A Congregation of Jackals: Author's Preferred Text
A Congregation of Jackals: Author's Preferred Text book cover

A Congregation of Jackals: Author's Preferred Text

Paperback – January 4, 2017

Price
$15.95
Format
Paperback
Pages
270
Publisher
Raw Dog Screaming Press
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1935738909
Dimensions
6 x 0.61 x 9 inches
Weight
14.1 ounces

Description

Nominated for The Peacemaker award by the Western Fictioneers Nominated for The Spur award by the Western Writers of America "A thoroughly modern perspective to the familiar archetypal trappings. What happens when gang meets gang...is more horrific than anything we might have imagined." --Booklist, starred review "A mature and thoughtful Western that can stand up alongside anything that Cormac McCarthy or Larry McMurtry have written. Its unrepentant violence, intensity, and dark worldview could appeal to fans of crime fiction." --Somebody Dies "If you have a hankering for a gritty, realistic and downright thrilling Western, S. Craig Zahler is your man." --Jeremy Cesarec, Unbound Nook Blog

Features & Highlights

  • From the Director of Bone Tomahawk
  • In 1888 Oswell Danford is living a hard but satisfying life as a rancher in Virginia when he receives an unexpected telegram. A wedding invitation should be cause to celebrate but not when it means he’ll have to face past deeds that he’s deeply ashamed of.
  • Now he and his brother, along with their ex-compatriot, an inveterate gambler from New York, will have to travel to Montana Territory to settle an old score they’d nearly forgotten. They will join the expectant congregation at the small town church for the marriage of their former brother-in-arms. But while everyone else will be wishing a blissful future for the happy couple, these men will be praying the darkness from their past doesn’t devour the entire town.
  • A Congregation of Jackals
  • is an unrelenting tale of betrayal and revenge told with a precise brutality that will leave you breathless and haunted.
  • While Zahler is not a stranger to the Western genre he brings his own unique twist to the Wild West. He wrote and directed
  • Bone Tomahawk
  • , the breakout Horror/Western crossover film of 2015 and his novel Wraiths of the Broken Land is being adapted for the screen by Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard. Although these three works don’t share characters or plotlines he considers them to be something of a thematic trilogy. All three share his fascination with revenge, betrayal and extreme violence in the defense of innocence.
  • "A Congregation of Jackals is a mature and thoughtful Western that can stand up alongside anything that Cormac McCarthy or Larry McMurtry have written. At the same time, its unrepentant violence, intensity, and dark worldview could easily appeal to fans of hardboiled crime fiction, as well as current envelope-pushing Western authors like Peter Brandvold, Max McCoy, and J. Lee Butts."—
  • Somebody Dies
  • "S. Craig Zahler has a knack for telling a perfect—and perfectly horrifying—revenge tale. He worships at the altar of blood and vicious, pain inducing violence, and there are scenarios here that would scare the hell out of Barker or King, so brutal and horrifying that my skin crawls even long after I’ve completed the act of reading the book. It’s a story that will embed itself in your psyche and scramble your brain with its unapologetic, unwavering look into the heart of human cruelty and the extents that evil men will go to for the sake of retribution."—
  • Ginger Nuts of Horror

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(302)
★★★★
25%
(126)
★★★
15%
(76)
★★
7%
(35)
-7%
(-35)

Most Helpful Reviews

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S. Craig Zahler's Jackals

When I first watched Bone Tomahawk, all I asked was, "who made this film?". That was how I found S. Craig Zahler. I went on to read Wraiths of the Broken Land and then I watched Brawl in Cell Block 99. Zahler writes with a relentlessness that I had not encountered yet. Jackals has the same beautiful character development as all of the aforementioned works and it also has the brutal violence that will never leave your head once it is read. I am a total fan but be warned. His work at times has such detailed brutality that you will not forget the acts along with the rich stories that surround them. Just my opinion.
8 people found this helpful
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Graphic

Awesome read! I believe this was going to be a movie but required a huge budget, so they streamlined it into Bone Tomahawk. Interesting comparing characters from the two.
2 people found this helpful
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Hard to put down.

Excellent book that comes at you hard in the first few pages. Not your typical western. This is Clint Eastwood meets Natural Born Killers.
2 people found this helpful
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Tread Lightly

One of the best books I've read in the last 10 yrs
full of twists and turns and some dark dark moments
2 people found this helpful
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One of select few favorites

I am a fan of Zahler. From book to graphic novel to feature film, I own it.

This is my favorite of his novels. “Wraiths” is more “mature”, in a sense one matures with experience and translates that to pen. But “Jackals” has that unflinching glance of human nature: a nasty snapshot, both claustrophobic in scene and character.

I’ve purchased this 4 times. It’s always lent out and never returned.
1 people found this helpful
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Kept me saying “wow”

This is the first book I’ve read from Zahler. I love the movie Bone Tomahawk and have been reading more westerns lately. I read Blood Meridian a couple years ago and have been chasing that high ever since.

Some of these reviews are right, it can be wordy and the ending may not be “happy” but going in you should know it’s not for the faint of heart. A few times I gasped at the violence or sudden turns in action.

But it’s not all smoking barrels and dust ups, there are some great lines and conversations between old friends that are congenial.

All in all it’s a revenge story where even a foolproof plan doesn’t always go as planned.
1 people found this helpful
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Epic, surprising, dark, action-packed

I was not disappointed. I loved A Congregation of Jackals, and just finished Wraiths which is maybe slightly darker? But it also has grand adventure, rescues, escapes, twists, surprises, and gallows humor. Highly recommended. Reading mean business on north ganson street now and it's really good (also unrelentingly brutal). Zahler knows how to set up a story, slowly let the water boil, and then before you know it the action just comes non-stop.
1 people found this helpful
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I absolutely loved every page and second of Zahler's writing

I can't believe this book hasn't been adapted into a film yet. I absolutely loved every page and second of Zahler's writing. I've been following his work since I saw Bone Tomahawk, and he's completely changed my tune on the way I view westerns. Such a talent. A Congregation of Jackals is one cool-groove of a read. Action-packed and dark as hell - this guy should be read in schools across the country. Maybe then today's youth wouldn't be dropping English classes.
1 people found this helpful
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I love Zahler

I can't pinpoint what I love so much about Zahlers films and Books. They just captivate me and I find them all just amazing. I recommend any of his work as I think I've been through it all.
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Good book in dire need of editing

It felt like Zahler buried his head in a thesaurus for this entire book. Sometimes using fancy words doesn't work out for the better, and in this case it slowed the pace way down. Story is solid enough though and makes it worth the read.