The Country Under Heaven

Durbin (A Green and Ancient Light) skillfully combines cosmic horror tropes with American frontier fiction in this standout historical horror novel set in the Old West. Union Army soldier Ovid Vesper survives the Civil War, but at a cost; following a near-death experience in the Battle of Antietam, he sees an unnatural being that he dubs the Craither, describing the visions as “like I wasn’t really beholding the thing itself, but the way it bent the world by being there.” He’s horrified by this apparition he alone can see and assailed by guilt, believing that his return to consciousness after the battle is what enabled the Craither to enter the world, “like someone ducking through a door behind you while it’s open.” Vesper encounters the Craither multiple times over the following years as he wanders the country investigating supernatural oddities, such as a man who was fatally mauled by some unknown beast in Texas and the bizarre appearance of two entirely green children in Missouri. The cases are distinct and fascinating, and Durbin’s vivid prose makes both Vesper and the colorful cast that surrounds him come alive. This is Lovecraftian fiction at its finest. (May)