Josh Malerman

"Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times...but her many deaths are not final: They are comas, a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days. Only two people know of Carol's eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and--when she lapses into another coma--plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her...alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol's dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave. And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her--summoning her own fierce will to survive"--Amazon.com.

A Novel

Unbury Carol

Ryan LaFerney

Carol Evers suffers from a strange condition: at times of stress, she lapses into a coma that closely resembles death, only she can hear what's going on around her. Now she's in one of her comas and her husband, Dwight, is planning on burying alive so he can get his greedy hands on her fortune. The only man that can save her is a notorious outlaw that ran from her and her condition years ago, James Moxie. The question is, will he reach her in time? Because there are other people who have an interest in seeing Carol buried alive and they will do whatever it takes to keep Moxie from ruining their plans.

What I like most about Unbury Carol is not the central story itself (which is indeed a great premise) but the world it takes place in. Malerman demonstrates that he great at crafting a world and atmosphere with Unbury Carol. I love the Trail, and the little towns it travels through, and the colorful characters that live and die along its dark and dangerous path. Additionally, the way Malerman describes Carol's condition as being caught in a place called "Howltown" is brilliant. 

The horror of the novel is mainly the horror of being stuck in Carol's coma condition and the possibility that she'll be buried alive. There are supernatural elements throughout Unbury Carol, but the most frightening moments of the novel come from Carol's condition as well as the interactions between the human characters and the evil they are capable of. There are many bandits and outlaws on the Trail who wish to stop Moxie in his tracks and some are pure evil. Beside Dwight, the bandit Smoke, embodies this idea of pure evil perfectly (think Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men) . I won't give much away but Smoke is a killer who kills without remorse, so he's pretty much the Michael Myers of the Wild West.

Unbury Carol is a fairly breathtaking story, a weird-west fairy tale of a woman struggling to remain alive and the man who truly loves her returning to save her from ending up six feet under. This being said, the novel is not perfect. The build to the climax is amazing, but the payoff was…not disappointing, but not quite enough. I wish there was a little bit more history shown between Carol and Moxie and I wish the ended would have been a bit more explosive.

Still, this bleakly lyrical story of survival, outlaws, is a real-page turner. Check it out.

Witch

This was a really fun western thriller. I enjoyed the fast-paced adventure it took me on. Josh Malerman's writing really draws you in.

tash lee

Michael Springer

"This one haunts you for reasons you can't quite put your finger on. . . . [Josh Malerman] defies categories and comparisons with other writers."-Kirkus Reviews Only three people know Carol Evers' secret. Her best friend, who's dead. Her husband, who hates her. Her ex-lover, who left her. Carol suffers from a dreadful affliction which makes her fall into long comas, waking slumbers indistinguishable from death. Her husband Dwight wants her next "death" to be her last. He will claim her fortune by pronouncing her dead ... and burying her alive. The infamous outlaw James Moxie, once Carol's lover, rides the Trail again - pursued by murder and mayhem - to save the woman he loves. And all the while, Carol is a prisoner in her own body. hearing her funeral plans, summoning every ounce of will to survive...

Unbury Carol A Novel

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