Dust Devils

by Jonathan Janz

[zooloo1983]

ah, where do I start with this book!?! So I am kicking off the tour for another Janz tour – yup I am one spoiled blogger and I am sat here thinking how do I write this review! Do I talk about how gruesome this book was? How it was completely bat- shit crazy from the get-go? About how the “vampires” in this are not the Twilightly fancy ones but more close to the freaky deaky Fright night ones? How much I bloody loved this book – or is that just a given?

Jumping straight into the action with Cody, he has lost his wife to a horrific crime due to these Dust Devils, watching them from afar having a snack over a fire pit, and we do not need to discuss what they were actually eating, he tries to stop Willett a small boy from making the biggest mistake of his life. This act by Cody, then starts yet another catalyst for the crazy wild west as the Travelling actors hold zero bars against anyone who get in there way and especially anyone who manages to injury, mane or kill one of their own!

Dust Devils is one high octane journey in 1885 Mexico, there is zero chance of it slowing down, not until you are done with the story. Janz is not one to hide and go for a Hollywood ending for sure so there were a couple of shocks, however where his other books have been intense and creepy this was just a wild ride and at times a race against time.

It was such a belter of a book that I managed to negotiate some time with my little one to leave me some reading time and I finished it one afternoon. I did then have to play hide and seek for a while in order to get the peace but small sacrifices just to make sure Cody could survive Mr Price, the king of the travelling band of vampires.

If you come into the book with an expectation of vampires, the hot seductive lifestyle that you can have…well, this is most definitely the before picture in my head… and I warn you…this is the picture you will have in your head when they show their true form…All I will say is Fright Night is an epic film (and one of my favourites) and I wonder how much of an influence it really had.

I for one do not wish to be caught by one of these merry little men! Of course with any vampire story, you do have the seduction and the sex and this then leads us to the embarrassment of Cody as he watches his wife be seduced by this. Cody is not your typical leading man, he is deemed as weak and times a little crazy as he has constant arguments in his head with no backbone. But he is loyal to a fault and a heart of gold and to be honest if a man didn’t break down at times after experiencing what he had, I would be more afraid and looking out for my garlic!

You know when you open a book by Janz exactly what you are going get. You know there will gore, horror, sex and a lot of uncomfortable reading and Janz did not let me down here! Throw in the wild west and it was a bonus in my eyes. We have the good ole saloons, the resident Doc, men wearing Stetsons, gunfights in the street and of course a show to whet your appetite, what more do you want! I could hear the spurs clinking on the street and I could feel the dust and dirt on my face as if I was right smack bam in the middle of the action, thank the lord I was not!! To complete my journey, I just wanted to hear someone say “Howdy ma’am”