Novel: Warlock - Oakley Hall

 

A chance find in a charity shop, something about the spine appealed to me. Then the use of Sigmar Polke's Do the World a Favor and Eat a Bullet for the cover. Finally, a long recommendation on the back from Thomas Pynchon. It had to be good, didn't it? 

I love Western films but have only read a few Western novels, those being by Cormac McCarthy (of course) and Charles Portis' True Grit (highly recommended). Reading Warlock is akin to 'reading' every great Western you've ever seen. It has the lot; stagecoach hold-ups, shoot-outs, romance (of sorts), native Americans and Mexicans (alluded to anyway), troubled sheriffs, a gambler, perplexed citizens trying to bring peace and bad men. But the trick Hall pulls off with aplomb is to rinse every last drop out of the question of who is really 'bad' and who is 'good'. Morality twists and turns like a rattler in the desert and legends are born less out of their actions than how they are mythologised in the press.

There is gunplay, which Hall handles brilliantly, building just the right amount of tension before the quick release, without dwelling on it's physical effects, whilst the emotional and psychological repercussions echo throughout the novel. This is one hell of a book. Do yourself a favour and eat it up.