The Brotherhood of the Wheel

Urban legends and ancient folklore come together in Belcher’s unusual series opener featuring long-haul trucker Jimmie Aussapile (first introduced as a character in Nightwise). Jimmie is a member of the Brethren, one of the three groups that form the Brotherhood of the Wheel, tasked with keeping the open road safe from predators supernatural and mundane. When a group of teens go missing, Jimmie teams up with his new squire, a biker named Heck Sinclair, and Lovina Marcou, a Louisiana State Police officer, to investigate. Jimmie and co. battle a number of nemeses, while following a trail that culminates in a place called Four Houses, where an antlered killer dubbed the Pagan prepares to usher in an unimaginable evil. Jimmie is an affable everyman who only wants to help people and provide for his family. With characters impossible not to root for, this fun, nonstop tale (set throughout the eastern half of the U.S.) has genuinely creepy moments, rendered vividly by Belcher’s fertile imagination. Only a few instances of oddly placed humor and dialogue mar an otherwise entertaining horror/urban fantasy mash-up. (Mar.)