Bishop Rider is back. In this relentless follow-up to A Better Kind of Hate, Beau Johnson returns to the blood-soaked trail of the indie world's most polarizing vigilante. The world is a cold, uncaring engine-a "Big Machine" designed to grind the innocent into the dirt. But Bishop Rider is the wrench in those gears, a man driven by a singular, violent purpose: to hunt down the predators who think they are untouchable and remind them what it feels like to be prey.
Originally released in 2018 and long out of print, this reissued collection features a "patchwork narrative" of interconnected stories that hit like a shotgun blast to the chest. From the darkest corners of the human condition to the visceral satisfaction of a debt paid in blood, Johnson's lean, razor-sharp prose skips the filler and goes straight for the throat. There is no fluff here-only the grit, the grime, and the dark humor of a man who has looked into the abyss and decided to bite back.
The Big Machine Eats is more than just a sequel; it is a deep dive into the psychological toll of a life defined by vengeance. As Rider navigates a landscape of serial killers and abusers, he solidifies his place as the ultimate avatar of righteous fury. For fans of hardboiled crime and extreme noir, this definitive edition brings a modern classic of the genre back into the light, proving that while the machine may be hungry, Bishop Rider is much harder to swallow.
What Folks are saying
"Beau is back, once again proving he is the alchemist of conflict as he continues to peel back the fingernails of human frailty and forces us to stare into the darkness found there."
-Tom Pitts, author of Hustle
"Beau Johnson excels at the base, those twisted places we don't want to go. Whether that is sexually motivated, or fueled by revenge or something more sinister (if not all three at once), Johnson puts his subjects beneath the microscope. What we get is, yes, the truth, but more than that: we get an extreme close-up of the horrifically beautiful."
-Joe Clifford, author of Say My Name
"Beau Johnson has put together a collection of stories so compelling that you will want to set aside a few hours each time you come to it. One just isn't enough, and the next thing you know you'll be grumpy at work because you stayed up way past your bedtime."
-Paul Heatley, author of Tom Rollins thrillers
"Beau Johnson takes you to dark places and shines a light on the ugly things that happen there. His perfectly created, bigger-than-life Bishop Rider is a modern-day anti-hero and Johnson writes the surrounding stories with savage suspense. The Big Machine Eats is the perfect follow-up to his debut A Better Kind of Hate."
-Marietta Miles, author of Route 12 and May
"These deliciously dark stories will stay with you long after you've read them. Johnson is a natural storyteller-insightful, empathic, and, above all, brutally honest. He takes readers places they really don't want to go, drawing them into a grubby underworld of bad guys doing very bad things to very bad people. Retribution is a common theme, and Johnson never shirks from the grisly details as his characters come up with even more inventive ways to settle old scores. Revenge, here, isn't just served cold-it's delivered on ice, and then some. The Big Machine Eats is a gripping collection from a writer at the top of his game."
-Gary Duncan, author of You're Not Supposed To Cry
