What is Cold West like? Well, it’s kind of like having sand in between your teeth. Not pleasant, but as gritty and badass as Clint Eastwood’s piercing look. And, much more violent. A hell of a lot more violent. The book delivers an old mercenary who knows there will be no redemption or forgiveness for him, and it seems that Karma has circled back to him with the losses he personally endures. Such is life, a circle. But where there’s bounty, there is a mercenary in need.

Leaving the action and the plot points aside – which were delivered at breakneck speed, Snyder really seems to understand the darkest pit of human soul. There is a lot of morally grey area and that will surely divide the camp, but dodgy appetites will be quenched. Wil Cutter is like an open wound, at once aching and lashing out. The book in its entirety will paralyze, if you’ll let it – the memory flashes are almost too painful to bear. But they will set you up for the ending which feels fever dream-like and final.

There’s a saying we all know: “It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Well. Cold West proves a different point. Ignorance would have been bliss.

With this book, Snyder places the trust in the reader – succinct, sharp sentences with precisely selected words to convey meaning; and the whole setting, the world, the people in it will explode somewhere in the peripheral like a hologram. That is to say, I love it. Cold West is a great example of how a story can be emotionally impactful without needing to break all of the word count laws.