The Country Under Heaven

Normally as I read a book for review, I mentally formulate the review. (Actually, at this point, even if I’m not reading for a review I do that.) But this time I couldn’t do this because this book shook me out of normal reading mode in the best way. It’s just extraordinary, combining elements that would seem to repel one another—historical fiction about the Reconstruction era, the supernatural, and a Western—but that form the most memorable story I’ve read in some time, with writing to match. The enigmatic main character here is Ovid Vesper, a cowboy who wanders the west from job to job, with his nomadic ways creating an episodic feel to the saga. He brings with him strange powers that started after he was injured at Antietam—a Civil War battle during which he believes he died and came back. He can see otherworldly beings now, and snatches of future events. At one long stop, he’s deputized by the sheriff of Lennox, Kansas, a war comrade, and mostly deals with small-town crimes but also with bandit gangs that terrorize the area. Topping them all though is the Craither, a huge, terrifying evil that appears when he needs it least, creating havoc in an era that needs none. Adding a touch of the normal is Ovid’s quaint romance with Nancy Mavornen and his helping a neighbor whose decisions make a shocking ending to this wild, wonderful story.