I ducked into a niche between a cabin and the pilot house and hiked my skirt up enough to reach down into my garter holster. I've heard it said that God made all men, but Samuel Colt made all men equal. We'd see what Mr. Colt could do for a woman. Jack Gabert went to India to serve his Queen. He returned to London a violently changed man, infected with an unnatural sickness that altered his body and warped his mind. Eileen Callaghan left an Irish convent with a revolver and a secret. She knows everything and nothing about Jack's curse, but she cannot rest until he's caught. His soul cannot be saved. It can only be returned to God. In the years following the American Civil War, the nun and unnatural creature stalk one another across the United States. Their dangerous game of cat and mouse leads them along great rivers, across dusty plains, and into the no man's land of the unmarked western territories. Here are three tales of the hunt. Reader, take this volume and follow these tormented souls. Learn what you can from their struggle's against each other, against God, and against themselves.
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From Publishers Weekly
A runaway Irish nun pursues a murderous werewolf across post–Civil War America in this riveting Southern gothic from Priest (Wings to the Kingdom). Divided into three atmospheric, slightly disjointed sections, the story opens aboard a riverboat carrying John Gabert, the werewolf, and Sister Eileen Callaghan, who's pursuing him with a Colt revolver hidden under her skirts. Gabert escapes, but Eileen is infected by the lycanthrope's blood. Nine years later, she picks up the scent, investigating a traveling Pentecostal revivalist show that leaves a trail of chewed corpses in its wake. Eileen struggles to control her own bloody urges, while fighting to protect innocents before she confronts Gabert again, two years later. Though the jumps in time make the plot feel forced, the haunting characters will keep readers turning the pages. When one must become a monster in order to kill a monster, can the hunt still be justified? This book raise tantalizing philosophical questions about good and evil as well as the roles of hunter and prey. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Paperback
Disclaimer: This is is one of those werewolf stories for people who actually like werewolves, not pretty shirtless boys who happen to turn into wolves.
That said, Cherie Priest's "Dreadful Skin" is a three-part novel that slowly unfolds a truly horrifying, sometimes shocking story. She packs the entire story with historical details, well-rounded characters, buckets of gore and truly monstrous monsters -- and it has a gunslinging Irish nun hunting werewolves. What could be better?
In the years after the Civil War, several people are on a steamboat called the Mary Byrd -- a gambler, a freed slave-turned-waitress, a hardworking captain, a deranged Englishman named Jack Gabert, and an Irish nun named Eileen Callaghan. During a thunderstorm, a monstrous creature begins killing the passengers and crew, and only one person might be able to kill it.
A few years later, Eileen investigates a wandering minister in the Texas town of Holiness. Some say he is possessed by the Holy Spirit, but she suspects that he's secretly a werewolf. And a few years after that, she is called back by a young man she met in Holiness, revealing that the religious movement has been corrupted by an evil man who turns into a beast -- a man named Jack.
Gun-toting nuns, insane werewolves, Weird West settings and buckets of blood. Just the description of "Dreadful Skin" confirms that this is an awesome horror story -- and the fact that it's written by Cherie Priest makes it even better. Her werewolves aren't sexy people-like-everyone-else, but a monstrous curse that only death can cure.
And her writing is absolutely gorgeous, full of bleak poetry ("The river washed us all clean. It washed us down to nothing but bones, and all our bones were the same"), religious undertones, and graphic violence. She also has the knack for writing from the perspectives of many different characters, giving each of them a voice and history before the plot really gets moving. It makes them feel more real.
The most "real" of all is Sister Eileen, a butt-kicking, pure-hearted nun who wanders the world in search of werewolves to exterminate, because she believes it is God's will. But all of Priest's characters feel like real people, except maybe Jack -- the strong ex-slave, the gambler with a heart of gold, the wide-eyed Leonard, and the abused but not broken Melissa.
"Dreadful Skin" is a delicious slice of Weird West horror -- guns, nuns, religion, fire, werewolves and plenty of gore. A must-read!
That said, Cherie Priest's "Dreadful Skin" is a three-part novel that slowly unfolds a truly horrifying, sometimes shocking story. She packs the entire story with historical details, well-rounded characters, buckets of gore and truly monstrous monsters -- and it has a gunslinging Irish nun hunting werewolves. What could be better?
In the years after the Civil War, several people are on a steamboat called the Mary Byrd -- a gambler, a freed slave-turned-waitress, a hardworking captain, a deranged Englishman named Jack Gabert, and an Irish nun named Eileen Callaghan. During a thunderstorm, a monstrous creature begins killing the passengers and crew, and only one person might be able to kill it.
A few years later, Eileen investigates a wandering minister in the Texas town of Holiness. Some say he is possessed by the Holy Spirit, but she suspects that he's secretly a werewolf. And a few years after that, she is called back by a young man she met in Holiness, revealing that the religious movement has been corrupted by an evil man who turns into a beast -- a man named Jack.
Gun-toting nuns, insane werewolves, Weird West settings and buckets of blood. Just the description of "Dreadful Skin" confirms that this is an awesome horror story -- and the fact that it's written by Cherie Priest makes it even better. Her werewolves aren't sexy people-like-everyone-else, but a monstrous curse that only death can cure.
And her writing is absolutely gorgeous, full of bleak poetry ("The river washed us all clean. It washed us down to nothing but bones, and all our bones were the same"), religious undertones, and graphic violence. She also has the knack for writing from the perspectives of many different characters, giving each of them a voice and history before the plot really gets moving. It makes them feel more real.
The most "real" of all is Sister Eileen, a butt-kicking, pure-hearted nun who wanders the world in search of werewolves to exterminate, because she believes it is God's will. But all of Priest's characters feel like real people, except maybe Jack -- the strong ex-slave, the gambler with a heart of gold, the wide-eyed Leonard, and the abused but not broken Melissa.
"Dreadful Skin" is a delicious slice of Weird West horror -- guns, nuns, religion, fire, werewolves and plenty of gore. A must-read!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
21 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
All my hopes fulfilled
Mar 12 2007
By David J. Lodge
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I've been a fan of the werewolf story for as long as I can remember; I love those furry monstrosities above all others. So when I heard Cherie Priest, whose other novels I very much enjoyed, had was putting out a set of three connected stories about my favorite lycanthrope, I had to check it out.
But not, I'll admit, without some trepidation. As much as I did love both Four and Twenty Blackbirds and Wings to the Kingdom, and as much as they showed how well she can craft a great horror story, she was about to step into my territory. She was going to have to be measured against every book I've ever read about werewolves and every movie I've seen dealing with them. Unfair expectations for any writer, to be sure, but what can I say, it's werewolves. Do them right, or not at all.
She did them much better than right! Despite being broken into what the product description calls "disjointed" sections, Dreadful Skin presents an engaging story that I had great difficulty putting down. I had no trouble transitioning from one section to the next, though all three are written in drastically different formats. I especially enjoyed how the first section, The Wreck of the Mary Byrd, was told. Here is an author who respects the reader and says "If you're smart enough to pick up this book, you're smart enough you don't need to be coddled with a basic chronological narrative." I always appreciate that.
If you're a fan of werewolves, of horror in general, or if you just want an example of some quality storytelling, I highly recommend Dreadful Skin. My only complaint (which should be taken as a compliment) is that it left me wanting more.
But not, I'll admit, without some trepidation. As much as I did love both Four and Twenty Blackbirds and Wings to the Kingdom, and as much as they showed how well she can craft a great horror story, she was about to step into my territory. She was going to have to be measured against every book I've ever read about werewolves and every movie I've seen dealing with them. Unfair expectations for any writer, to be sure, but what can I say, it's werewolves. Do them right, or not at all.
She did them much better than right! Despite being broken into what the product description calls "disjointed" sections, Dreadful Skin presents an engaging story that I had great difficulty putting down. I had no trouble transitioning from one section to the next, though all three are written in drastically different formats. I especially enjoyed how the first section, The Wreck of the Mary Byrd, was told. Here is an author who respects the reader and says "If you're smart enough to pick up this book, you're smart enough you don't need to be coddled with a basic chronological narrative." I always appreciate that.
If you're a fan of werewolves, of horror in general, or if you just want an example of some quality storytelling, I highly recommend Dreadful Skin. My only complaint (which should be taken as a compliment) is that it left me wanting more.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Werewolves, Guns, Nuns, oh my!
Mar 6 2007
By Dawn R. Burnell
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This is a story of man who suffers and causes suffering, a nun who hunts him and yet battles her own problems, and the West as it was when it was still unknown.
Priest does an gives us three individual stories that weave together to create a cloth of excellent chilling horror. Not the gore filled horror of our movies, but the skin crawling, spine tingling, wonder what lies in the shadows kind. The voice is strong, as usual for Priest. The characters are interesting, flawed and real. The history of the area is woven in very well and you really get a sense of what the Old West might have been like if werewoles had walked among us.
The only flaw I would say is that while the stories weave together, there are snags that prevent the cloth from hanging all correctly. It seems clear that one of the stories was the main thrust and the other two were written to fill it out. And there is some differences and confusions as the result of it being 3 stories instead of a novel.
Priest does an gives us three individual stories that weave together to create a cloth of excellent chilling horror. Not the gore filled horror of our movies, but the skin crawling, spine tingling, wonder what lies in the shadows kind. The voice is strong, as usual for Priest. The characters are interesting, flawed and real. The history of the area is woven in very well and you really get a sense of what the Old West might have been like if werewoles had walked among us.
The only flaw I would say is that while the stories weave together, there are snags that prevent the cloth from hanging all correctly. It seems clear that one of the stories was the main thrust and the other two were written to fill it out. And there is some differences and confusions as the result of it being 3 stories instead of a novel.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Splendid.
Mar 5 2007
By John J. Nevins
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Solid historical information, excellent characterization and voice, top-notch creation of environment, and a werewolf-hunting, pistol-packing nun. What's not to love?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 21 reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
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