Book Review: Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Nightfire (September 19, 2023)

Length: 464 pages

Author Information: Website

I recall being very excited when I first learned about Red Rabbit. There are not enough horror westerns these days, and I was really craving a good one. Problem is though, the genre can also come in many flavors, and I think I just had the wrong expectations with this one.

Set in post-Civil War Kansas, the story begins when the small town of Riddle puts out a $1,000 bounty on a local witch named Sadie Grace—dead or alive. This gets the attention of every hired gun in the west, including Texas cowboys and war veterans Ned Hemingway and Moses Burke, a black surgeon who served with the Union. As the two of them head north on the trail of their bounty, they come across self-professed witch master Old Tom traveling with a silent girl named Rabbit, whom he mysteriously keeps referring to as a boy.

Their group grows once more after a stop at the homestead of newly widowed Rose, who decides to come along on the journey. Seven being a good, almost magical, number, we also join up with Benito Cortez, a Mexican outlaw on the run, as well as Joe Mullins, whose presence not only rounds out the crew but also adds a whole different kind of adventure to their quest.

One thing to know about Red Rabbit is that it has a strong paranormal bent and definitely falls more on the weird western side of things. While that alone isn’t a dealbreaker, the eccentric nature and style of the book does demand a few sacrifices from other areas of the story, namely plot cohesion and character development. There’s somewhat of a continuous narrative here, but just barely. The focus jumps around a lot, giving the book an almost episodic string-of-side-quests feel. Along with the paranormal aspects that get injected here and there, I found myself growing increasingly frustrated with the story’s stuttering pace.

There are also quite a few characters to keep track of. Unfortunately, on account of the scattered focus, I failed to connect with any of them on any meaningful level. There was no time to really get to know any of them, and if there was any backstory given it felt obligatory and prescribed. All the emotional moments came across distant and dulled. The book description for Red Rabbit says, “A folk horror epic about a ragtag posse,” which immediately sets the weight of expectation for the novel against all the “epic ragtag posse” stories that have ever been written. There have been many of those which juggle multiple perspectives with more memorable characters, and this one did not quite manage it.

The lack of character depth was probably my biggest gripe, especially for a story that relied so heavily on the cast. But other than that, Red Rabbit was actually a decent read, unique in its execution and surprisingly entertaining. While I may have wished for more developed character motivations and backstories, the supernatural elements and a busy plot kept me reading.