Six men, Confederates outlawed for attempting to rob a train, bait their own trap for their pursuers before they set out across the desert towards San Francisco where a friend owes them a favour. Attacked by vagabonds in New Mexico, they take refuge in the small town of Testament, only to find it deserted but for a priest who has hanged himself in his own church. There is no water and no doctor to tend a wounded man. Is this the revenge of the Mescalero Apaches or the Devil himself? “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”, but will this sacrifice be enough?

Iron Dogs by Neil Chase is a horror story set in the Wild West around the time that Major General Sherman captured Atlanta for the Union Army and burned the city. “Around the time of the fall of Atlanta”, means Neil Chase opens with Cole Masters’ boyhood. All six of his major characters are firmly grounded in reality; they all have reasons to be the men they are – aggrieved, poor but covetous of riches, and cold-blooded killers. Knowing them, empathising with them, makes this paranormal horror story seem incredibly real. Only hours ahead of Pinkerton Bounty Hunters, with one of the group wounded by mysterious mountain dwellers out to kill them, they seek refuge in Testament, only to discover the townsfolk have fled, leaving a card game half-played in the saloon. Action-packed, fast-paced, and vividly descriptive, Iron Dogs is a book sure to give readers a thrill – or nightmares!

Iron Dogs by Neil Chase is a chilling horror tale with elements of a Western story. Iron Dogs introduces readers to six outlaws on the run. They arrive in a deserted town in New Mexico, a place with no water and no life. But they soon discover that there is an evil in this place that has caused the people who once lived here to desert the town. It is something deadlier than the pursuers they are running away from, an evil that can only be killed in one way — it can only be harmed while it feeds on the living. Must the group sacrifice one of their own if they want the others to live? But who will be ready to make such a sacrifice?

Neil Chase has the gift of plot and character, and while placing readers in an arid setting, the author creates characters that are rich — emotionally and psychologically. The horror grips the reader’s heart powerfully and they can relate to the characters experiencing the worst danger in their lives. The conflict is strong and the danger facing the group weakens the bonds of friendship and unravels the true nature of the characters. The author makes readers see what happens when man has to make the choice between life and death. The emotional intensity of the story is strong and the pervading sense of danger, of evil, the thought that something lurks in the dark and that something bad could happen at any moment permeates the narrative. Neil Chase’s Iron Dogs is filled with grittiness; it is spellbinding and utterly satisfying.