Dark bleatings, my amorphous tribe! I’ve had werewolves on the brain recently, which got me thinking “what other were-creatures are there?” Naturally, the first book I picked up in the ‘weird were’ genre was Candace Nola’s Bishop, which has been recommend to me oh, I dunno, about a thousand times over the last year.
“Caught between an ancient evil and a man with nothing to lose, a young girl’s fate hangs in the balance.”
Erin Rogers and her daughter Casey have been missing in the Alaskan wilderness for five days. Troy Spencer is determined to find his sister and niece at any cost. Once there, a local tells Troy about a loner, Bishop, a man shrouded in secrets, who may be his only hope.
As Troy sets out to find the mysterious Bishop, Casey is lost in the woods, alone and frightened, seeking help for her gravely injured mother. But she is not alone, something ancient stalks these forested trails, something evil that hungers for fresh blood.
The trio soon finds themselves caught in a struggle against time as an ancient rivalry is renewed.
Firstly, this is a short, fast-paced book that I got through in one sitting – which I love. A friend’s auntie once told me that books are meant to be read in one sitting, which is insane as a general rule, of course, in terms of time. And also if you spend a few days reading a 1000-page beast, you’ll break your eyes and the sleep deprivation will make you go peculiar. But, I think she just meant that stories are best absorbed over a short time, and I agree, so I love a book that I can enjoy from cover to cover in one afternoon.
Secondly, the monstrous elements are so creative and fun. The were-creature is one I haven’t seen before, and there’s another monster that is so rarely found in mainstream horror that on the few occasions it’s reared its terrifying head, I’ve been delighted to see it. I won’t spoil it for you, but there are elements of cultural lore and mysticism in this story that really set it apart from others of its subgenre.
Thirdly, we jump between viewpoints, one of them being a female, teenage protagonist and HALLELUJAH for this girl because she is anything but a damsel in distress. I mean… she is a lady in distress, but you know what I mean. In general, I’m not bothered by damsel in distress tales – it might be controversial to say but I do think they have a place. However, it’s the abundance of distressed damsels over any other type of female protagonist that does bug me. The frequency of stories starring women that need to be saved (by a man) is the real issue, not that they exist at all. In real life, I guarantee you know more women who are proactive problem solvers, who are excellent in a crises, than women who just melt and wait for a man to take over. And mothers.. holy crap, don’t even start me on mothers. I have never met a mother that doesn’t have the reflexes of a cat and that doesn’t absolutely boss any and all troublesome scenarios.
Side tangent: this is still a popular topic when we’re talking horror fiction, and the counter-argument to “horror is too full of screeching hysterical women” is always “No! What about Ripley and Sarah Connor?!” – Do you know what? We met those two excellent characters in 1979 and 1984, respectively, and the fact that those are STILL always the go-to examples to this day in 2024 actually proves the point that there is still a severe lack.
Anyway, Casey is a teenage girl in deep shit in the woods, pursued by…. something. She’s terrified but capable, cold but knowledgeable, spooked but practical. She has wilderness skills, she’s using her brain. Her capability to handle herself in this particular type of crises actually amps up the horror because we’re still afraid that despite all of that, she’s going to lose. It made for much more compelling reading than wondering if a screaming, flailing idiot would survive in the woods.
I’d recommend this to fans of creature horror. If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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