Review of Jonathan Moon’s “Hollow Mountain Dead”

Hollow Mountain Dead is not Jonathan Moon’s first foray into the cross-genre mix of western and undead fiction, though I believe it is his first full-fledged novel on the subject.  He had a book filled with varied short stories along with a novella that took place in the old west that was a rollicking good horror story, but I can’t quite recall what the name of that book was, though I am certain I reviewed it somewhere back in the mists of time.

Mr. Moon has created quite a few different horror tales as well as dipping into bizzarro and other speculative genres.  This story, along with his past story that takes place in the mythical American old west, have a taste of harsh reality to them.  The darkness isn’t just within the monsters that pour forth from the gaping hole in the side of a mountain, it is embedded in most of the characters we are exposed to-even in the ones who do their best to become heroic when hell comes for a visit.  Only a select few seem redeemable here, though it is clear that most are as human as their harsh environment allows them to be.

A greedy, powerful mining magnate has cracked open a mountain with his crew of toughs and army of Chinese immigrant workers who are treated like slaves.  When he digs too deep, an old Indian warns him to stop and turn back, but greed casts a powerful spell on him and that is when, literally, all hell breaks loose.  A seeping gas bellowing out from seams within the earth turn those who are exposed to it into flesh eating monsters.  But this is not the only menace, because there is something further beneath the earth that is reaching out to those on the mountain, corrupting and luring them into evil.

The undead spread, wiping out a homestead and heading toward one of the two towns that sit on the mountainside while the few who managed to escape wave after wave of undead flee the mining camp.  Members of the Madoosk tribe have been tasked with stopping the evil have been preparing for it for ages and are ready for it, but they never expected hundreds of miners would get infected or that the plague with spread so fast.

The story moves at a fast pace and there are a multitude of characters.  While there are some flashbacks, much of the story is told with the urgency of present tense.  The undead are somewhat traditional in their tactics and how they spread, though the supernatural bent here brings some new elements to the table, including new ways to kill the undead that the Madoosk reveal.

As I mentioned, there are a great many characters on display, though that narrows to the select few who are tasked with defeating the undead after the first few waves of carnage pass.  There is plenty of gore for those who love that aspect of the zombie genre.  The feel of the old west is palpable on each page.  Many characters die, both throwaway and those more central to the plot, most in very brutal ways.  Again, there probably only a select few characters that most people will like or identify with because of who they were prior to the undead invasion, though a small few will grow on you.  Historically, Mr. Moon has been pretty relentless with his horror fiction, with no apologies for the slaughter and sprays of blood and gristle that oozes and spills forth from his pages.  This book is no exception to that rule.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.

In the end, a door is left open for more Hollow Mountain Dead with the ending of this tale.  This book was brutal, relentless, and vicious, and I am looking forward to checking out what comes next.

Hollow Mountain Dead can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Hollow-Mountain-Dead-Jonathan-Moon-ebook/dp/B00LLPU8YG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1407427523