Donn, TX 1926 – Eric Butler

3 stars

Welcome back to Donn, TX, where everyone has an agenda and something sinister lurks in the corn!

For clarity purposes, I read this book after 1969 and 1865.

1926 has A LOT going on, and it missed the mark a little for me. After reading the synopsis, I was expecting this story to be focused on Sheriff Pike and what his purpose in Donn is. I did learn a lot more about what brought him to Donn, but there was so much other stuff going on that I completely lost focus on the sheriff and anything to do with him. I’d have rather the story been about Ruth and Robert and the motel since that’s where all my interest was pointed.

I’m really curious now about The Pale Man and how he fits into all of this though. I’ve always enjoyed the “it’s too good to be true” type of characters and he reminds me a lot of old school (not Disney) genie type characters who would grant your wish but in a way that you weren’t expecting and generally wasn’t what you really wanted.

This wasn’t a bad read by any stretch but it left me with a lot of unanswered questions. What was the consequence to Robert signing the contract with the Pale Man? What exactly is Anna? Who will be the Scarecrow’s new helper? I’m hoping that the next one I read (2002) will give me some of these answers as I learn more about this cursed town.