Review by Ian Keogh

The second Harrow County Library Edition (hardcover) or Omnibus (paperback) combines the final four Harrow County paperbacks, separately available as Abandoned, Hedge Magic, Dark Times A’Coming and Done Come Back.

Compared with earlier stories this actually begins relatively slowly as Cullen Bunn supplies more background clarifying the relationships between members of Emmy Crawford’s actual family. This is captivating and well conceived, just not quite as captivating as before, although it should be noted you’ll be very grateful for it as the volume continues and it’s apparent how everything slots together near the end.

The opening chapters are drawn by Carla Speed McNeil, who in the previous Library Edition/Omnibus seemed a good artist on the wrong feature. However, all such misgivings are redundant here as her techniques grace the tale of the large black bull-like creature that lurks in the forest and once accompanied the dreaded Hester Beck. Everything else is masterfully illustrated by Tyler Crook, without whose emotional nuance and startling ability to add dread to nature Harrow County would look very different. His peak is four spreads near the end, but there’s not a bad page from him. The sample art exemplifies an ability to show how people feel as it begins what seems will inevitably build toward conflict between Emmy and her best friend Bernice.

It brews in what was originally the second paperback incorporated here. Bunn convincingly shows both Emmy and Bernice believe they’re right, Emmy confident she can maintain control of the demons within and Bernice preparing for when she can’t. The conflict does come in a sense, but not at all in the way any reader would predict, and it’s one of several examples where Bunn adroitly messes with where readers might think he’s heading with the plot.

Ultimately that’s into some terrible events, Emmy having to cope with one powerful threat, followed by another even more appalling. Dark deeds occur and are shown more explicitly than earlier in the series, the impact of them inflated by actually witnessing the horror. Bunn is faultless as he pulls his plots together via the ever-accelerating pace, and there’s a constant tension concerning the safety of likeable people in what’s a finite series.

In the broad sense Bunn supplies what’s expected, but within the way things play out in Harrow County he’ll wrong-foot readers time and again, yet no-one will be disappointed except because the series has ended. You can look for associated stories in Tales From Harrow County.