Review by Ian Keogh

In Dark Times A’Coming Emmy Crawford fought the greatest battle of her mystical life so far and defeated a foe who’d returned from the grave. Now she has to face another of that ilk who’s even more terrifying. That’s a great piece of plotting from Cullen Bunn, surely taking everyone by surprise, yet on consideration skilfully set-up from the earliest stories.

He continues to astonish by playing on the horror of what Emmy did at the end of Dark Times A’Coming, and trumping that to escalate the threat. Anyone who read the previous book knows that threat is Hester Beck, and although to date she’s only appeared in flashbacks, Bunn has constructed her comprehensively well as a villain beyond redemption in any fashion. His attention to the entire series is similarly skilled. This is the final Harrow County book, and we’re all rooting for Emmy not to succumb to the dark and strike a blow for what’s right, but with no following volume there’s no need for a protagonist, so tension is ramped up by there being no certainty of her survival. And if there’s no certainty about Emmy’s survival, what about Bernice?

Because Bunn’s done his job so well the pages will turn so quickly you won’t appreciate the quality of Tyler Crook’s art the first time round, so go back and look at it again once you know Emmy’s final fate. See how well he defines the people and the locations, how Hester Beck’s inner evil determines the way she looks, and how that contrasts with the innocence of Emmy in her 1930s skirt and plain shoes. Crook draws some fantastic spreads near the end, each of them worthy of a frame and a place on your wall.

As the culmination of everything Harrow County has been, you couldn’t ask for a better finish than Done Come Back provides. It’s so astonishingly good you might even consider springing the ridiculous amount of money asked for the hardback Harrow County Volume Four. Alternatively, the final four paperbacks are combined as the second Harrow County Omnibus. In any form this is amazing horror.