Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis
Having won his emancipation after fighting on the side of the colonies during the American Revolution, Salem Hawley is a free man. Only a handful of years after the end of British rule, Hawley finds himself drawn into a new war unlike anything he has ever seen.
New York City is on the cusp of a new revolution as the science of medicine advances, but procuring bodies for study is still illegal. Bands of resurrectionists are stealing corpses from New York cemeteries, and women of the night are disappearing from the streets, only to meet grisly ends elsewhere.
After a friend’s family is robbed from their graves, Hawley is compelled to fight back against the wave of exhumations plaguing the Black cemetery. Little does he know, the theft of bodies is key to far darker arts being performed by the resurrectionists. If successful, the work of these occultists could spell the end of the fledgling American Experiment… and the world itself.
The Resurrectionists, the first book in the Salem Hawley series, is a novella of historical cosmic horror from the author of Broken Shells and Mass Hysteria
Review
Thanks to the author for an advanced reading copy of The Resurrectionists (The Salem Hawley Series, Book 1) in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this eARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novella.
THAT KEALAN PATRICK BURKE COVER, THOUGH
Not since Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom have I been so intrigued by a Lovecraftian inspired novella, though the shock and awe presented in Hick’s work is truly captivating.
The character of Salem Hawley is one you can truly stand behind as he fights for the betterment of his fellow Black Man, though to say he simply falls into a greater conspiracy is putting it lightly. Something otherworldly has awakened and it’ll take more than pikes and shovels to force it back from whence it came.
The only downside I can be a little nitpicky over is that I felt like it ended abruptly. Even knowing that it is apart of something greater, I felt too wound up for it to be over. Having said that, I do like how Hick’s builds up for the coming sequels and the author notes give us a glimpse into his inspiration.
All in all, a very enjoyable read for fans of Hick’s work and for those who enjoy Lovecraftian/Cosmic horror.
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