Bryan Hall's The Vagrant is an exceptionally well-written supernatural tale set in the dusty, gritty South. Sweat-stained and turned inside-out like a sopping wet workshirt, Hall's small town gothic tale of rage and illicit romance is a fine example of the ghost story tradition.

To be honest, I didn't expect it to wow me, but I found myself captivated by this story of revenge, murder, and torturous hauntings. I'm looking forward to the next installment of Southern Hauntings, which I found to be a far more entertaining iteration of the same premise that drove the television show The Ghost Whisperer.

The cover, while striking, really did color my read of the story, and that's too bad, because the image doesn't jibe with the spirit described in the story. But don't judge this book by its cover. Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea in a Mason jar, pull up a rocker on the front porch, and sit a spell.

There may be a paragraph or two at the beginning and end of the story that slow you down--but forgive those speedbumps and stick with it. Let's cross our fingers and hope the further installments are a bit more streamlined, that Hall and his editors put a bit more trust in their readers, and that the work only improves from there.

All-in-all, a solid four-star read.