Backwoods Banshee by David R Slayton
Publication Date: October 27, 2026
Summary from NetGalley:
While Adam copes with fresh trauma and relationship trouble, he must investigate banshees and the Between in the newest book in the Adam Binder series from beloved author David R. Slayton.
Months after Annie’s return, Adam Binder is still plagued by nightmares about his unborn nephew, and tension is building between him and his boyfriend, Vic, as Adam struggles to recover from the torture he suffered at the hands of a vicious cult.
Meanwhile, Banshees have begun preying on humans and fae alike, the Lost Ones—mortals trapped in the Spirit Realm—are on the brink of an uprising, and the Between, a forbidden magical realm where Adam battled the Red Wolf, holds a secret that Elves are desperate to keep.
Even more mysterious, someone is purging knowledge about the Elven religion from every known repository of information, and not even Jack, the librarian at Rogue Community College, can figure out how or why.
Somehow, these things are all connected, and Adam needs to piece it together and find out who is behind the chaos before the Spirit Realm is destroyed.
ARC provided by Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
This series just keep getting better and I love how the characters continue to grow and change. Here we are at book 5 and the story is still fresh and exciting as we learn more about this world.
Adam is such a great character and he has grown so much over the course of the books. He is a reluctant hero, and he certainly would never call himself one, but he is always ready to protect the ones he loves and the world when he has to. Adam went through a lot in the last book and he is still working through his ptsd issues. I loved that we see him working with a therapist around these issues. His relationship with Vic is still strong and I really enjoy how supportive he is even when Adam pushes him away. We don’t see as much of Vic in this book, but hopefully the next one he’ll be more present.
The story is well written and nicely paced with great action sequences throughout. The story starts with a bang and keep on going. The world building also continues, just when you think you know everything about this world something new crops up. I also really enjoy how the author overlaps this world with the magical world he has created. The mythologies he draws on are always twisted into an interesting shape. Adam’s tarot readings are also interesting and I love reading the descriptions of the cards.
As this is the fifth book in the series, it is definitely not a stand alone. However, you don’t have to start with book one to enjoy this one, but it wouldn’t hurt. This is sort of two series with the first three books completing one story and then book four starting a new chapter in Adam’s life. So you could start with book four and then read this one, but I still highly recommend that you start at the beginning with White Trash Warlock to fully understand Adam and his world.
