West by God

By: Tyler Bell

Narrated by: Tyler Bell

Written and Narrated by Tyler Bell of the award winning podcast, The Westside Fairytales

West by God is the story of a young newspaper journalist named Adelaide sent to report on a high-profile murder in the remote (and fictional) town of Targrady, West Virginia. Once she gets there, she discovers the case in question is anything but open-and-shut, and quickly finds herself neck-deep in a mystery that could sink the entire town.

Complicating Adelaide's efforts to get to the bottom of the story are the machinations of a nightmare creature called the Witchum Woman, a local drug syndicate led by the enigmatic Fetid Queen and populated by white supremacists, and the age-old small town suspicion of outsiders.

"West by God" is an adult horror/thriller fiction novel that delves into themes of race, gender, sexuality and justice. It could be found on a shelf beside authors such as Dan Simmons and Davis Grubb.

©2023 The Henlo Press (P)2024 Tyler Bell

Fantastic Debut Novel

Reading like Gillian Flynn's "Sharp Objects," but retold by Neil Gaimen, "West by God " is a brilliant supernatural thriller with some weak points.

What I loved most about the book were the characters and their dialogue. My absolute favorite is Mercury, but the entire cast is strong and each feel like a lived character. Along with that I absolutely loved the supernatural elements and how they're worked into the story. The entire Fetid Queen section is exactly what I love in horror/thriller hybrids. Which flows into talking about the prose which tends to be very boiler plate in reality but when things start veering into horror the writing picks up the pace with some great tension writing and descriptive language.

However, the weakest aspect of the story is the core theme. There are numerous topics that Tyler Bell touches on but it never feels to go beyond touching on them. I finished the novel not very sure what had been said other than a compelling mystery. I think of a Chandler book where by the end it feels like every character and plot beat breathes the same concrete message, but I can't say the same with this story.

But given how strong the plot and characters are I can't say that's too big of an issue. You're still in for a great small town murder mystery with a lot to say, even if its a bit unfocused.

Overall, not bad at all...

I came upon this novel expecting to be bored and to poke fun at sophomoric writing. I was pleasantly surprised that this book actually didn't suck and may have been worth Audible's one measley credit a month.

The book starts somewhat slow, and one might think it's a loose regurgitation of A Time to Kill through the eyes of a reporter. When I say the book starts slow, it isn't boring, per se, just not page turning until midway in, where the story racks up increasingly until the end.

The heroine, a bit of a white savior with a twist, is named Adelaide Stevenson, not to be confused with Adelei Stevenson, and the male author can perhaps be forgiven for certain tropes that give away that Adelaide is written as how a man would think women think.

When we first meet Adelaide, she is in the middle of being sick, comically in the men's bathroom, to ward off women asking if she's OK. When workmen come in, one asks her if she's OK, and Adelaide, fresh from emesis, wonders if he's handsome (eye roll).

Adelaide's Black adopted mother knows Adelaide is pregnant before she or a pregnancy test can confirm so, female magic or the glow of a woman bearing the fruit of connubial bliss, I cannot say.

Adelaide is afraid of nothing, rebuffing having a man around when doing a report out of town of a murder ( I think most women would be somewhat concerned for their safety, but whatever).


We are led to believe the murder of the young adult in this book is racially charged, a Black man raped, hanged, and sexually mutilated by white men. But no, the Whites have been framed in this predominantly Black town ( see, why I say she's a white savior with a twist?).

Why is the man murdered referred to as a woman as she is killed? Because she was a woman, a trans woman in the early 2000s, living in rural West Virginia. As the story progresses, the book becomes a DEI whodunnit, with a colorful cast of characters, a little bit of the supernatural, and moments I held my breath in suspense.

The book does seem at times a monument to White liberal virtue signaling, but overall, the elements of the book where sensitivity is needed are well-crafted. Apart from naming a majority Black town Targrady, that is.

The horrific death of Julie is not drawn out with excessive gore or length. The several Black trans characters in the story are all respected by the author, along with their pronouns. Even the poor White family of the accused murderers is written with nuance.

What I would say were the flaws in the novel is that the dream sequences were a bit too lengthy even though they come together in the end, and maybe ask a few women regarding female characters if this or that seems plausible.

Lastly, it's always great when one can hear an author read his work as it sounded to himself when he wrote it. Tyler Bell has a voice for audiobooks, doing the voices of his characters as he meant them to be.

Best YouTuber Book?

Strong first novel (to my understanding this is Bell's first novel). Gets to the point, doesn't overstay its welcome.

The highest points have to be the characterization and dialogue; Bell is excellent at both. He as a wonderful command of voice as a writer, and each character feels distinct and alive.

The supernatural elements are creepy, ethereal, oftentimes disgusting, and the language used is incredibly evocative, though so little is explained that it almost feels like Bell may have gotten more mileage out of a more straightforward mystery story. Perhaps it's Tyler's intention to explore more in sequels.

Bell organically brings up a number of potent themes throughout the story (crime, racism, transphobia, fear of harboring some personal prejudice, media manipulation, what the supposedly righteous and powerful are and aren't willing to overlook, the self-cannibalizing and rotting aspects of smaller towns, and more) in ways that feel authentic and often unexpected. However, many are introduced and touched upon only briefly; only a few are truly followed up on and explored in more depth. This might be Bell's intention (in life, answers are hardly obvious or easy) but I'm curious to see what a fully unleashed Tyler Bell could do.

Bell also does the narration, and aside from a handful of first-timer technical issues and slightly hokey voices, he knocks it out of the park.

not the pod

I was expecting the kinda story from the pod. I got a lil of weird stuff but not the great stuff like the pod