Book Review: "Cold As Hell" by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle

 

In the West, there are worse things to fear than bandits and outlaws.

Demons. Monsters. Witches. James Crowley’s sacred duty as a Black Badge is to hunt them down and send them packing, banish them from the mortal realm for good.

He didn’t choose this life. No. He didn’t choose life at all.

Shot dead in a gunfight many years ago, now he’s stuck in purgatory, serving the whims of the White Throne to avoid falling to Hell. Not quite undead, though not alive either, the best he can hope for is to work off his penance and fade away.

This time, the White Throne has sent him to investigate a strange bank robbery in Lonely Hill. An outlaw with the ability to conjure ice has frozen and shattered open the bank vault and is now on a spree, robbing the region for all it’s worth.

In his quest to track down the ice-wielder and suss out which demon is behind granting a mortal such power, Crowley finds himself face-to-face with hellish beasts, shapeshifters, and, worse … temptation. But the truth behind the attacks is worse than he ever imagined …

The Witcher meets The Dresden Files in this weird Western series by the Audible number-one bestselling duo behind Dead Acre. - from Netgalley.com

So, This is book one in the Black Badge series. The Dead Acre mentioned in the plot description above, seems to be in the same story line as this book, but I have no idea where in the series it would go, and I had not read it. Either way, let's get down to the thoughts as I picked this one up.

I didn't really like it. Within the first few pages, it reminded me very much like another book I had read previously called Blood Oath, in that the main character has a superpower that helps him reclaim justice/vengeance on the bad, all directed by a higher power authority. This was just in the first handful of pages. I set this one aside for a week, and tried to pick it back up. Each time, I might make it a few pages further, but just could not stay interested. I admit. I did not finish it.

Overall, I did like the idea of a fantasy western. Over the last few years, I have come across a couple that were good reads, but it is a genre not written in often. I truly believe if there had been more time between my reading the other book and this one, I would have been able to offer a different opinion. I guess I felt that there were just too many similar things, in my memory, of these stories, and I felt that jaded this one a bit.

Thanks to the authors, publisher and NetGalley.com for allowing me to read this ARC and to share my opinion about the story.

#NetGalley #ColdAsHell