Some Dark Holler

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I will be honest that I purchased this book because it reminded me a Manly Wade Wellman story. Throughout the book, I had was getting some Wellmanish vibes with the Appalachian folk magic that was being presented. So, I was pleased when I read the afterword where the author indicated that he this story was influenced by Wellman.

Even without that angle, this is an entertaining and engrossing book. The story involves a servant of the devil who gets immortality in seven year increments. During that time, he has to ensnare someone picked out for him into selling his soul to the devil. Failure means that Death - the pale rider himself - can claim the servant.

This time Scratch has selected young Ephraim Cutler as the target. Ephraim is an honest and decent boy, but his mama is a bit tetched, and when she compels him to kill a Yankee out of revenge for the death of his father, the story kicks into high gear with plots and counterplots involving the Devil, Death, the servant and others trying to capture young Ephraim in order to hang him for his crime or turn him to the devil's use. Ephraim has his allies in his sweetheart Isabel and the “granny woman” Barefoot Nancy.

I was torn between giving this four or five stars. I found the dialect somewhat annoying at first, but over the course of the book it settled down. I thought there was way too much traveling back and forth, but I found myself turning pages to find out things, such as, who would turn out to be the devil's servant in Sixmile Creek and how would Ephraim and Isabel get out of their various captures and captivities, and how would Ephraim manage to cure the Hellhound bite and face off against the villain.

In the end, the resolutions were satisfying. This turns out to be a complete book in itself, which is a plus, but Ephraim ends up in the service of Death for 150 years, which ought to bring him up to our time, as he seeks forgiveness for his crime. In some ways, I fancied this as something like the origin story of Silver John, who seemed to know an awful lot about the folkways and by-ways of Appalachia.

For a first time book, the author hit the ground running.