Book Review: THE MAGPIE COFFIN by Wile E. Young

THE MAGPIE COFFIN by Wile E. Young (Death’s Head Press, March 2020) Paperback, 210 pages. ISBN # 1950259250 / 978950259250 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . . 

The year is 1875 and outlaw Salem Covington has spent the last twenty years collecting stories, possessions, and lives. Nicknamed "The Black Magpie" for his exploits during the war, Salem has carved a bloody trail across the western territories. 

Informed that his mentor, Comanche shaman Dead Bear, has been murdered Salem vows vengeance on the perpetrators. Enlisting the help of an army scout and preserving the body of his mentor in a specially made coffin, he sets out in pursuit. But the choices of Salem's past that earned him the moniker "Black Magpie" are riding hard behind him and the only weapon that can kill him might not be as far away as he thinks.

The Magpie Coffin is an unrelenting tale of revenge, with precise brutality and extreme violence - the first in the Splatter Western series from Death's Head Press. 

My 3.5 Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     I rate this 3.5 stars. I usually award 3 stars for meets expectations; and 4 stars for above average. This was better than I expected, but not feeling strongly enough about it to award 4 stars - -- therefore 3.5 stars. Maybe someday Goodreads will amend the rating systems to allow for those in-between rankings. 

     The Magpie Coffin recalls those treasured spaghetti westerns that I enjoyed back in their glory days. Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Sam Peckinpah and those cold, hard dramas set against an unforgiving American West landscape. It also reminded me of when I used to browse the book racks at the local newsstand in the 1970's - - chock full of western and crime series featuring tough hombres and vigilante enforcers with action-packed plots. Some of those were almost as brutal and graphic as THE MAGPIE COFFIN.

     If you're a fan of any of the above as well as weird westerns and/or extreme horror, then this is a book you should check out. THE MAGPIE COFFIN is the first in a series of "Splatter Westerns" planned by Deaths Head Press, and this debut novel more than fits the bill and lives up to the logo.

     I was both disgusted and enthralled by this fast-paced novel, that doesn't spare the blood, gore and especially the brutal torture. There's enough characterization and insight into Salem Covington and the secondary characters to help understand them and prevent them from being cardboard tropes of the Western tough loner genre. But empathy does not necessarily accompany understanding. There's not a single character in THE MAGPIE COFFIN that I can say I liked, but that did not stop me from enjoying the novel. You've been warned.