I hope they do more of these. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel and is more like a pilot for an hour-long episodic television show. It's just a show I would have watched.

8.5/10

Available here