Kelly R. and Robyn K. Frey’s BLACKJACK takes place in 1869, when four men in High River, Alberta enter into a partnership they hope will leave them rich in gold. But for two of the men, an expedition into the Rockies quickly leads to their doom. More than a hundred years later, Clay, the grandson of one of the men, stumbles onto an ancient map that shows the location of the mine—a mine Clay’s father had often spoken of, and which Clay long wished to locate.
Clay contacts his childhood friends Billy, Ken, Ty, Rich, and Brent, and together these six men head into the wilderness to seek the mine—guided in part by Clay’s memories and the Blackfoot legends Ken learns from an old acquaintance. When the group discovers the hidden trail that leads them to the mine, they’re jubilant. When they discover gold in the long-sealed mine, they’re even more excited. But soon they’re having disturbing dreams and seeing movement in the darkness. Ignoring an ominous totem pole and letting greed guide them, they find themselves on a path to something worse than death.
Kelly R. and Robyn K. Frey write in a muscular prose that evokes the fear and confusion of their characters very effectively: “The blizzard breaks and thick blackness rapidly engulfs the clearing. Not a breath of wind or sound—only stillness. Rich’s eyes are nearly sightless, searching for the fire’s glow.” The writing does a very good job of establishing the mine and its immediate surroundings, making it feel like a real place with real dangers.
The characters, unfortunately, are not written as clearly. The first part of the novel works as an extended prologue and introduces much of the backstory (as well as the titular character, one of the men seeking the gold in 1869). But none of those characters factor much into the plot, and even Blackjack himself largely vanishes from the story once the narrative shifts into the present.
The six men who head to the mine in the modern day don’t fare much better. While the authors craft believably relaxed dialogue between them, no one emerges as real—even Clay, who is as close to a protagonist as the story gets. Despite kicking off the story by discovering his family’s map, Clay quickly becomes just one of six more or less interchangeable names that banter, bicker, and make plans for their fortunes. While the ghost story being spun here is interesting, it’s difficult to care about the characters and their fates.
The novel also suffers from a lack of proofreading, as there are numerous, distracting typos (including missing quotation marks). However, despite its thin characters, BLACKJACK delivers an effectively ominous tone and richly descriptive writing. Fans of old-school ghost stories with a dark, bloody sensibility will find this enjoyable.
Despite underdeveloped characters and unfocused lore, Kelly R. Frey and Robyn K. Frey’s BLACKJACK has a classic horror premise and some evocative descriptions.
– Jeff Somers for IndieReader