r/bookclub • u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier • Jan 10 '26
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter [Discussion 2/5] Published 2025 | The Buffalo Hunter Hunter | April 7, 1912 through The Absolution of Three-Persons; April 18, 1912
Welcome to our second discussion of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones.
Here are some handy links: Schedule | Marginalia
Recap:
April 7, 1912
By Easter Sunday, the dog that went out to check the body with them has died, and the sheriff confirms that his own dog passed after seeing the first body. Pastor Beaucarne tries to connect with Good Stab after the service, using some of his terms for the animals like prairie-runner, but Good Stab quickly corrects him. Pastor Beaucarne realizes that he is about 7 years younger than Good Stab, and while he looks and feels it, Good Stab does not. Good Stab also reminds him that where they left off in his story last week was actually a second massacre; there was another massacre of his people happening at the same time.
The Nachzehrer's Dark Gospel | April 7, 1912
Good Stab begins his story with the first soldier he killed when on a hunting party with his father. This soldier was shot in the face, and the memory of him being a man was shot out of him, so he forgot he was two-legged and walked with a herd of blackhorn. His father ties the soldier to a tree and leaves Good Stab there to watch over him while everyone else goes hunting. While on watch, the soldier escapes and tries to choke the life out of Good Stab, but he is able to grab an arrow and stab it into the soldier's gunshot wound, killing him. Thus, earning the name Good Stab.
When Good Stab awakens after the massacre, he has also forgotten that he was two-legged. He's running, he's been burned, and he has heightened senses (including a sensitivity to light). From his heightened senses he starts tracking one of the soldiers that survived the massacre. Killing this soldier, however, is different from all the others, because he drinks the blood of the soldier until the soldier runs dry. When he tries to eat anything else besides warm blood, his body forces it back out.
With shame, Good Stab kills himself after feeding, but wakes up again to the sun. He dresses himself in the soldiers clothes, and whenever he cries, blood runs out of his eyes. All he can eat now is blood. He moves to the base of the mountain and lives there. Awakening at night, he lives among the animals, no longer smelling like a human, and when he sleeps during the day it's less restful and just blackness with no dreams.
He returns to where the soldiers shot them, finding his friends bodies, digging up the guns, but noticing that the Cat Man is just ash. He decides not to return to this place, and lives among the animals near the mountain. As he feeds on long-legs and wags-his-tails, he notices that he's starting to grow horns like them. He feeds on trappers to remove the horns and after they fall off, waits 21 days until he absolutely has to feed again. Coming upon other two-leggeds in the woods he does feed, but it's White Teeth, a Pikuni boy trying to become a man. Leaving, he comes upon a murdered herd of blackhorn with their robes gone, and Good Stab is shot by a greased-shooter.
The Absolution of Three-Persons | April 11, 1912
The Pastor reflects on this portion of Good Stab's story and tries to rationalize what he has heard. Then, he officiates the funeral service for the first body that was found. More than just the sheriff, the gravediggers, and the pastor were in attendance; there were many town residents who were curious about the happenings and also a passing stranger in a bowler hat, who appeared to be a continental traveler in middle-of-nowhere Montana.
April 13, 1912
Pastor Beaucarne tries to confirm some of Good Stab's story with another individual of the Blackfeet nation, especially if they would have known what a cat was in 1870. Amos Short Ribs seems to know what mountain lion cubs are but not a typical housecat (after the pastor procures an example from a house of ill repute). Amos does ask about seeing "The Fullblood" at the pastor's church, thinking that someone had already taken care of him for what he had done to the buffalo hunters. Surmising that The Fullblood may be responsible for the two dead humps in town, Pastor Beaucarne goes to ask Amos, but instead finds the mysterious stranger there, Dove. Dove is a pinkerton investigating these mysterious deaths.
April 14, 1912
Dove's investigating the disappearance of a man from San Francisco, who was set to inherit part of a newspaper, was taken from his home some five weeks ago. He was seen having long conversations with someone matching Good Stab's description: long black robe, darker skinned, dark sunglasses, younger in looks than the pastor. The missing heir was the first body found near Miles City. The three sons of the heir have also disappeared. Dove confirms that the second body is one of the sons.
Dove also mentions standing orders in Montana if they hear anything about a missing transport from 1870 where six pinkertons went missing transporting "a large package" of "money and the like." Though the pastor almost gives himself away when he says that "the snow can be deceptive up here."
Good Stab took his normal seat at church and confirmed that he has no horse and knows what a cat is.
The Nachzehrer's Dark Gospel | April 14, 1912
Good Stab sees that one of the blackhorns is still alive and hides from the napikwan inside it's body. He does drink its blood until it dies again. When he emerges the next day, he's surrounded by the dead herd and the still living calves looking for food. Good Stab goes to find the napikwan that did this and the calves follow. When they find the camp, the napikwan won't use their guns to kill the calves, instead enticing them with their water skins to slit their throats. Good Stab gathers some calf blood to kill them, and manages to kill two before a tomahawk to the back takes him down. Once he can remove the tomahawk he uses it to kill the next napikwan and drains his blood before he dies. When the rest of the napikwan try to corner Good Stab, he manages to escape with one of the calves that survived.
The Absolution of Three-Persons | April 18, 1912
Chance Aubrey hung himself after finding out what happened to the ship on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean (Titanic). And the Pinkerton was also mangled on the train tracks a mile west of town, apparently run down by a train. Livinius Clarkson also seems to be missing. Pastor Beaucarne shutters the church in fear, and will not give up the cat to the red-haired woman.
---
Join us next week as we read from April 22, 1912 through April 28, 1912!
7
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
"I knew there would be no cat, no mouse. Or, rather, I suppose, there would be one of each there, now that Good Stab and myself were outside." Who do you think is the cat or the mouse in this book?
7
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
I marked that quote as well! I think Good Stab is the cat and the pastor is the mouse. I wonder if the pastor definitely feels that way, or if he hopes he is more in charge of the situation than he really is. I think he knows the truth deep down, that Good Stab is dangerous. It's interesting that he was so worried about his interactions with Dove, the Pinkerton, and almost seemed like he wanted to help Good Stab by keeping him a secret.
6
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 11 '26
I do wonder if the pastor thinks of himself as the car or the mouse. Maybe he's trying to be a cat
7
u/wild_umbreon 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Jan 11 '26
I think the pastor initially believed he was the cat, but at this point, he has to acknowledge that he is the mouse. The more he learns about Good Stab the harder it is to walk away from him.
3
7
u/grahamiamiam Jan 15 '26
Yes! I also had this one highlighted. Felt like a turning point where the Pastor is no longer a passive listener for Good Stab to tell his story to - but someone involved in Good Stab's story/ life
2
u/infininme infininme infinouttame Jan 23 '26
Relatively speaking, the Good Stab is the cat, and the pastor is the mouse. What game is Good Stab playing?
7
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
A lot of descriptions of Good Stab's transformation in this section. Which descriptions intrigued you the most? Or which were you surprised by?
13
u/nerfpants r/bookclub Newbie Jan 10 '26
God there is so much visceral stuff in this chapter and I’m here for it.
For lack of a better word, violence is written with hunger. So many vampire books lean on the sensuality of the vampire and it’s a lot of “sucking” and “caressing” and “heaving bosoms” but this is teeth sinking into fat layers and crawling into the carcass of a dead animal and pockets of blood exploding inside of you from gorging.
I am getting such a vivid sense of this aching need to feast Good Stab has discovered. Mirrored by both the Pastor and the other Indian in the town who Pastor gives the bacon to. Happy to get food when they can.
Speaking of that, is there a clue in Pastor asking why the Indian shared the bacon with the dog when he clearly needed it himself? Is Good Stab here to ‘share’ with the Pastor?
3
u/infininme infininme infinouttame Jan 23 '26
Great points! I assume that Amos gave the bacon to the dog in a sense of generosity. Dogs are mentioned frequently by Beaucarne but always in a "mangy mutt" kind of way it seems. The fact that Amos treated the dog as deserving of it, contrasted how Native Americans versus white napikwans understand life and the beings in it.
2
u/saturday_sun4 Magnanimous Dragon Hunter 2024 🐉 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
This is how I saw it too, as a communal mentality. Beaucarne makes a comment about how "Indians are always giving up things to others, even when they sorely lack them" (sorry, my app doesn't allow me to search so I'm going from memory here). I think it is just meant to illustrate the stark difference between individualism and collectivism and of course, between their personalities as well. We see Beaucarne greedily eat every scrap of food he is given unless it will benefit him not to, whilst we know that the Native Americans see animals more as guides and a part of their own 'family'. Yes, they hunt them but they also respect them.
12
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26
The part where he consumed too much blood, he had to bleed some out of himself was pretty gross.
I was fascinated by the concept he would start to grow horns if he ate too many horned animals and would start to become whatever he ate most. This is not a concept of vampirism (or whatever he is) that I've come across before. Adds new meaning to you are what you eat!
6
u/KatiesGoldenDust My Mate Jan 11 '26
I really liked that change from vampire lore! It's a fresh new concept. They really are what they eat!
9
u/cant_decide_a_name_ Jan 10 '26
I liked that when Good Stab loses blood he is almost like a human again, his sense of smell fading, vision fading, etc. I also enjoy that because he isn't absolutely invincible, there is still a fear of Good Stab dying, which makes the fights he gets in more scary.
7
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
The part when Good Stab sleeps with the hibernating bear was so interesting to me. Especially when he notices that his mind doesn't tell him that he should stop fighting anymore when he's injured because he can heal with his next feeding.
8
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
I thought the connections to animals were very interesting. The scene where Good Stab hides inside the dying buffalo was both really gross and really cool. I also liked the hiner eating bear connection when Good Stab was able to get both sustenance and a form of dreaming. The Pikuni connection to animals seemed strong and important for Good Stab (such as the beaver medicine or the rabbit that guided him), and in his new form it seems like he is seeking out that connection in a different way.
9
u/Gertiegirl8 r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
The process of Good Stab learning his body after his transformation and his connection with other 4 legged creatures was interesting to me particular when he was recovering in the bear den or inside the Buffalo. I also loved the visceral language and the focus on hunger and animal instincts over the sensuality trope we typically see with vampires.
5
u/wild_umbreon 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Jan 11 '26
I love the additions to the “traditional” vampire lore–blood bursting from your body when you overconsume, taking on traits of the creatures you’re drinking from, “tasting” their dreams etc. I agree with u/nerfpants, there was a ton of visceral imagery in this section and I loved it.
5
u/AlpsPitiful1807 Jan 18 '26
This chapters were gruesome and all the more awesome. The author is a really good writer, his prose made me feel the pain (emotional and physical) that Good Stab was going through and some parts really made me nauseated (like when he hidden inside the buffalo). As someone who had red just three or four horror books before, this author closely resembles me of the best that Stephen King has to offer, this narratives that made you feel like you are there, feeling, seeing, smelling.
3
u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Jan 24 '26
As many others have mentioned these chapters were so visceral. It reall raised the stakes for me both wrt horror and Jones' ability to transport the reader into the most gruesome scenes. I knew that Jones doesn't pack any punches with his writing so i wasn't surprised. The whole gorging on blood scenes and needing to let some of it out were so intriguing to me.
1
u/saturday_sun4 Magnanimous Dragon Hunter 2024 🐉 May 01 '26
Like others, I liked that Good Stab's body never stayed the same as a vampire, that his senses and also his vulnerability to wounds kept changing based on how he fed. I also thought his taking on the characteristics of animals he fed on was a unique trope.
But I was more intrigued by the emotional aspect: how it showed him dealing with his changing nature, his grief, his total isolation not just from his Pikuni Nation but from his old identity: that being solitary means not being human. I liked how it described him one moment resolving to be killed by the napikwan and the next, deciding that he wanted revenge.
6
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
Pastor Beaucarne says to Dove: "My flock has a long memory for such things" and this is mirrored by Good Stab saying "but the Pikuni sti;l remember." Are there other similarities between the different peoples?
5
u/sarahsbouncingsoul 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Jan 16 '26
I think these quotes are pointing to the way both the white settlers and Pikuni remember, and are affected by, the traumas they have experienced. The quote about the Pikuni’s remembering is immediately followed by, “If there were any blackhorns left, they would remember fields like I was walking through too.” This trauma affects the buffalo and the Pikuni. Of course, a huge difference is that law enforcement is investigating what happened to the agents in 1870 and the victims in 1912 while it’s known that little, if anything, was done when Indigenous peoples were the victims.
6
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
Why do you think Good Stab is sharing his story with the pastor? Why now?
12
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
One theory I have is that the pastor did something to make him a target of Good Stab's revenge. (We keep getting hints from the pastor about his dark past.) I think Good Stab is telling the pastor the reason why he is going to eventually kill him. Their last meeting might end in the pastor's death.
Another thought I had is that Good Stab is increasingly lonely and isolated because he cannot be with other humans and especially cannot be a Pikuni anymore. He needs to find some way to tell his story to a person who he can trust to listen but not attempt to harm him or out him to authorities. A pastor would be a good person to turn to in that kind of situation because of the confessor relationship. Even though Good Stab doesn't share that faith tradition, he might be aware of the sanctuary he'd be offered.
3
u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Jan 24 '26
One theory I have is that the pastor did something to make him a target of Good Stab's revenge
This makes a lot of sense. I had been leaning into the safety if confessing to a pastor but this is waaaaay more fitting to thr author's vibe!
10
u/PeridotParsnip r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
Well it appears Good Stab had 'meetings' with the guy from San Francisco before he disappeared, plus with the chapters being called "the Absolution of Three Persons" - I get the sense it's kind of a reverse confession. Like Good Stab is "confessing" their sins to them.
10
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
I like the way you described it as a reverse confession. I had a similar thought that the pastor must have done something in the past that puts him in the path of Good Stab's revenge. I'm curious to see how the pastor's dark past which he hints at may end up factoring into Good Stab's own story.
3
u/infininme infininme infinouttame Jan 23 '26
That's an interesting theory. I thought it meant that in telling Good Stab's story, that Beaucarne was trying to absolve himself somehow. After all, he wrote it.
8
u/wild_umbreon 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Jan 11 '26
I think Good Stab is at the end of his revenge tour and wants someone to know what he did. I also suspect he and the pastor have crossed paths before, and the pastor doesn’t remember or realize yet. Not sure if the pastor was involved with buffalo hunters in his past, but if so, it’s not looking good for him…
7
u/VincentDVLD r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
I'm getting the sense that the confessions will eventually turn into a dialogue. He shares a lot, maybe in hope that the pastor will eventually help him with information or insight on the community.
5
u/AlpsPitiful1807 Jan 18 '26
I think Good Stab is going to end his revenge and he already knows a way to end his existence, so he wants someone to know who he was and, since the Pikunis are not his people anymore, he thought of getting someone who wouldn't reject him without giving him a chance to talk.
But I do think the pastor has done something in the past that really relates to Good Stab story, I don't think he choose at random.
3
u/infininme infininme infinouttame Jan 23 '26
Plus it appears that Good Stab knows the pastor is writing this down.
1
u/saturday_sun4 Magnanimous Dragon Hunter 2024 🐉 May 01 '26
Mixed motives. I initially thought Good Stab chiefly wanted to confess, and maybe he does in a way. As others have said, he is obviously lonely. Maybe he wants to unburden himself to someone before dying. However, I think he quite rightly does not value Christianity given what Christians/ napikwan have done to his people. In earlier chapters he compares killing the beaver to a Christian pissing on the ashes of the cross after setting it alight. He knows full well what absolution entails and how important their faith is to the ordinary people of the town - and he wants to show the town that he can strike at their very spiritual core.
5
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
In What ways do you think Good Stab is still his Pikuni self, in what ways is he his new self?
11
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
Good Stab still wants to honor the animals he comes across, such as helping the surviving calf so it wouldn't be slaughtered or thanking the buffalo he had to feed on to survive. He still feels a connection to the Pikuni people and did not like that he unknowingly attacked a Pikuni friend when he was desperate. Similarly, he still feels proud of fighting soldiers and napikwan in his new form, just as he did when he was fully human. In a lot of ways he is trying to retain his culture, for lack of a better phrase.
However, he cannot live as one of the Pikuni people because of his new form. He needs blood and cannot eat or be around humans. He no longer dreams. He has a different scent (or maybe no scent?) which makes animals behave differently around him.
6
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26
He seems to have retained all of his memories and knowledge from before. Now he seems lost, and beholden to these urges he never wanted.
5
u/infininme infininme infinouttame Jan 23 '26
I love the fact that Good Stab doesn't like animal blood. Without intending to, his curse is keeping some Pikuni values alive, i.e. the connection with animals.
3
u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief Mar 14 '26
Something that I noticed is that before he was changed, he mentioned feeling rage at seeing buffalo slaughtered en mass just for their hides, and the rest of the animal wasted and dishonored. He retains that now as his new self, but maybe he is better equipped to do something about it.
5
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
The Pastor tries to make sense of Good Stab's story into his own worldview. Why do you think the pastor wants to rationalize his story or find the truth?
10
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
I think that a vampiric story would be hard for most rational people to accept as truth and the instinct would be to find a realistic and rational explanation. It would shake everything you know to be true about the real world.
In the case of the pastor, there is also the white American view of Indigenous people that complicates things. He has paternalistic, condescending attitudes towards Native people and so it would feel natural to write off Good Stab as troubled or damaged or irrational.
9
u/nerfpants r/bookclub Newbie Jan 10 '26
I’ve got a few thoughts on this.
If this is true it upends everything he’s dedicated his current life to. And that seems to be on relatively shaky ground already. Could the Pastor’s pious self survive this truth?
Pastor has had a few things where he looks on the Native Americans with some sympathy but also “they are in their place”. If this story is true it’s going to upend that pecking order.
7
u/cant_decide_a_name_ Jan 10 '26
Yes! I think it also has to do with the way he views himself. He seems to feel like he is smarter and above other people, not only with Good Stab but also with some of the townsfolk. He also aknowledges this by confessing that he is talking to Good Stab like he is a child. I don't know if his ego could take it if it came to light that his beliefs were wrong.
3
6
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
I feel like deep down he has to know it's real. It's his rational brain trying to make sense of it, but I think his lizard brain knows.
4
u/VincentDVLD r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
The pastor calls Good Stab a "savage" and often looks down at him, sometimes unconsciously. I agree with the "pecking order" comment below. He's scared of what he does not understand AND what he does not want to be true.
4
u/AlpsPitiful1807 Jan 18 '26
This is the best detail, for me. We, humans, will always try to deny fantastical truths, mainly when this truth would derail everything we count as truth in our life and, someone who lives by what he vouchs for, the Pastor cannot accept something that will destroy his vision of reality.
Besides that, he, at least before the end of the last chapter red, really didn't take Good Stab seriously just because he's a Indian and not deserving of being taken seriously.
6
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
Should the Pastor trust Good Stab's story, why or why not?
9
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26
I do think something weird is going on. There's a reason Good Stab chose the pastor to confess to that I haven't worked out yet. I don't think Good Stab is necessarily trustworthy, but I think his story is largely true.
6
u/wild_umbreon 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Jan 11 '26
Agree. I don’t know what Good Stab’s true objective is, but I do believe his narrative.
9
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
I think he should at least trust the broad strokes, but I get the feeling that Good Stab also has ulterior motives and is leading the pastor down a path.
5
u/VincentDVLD r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
The pastor seems to enjoy the story as much as we, the readers, enjoy them ahah
Beaucarne should be more a bit more careful. He's blinded by the truthfulness of what he sees as a "confession" but there have to be ulterior motives. Lots of things are happening at once in his town. How does he not see the coincidence...
3
u/infininme infininme infinouttame Jan 23 '26
Definitely the pastor should believe Good Stab. Why? Because otherwise what are we even doing here!?
1
u/saturday_sun4 Magnanimous Dragon Hunter 2024 🐉 May 01 '26
I think Good Stab's story is more or less correct. His intentions, on the other hand, remain to be seen.
5
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
Why do you think the Titanic affected Chase Aubrey so?
7
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
This confuses me a bit. Right now it seems like an odd historical addition just because of the dates, but maybe there will be a bigger significance in the Titanic popping up. Maybe it is to highlight the theme of a looking danger that the pastor doesn't really see coming?
7
u/PeridotParsnip r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
Yes I wasn't expecting this. Perhaps its a theme of hubris? Plus it does represent a mass of Europeans coming to the US. Very striking that he compares it to the population of the town (and Montana).
8
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
Very striking that he compares it to the population of the town (and Montana).
Yes! It really puts the loss into perspective. And I loved/hated how he felt the need to say the population of Montana minus the Native people.
2
u/saturday_sun4 Magnanimous Dragon Hunter 2024 🐉 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
That's a good point! It is a natural way for Beaucarne to catalogue given Native Americans were presumably not recognised as citizens or considered part of the official population at the time, but also... yeah, the comparison is instructive.
6
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26
It was a horrific tragedy. 1500 people died. But that's not why he killed himself. He had invested financially in the Titanic and it was literally at the bottom of the ocean. It was like stock market crashing for him and he saw no way out of it.
6
u/PeridotParsnip r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
Oh I wasn't clear whether that meant he had invested of himself or literally invested money. You think the latter?
6
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26
I didn't think of interpreting it any other way, but you're right it doesn't specify how he invested.
5
u/wild_umbreon 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Jan 11 '26
I assumed he was a financial investor so being tied publicly to this tragedy had to be tricky for him. I imagine he felt a lot of guilt at being involved.
3
u/AlpsPitiful1807 Jan 18 '26
I think he didn't commit suicide, just that Good Stab decided to change how he was going to kill.
6
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
Anything else to add?
11
u/nerfpants r/bookclub Newbie Jan 10 '26
The ending where our Pinkerton friend who I was sure was going to stick around and cause trouble for our main duo just click snuffed at the end. Outsiders are not welcome in this story!
8
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
I was shocked that he was dead so fast! And it seemed like he might have known something about the Cat Man because of that odd exchange about the six missing men transporting something in winter and going missing.
4
8
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
I thought it was oddly convenient or serendipitous that he found the exact right person to question who had some recently acquired information about the incident he was investigating.
A bit convenient or serendipitous that the investigator wound up dead shortly thereafter as well.
4
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
That's what it felt like! I definitely thought he was going to be more involved
3
u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Jan 24 '26
Same. I always feel suspicious when a character comes in to play, is begun to be built up then just dies. I feel like they'll become relevant again somehow. I wonder if this could be the case here!
2
u/saturday_sun4 Magnanimous Dragon Hunter 2024 🐉 May 02 '26
Good point! Maybe he has become a revenant/vampire (I forget the word in the Pikuni language) like Cat Man or Good Stab himself.
5
u/KatiesGoldenDust My Mate Jan 11 '26
I really struggled getting through these chapters. I am fine with humans getting hurt, but I hate seeing/reading about it in regards to animals, so the whole buffalo sequence was very hard for me.
6
u/Comprehensive-Fun47 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 ||🧠🥉 Jan 11 '26
People picked up on how the pastor's fixation on food mirrors Good Stab's appetite. I wonder if it's meant to be foreshadowing that the pastor will eventually trade one hunger for another. Or if it's meant to represent the gluttony of the white people and the Cat Man/Good Stab are the flip side of that. Both Good Stab and the pastor have lamented how they planned to stop eating, but couldn't stick to their plan.
4
u/AlpsPitiful1807 Jan 18 '26
Wow, this is interesting. Maybe the Pastor is going to be the last buffalo hunter thar Good Stab is going to exact revenge upon and he will not kill the pastor, but will prefer to bring this curse upon him, just to make him suffer with his faith.
5
u/AlpsPitiful1807 Jan 18 '26
This book is crazy good! The writing is so vividly, I really feel like I'm there with the characters. And the violence and bloodshed really scaled up in these chapters. I'm eager to continue!
1
u/nepbug Buried in Bonus Books Mar 10 '26
I find myself a bit bored with the Pastor sections, but Goodstab living as a Catman is full of intrigue.
1
u/saturday_sun4 Magnanimous Dragon Hunter 2024 🐉 May 01 '26
I wonder why the author had Good Stab use American Indian English when Beaucarne is well aware that he knows the General American English words for mouse, rifle, etc. At first I thought it was to catch Beaucarne off guard. But perhaps he is talking in American Indian English so as to immerse us more into the story from the POV of a (former) Pikuni.
3
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
Any theories you'd like to put out there?
10
u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Jan 11 '26
Not sure it is a shocking theory, but Good Stab has decided to channel his vampiric need to feed on humans as a way to get revenge on the white people for the slaughter of his people and the buffalo. So just as he came across the skinned animals laying there to rot and having been poisoned, he is doing the same to the humans he targets for revenge as a sort of homage to that buffalo slaughter he stumbled on. My theory of how he picks the people is that they have some connection to the slaughter of the Pikuni that he has referenced a few times.
9
u/PeridotParsnip r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
My most recent theory is that perhaps Three Persons is part of the hunting group Good Stab encountered in the latest chapter.
7
u/VincentDVLD r/bookclub Newbie Jan 11 '26
Defintely something in this sense. What seems to confirm it is obviously the title of the book. Weird choice to keep Good Stab's intention a secret for so long but put such a revealing title on the front page imo...
5
7
u/hiImMate Jan 12 '26
It's a very small theory, but I am thinking similarly as Good Stab started growing horns, he actually knows English because of the blood and not because he spent time learning it. Much like the horns the knowledge of English grew within himself. At least that is one small theory I have.
4
3
5
u/lilist_monster Jan 14 '26
Im feeling a bit of Interview With A Vampire vibe and reading how Etsy says she thinks she feels her relative watching her as she is reading the journal, there might be an appearance of either Good Stab or Arthur. Also Etsys hunger to be a professor isn't unnoticed.
4
u/PeridotParsnip r/bookclub Newbie Jan 14 '26
Yes! I keep going back and forth as to whether it will be Good Stab or Beaucarne (or neither) who appears in the present. Honestly I hope it's Good Stab.
4
u/AlpsPitiful1807 Jan 18 '26
Someone already said this, but I agree with the theory that Good Stab is getting revenge on the buffalo hunters that he found, his revolt when he looked at the scene of that herd skinned and the little ones left to die of hunger is very clear.
And for me, the Pastor may have some connection with it. Directly or indirectly.
6
u/spreebiz Silent Bookclub Fancier Jan 10 '26
Pastor Beaucarne is convinced to write down The Gospel of Good Stab, 'the last exhalations of a people who won't be seen again in the world.' Why do you think he feels this so strongly?