The Unheld by Luke Larkin is a horror, Western novel about a young girl trying to save her father after a beast kidnaps him in rural Montana.
Every once in a while, I get approved for a book on NetGalley that I wouldn’t typically read. Most of the time, I struggle to finish it and don’t enjoy it. This time I read The Unheld by Luke Larkin, and I was blown away! From the opening chapter of Charlie hunting creatures in the woods with her father to the final confrontation with the monster, I was hooked. I think I’m becoming a horror book or Western book fan. Do yourself a favor and check out this book.
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The Unheld Overview
Title: The Unheld
Author: Luke Larkin
Pages: 336 Pages
Publish Date: August 25th, 2026
Genre: Western
My Star Rating: 5/5 stars! (I loved this book and would recommend it to most people!)
Grab Your Copy Here: https://amzn.to/4wiaOM5
Synopsis From Amazon
Charlie’s life is a lonely one. While other twelve-year-olds are in school, she spends her days skinning the animals her mercurial father hunts in the woods just outside their cabin. And the woods and its twisted creatures—an owl with four wings, a boar with two heads, a fox with gills—are becoming stranger by the day.
One night, a nightmarish beast appears and drags Charlie’s father into the wilderness. To find him, she enlists the aid of two unlikely allies also in search of the beast: an Englishman with a connection to a mysterious occult society and a Northern Cheyenne policeman exiled for a crime he didn’t commit. Yet as the trio prepare for the confrontation with the beast, Charlie must decide if her father, a brusque man who has always withheld his affection, is ultimately worth saving.
With its blend of Western grit and supernatural menace, The Unheld is an unsettling and atmospheric horror novel about loneliness, human connection, and how we find each other in a world that seems designed to alienate. With this assured debut, Luke Larkin marks his arrival in the genre and proves the American frontier still harbors untapped stories in its shadows.
My Review of The Unheld
First, let me thank Luke Larkin, Hyperion Avenue, and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of The Unheld. This book is not a book I typically read, but it blew me out of the water! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
The Unheld is a combination of a Western and a Horror that makes perfect sense. It’s a little slow at first, but the last 100 pages seemed to fly by. I had to know what would happen and whether Charlie, Theodore, and Patton would survive the beast.
Luke Larkin’s writing seems simplistic, but he writes about complex emotions. He handles the complexity of being a girl with overwhelming feelings and a grown man’s guilt and longing. I loved every character he introduced and felt like this book is secretly a character-driven novel with a lot of action.
I would love to tell you more about this book, but I feel like everything I want to say will spoil either the monster or the storyline. So, I’m just going to say that this book really surprised me, and it’s not like anything I have read before. Trust me, this book is worth the read.
This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys Westerns, Horror books, found family, multiple POVs, strong female characters, and books with creepy monsters. If you are looking for something to get you out of a reading slump, I would suggest you give The Unheld a try.
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Final Thoughts
If you take a chance and read The Unheld by Luke Larkin, please let me know. We can talk about this book, and you can tell me what you think. If you have any questions about this book, let me know in the comments below. I love hearing from all of you. Lastly, if you enjoyed this review, share it on your social media. I appreciate all the love and support.
Thanks for reading,
Kel
