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Daniel Bautz has done it all.
He has worked as a graphic designer, a podcast & radio host, a writer and a director of film. He is a true creative type. While he enjoyed all of these endeavors, those accomplishments pale in comparison to his true calling - the written word.
Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Life Is In The Blood by Daniel Bautz is a horror suspense novel that revolves around an author, a bunch of religious zealots of various ilk, a woman chronically susceptible to persuasion, a one-eyed undead something-or-other, and a sharpshooter. A successful author named Brannigan, with a penchant for passing off fiction as fact, is ready to write about a blood cult despite the vociferous objections of his publisher. Along for the ride for his own reasons is Flynn, a Black man born in the Antebellum South who has made an enemy of a powerful man, and in turn has seen death and destruction on an unimaginable scale while wearing a badge. The powerful man is Silas, who is more than just a man capable of turning even the most unbelieving into devout followers of his brand of religion, including an Amish girl named Miriam in the rural Ohio town he settles in for his next crop of converts.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Life Is In The Blood by Daniel Bautz is what I imagine the child of Stephen King's The Stand and Mike Flanagan's script Midnight Mass would look like if they had a book-baby together. When you toss into this a gunfight that could have taken place at the O.K. Corral, you have a novel worth reading. I had a lot of fun with this book for two different reasons. The first is that, as a man of color, seeing a Black man be a hero was a huge draw. Flynn is flawed, likable, and as resilient as a rock that forced a split in the river. He's also clever, questioning Christianity, which Brannigan objects to for different reasons after saying, “No one comes back from the dead. Has never happened in all of history, and I am quite certain it never will.” The second is that this is a vampire story that isn't a vampire story. Bautz gives us a fresh twist and an occult theme that pairs together nicely. I love that a woman who has been relentlessly slut-shamed can exact some revenge, and those who appreciate thoughtful horror stories will enjoy this one immensely.
