The Dead Sheriff: Zombie Damnation

by | May 13, 2013 | Reviews

Mark Justice’s latest book The Dead Sheriff: Zombie Damnation exists in an alternate Old West populated by the sort of vigilante-with-a-sidekick popularized by radio serials and pulp magazines, epitomized by such notable characters as The Lone Ranger and The Cisco Kid. Justice’ creation is the Dead Sheriff, who clawed his way out of the grave to wreak vengeance on villains with his Indian sidekick, Cheveyo. At least, that’s how it appears on the surface, as we soon learn that the Dead Sheriff is more of a puppet, with Cheveyo (whose real name is Sam and who plays up his Indian persona for effect) as the puppeteer. They do scourge the West of outlaws, but Cheveyo’s motivation is more to collect the bounties on their heads than to do good deeds.

Back East, a newspaper writer named Richard O’Malley hears of the Dead Sheriff’s exploits, and sets out to become the chronicler for his adventures, becoming the first to learn of the true secrets behind the walking corpse. He joins Cheveyo and the Sheriff on their journey toward the dreaded town of Damnation where the evil Reverend Ludlow Skaggs and his minions hold the town in an iron grip. Skaggs is a dark metaphor for the same sort of relationship as Cheveyo and the Sheriff, using religion to control the townspeople for his own profit. Skaggs is aware of the threat posed by the trio and knows while it may not be possible to kill the already dead Sheriff, Cheveyo and O’Malley are much more vulnerable.

This is a delightful throwback of a book, not only to the old Western serials and pulps but to the original type of zombie: a re-animated corpse under the control of a necromancer. Instead of being a Romero-type shambling brain-eater, the zombie here is used as a tool. I’m a sucker for the Weird Western style of story anyway, and Justice knows his stuff, adding just enough dark humor to enhance the tale. Anyone who likes westerns with a touch of weird (or weird with a touch of western) should enjoy this book.

Mark Justice has previously written about a more modern type of zombie in his Dead Earth series with Mark Wilbanks, and plans to continue the adventures of the Dead Sheriff in future books.