Review: “Dead-Eyed God,” Sam Witt

Pros: Love this series!
Cons: …
Rating: 4 out of 5

Dead-Eyed God, by Sam Witt, is the latest in the Pitchfork County novels. Pitchfork County is a cess pit of evil, despair, and meth, with quite a few supernatural creatures feeding off of the lack of hope. Joe is the Night Marshal–an ‘unofficial’ lawman whose job is to keep humans on the straight and narrow rather than the ‘Left-Hand Path’ of evil. He’s much less liked than his father (the previous Night Marshal) because his method is to shoot first and ask questions later, and he doesn’t make any distinction between those who seek out the Path and those who are forced onto it. He’s trying to reform his approach to things, but it’s difficult and he still isn’t sure whether it’s the right thing to do. In this round, he’s dealing with a new/old enemy: a spider goddess who’s quite pissed that no one remembers that she was here first and this is her land.

Got any arachnophobia? This will trigger it. Big spiders. Little spiders. Spider-like monsters. Spiders under the skin. Spider silk everywhere, trapping people. Lots of killing people by spider or spider silk in gruesome ways. I’m almost amazed I made it through it. It was handled very well and certainly upped the ‘ick’ factor! The violence is bloody and quite visceral.

Joe is still stuck with bits of the Long Man and the Haunter in Darkness inside of him, and they’re both working to kill him while he steals bits of their power when needed. This time they’re working together to take him out, and they may do some real damage.

Witt still does excellent extended fight scenes. They’re so absorbing, and their length doesn’t make them boring, which is a neat trick.

There’s nothing happy/shiny about this horror novel. Just plenty of horror, death, fighting, and blood. I look forward to reading more of Witt’s books!