A bit of entertaining ultra-violence.

I saw the whole book as movie in my head, which is weird for me. I couldn't decide if the Cohen brothers or Tarantino should take a wack at it. Either the meaninglessness of our endeavors are what saves us, or the righteousness of our actions makes us what we are in the end. It could go either way depending on where you get shot and what body part you lose.

Definitely a good book. It made for excellent for summer reading on the porch. ( )

Can there be a perfect book, the answer has to be yes, since The Thicket is well written, great plot, great characters. The only other book that I have read that is this good is Charles Portis' True Grit. ( )

Love books by this auhor.

FROM AMAZON: Tale of love and vengeance at the dark dawn of the East Texas oil boom.

Jack Parker knows all too well how treacherous turn-of-the-century East Texas can be. His parents did not survive a smallpox epidemic. His grandfather was murdered. Now his sister Lula has been kidnapped by a criminal who may believe wearing a dead man's clothes protects them both from death.

With bounty hunter Shorty, a charismatic and cunning dwarf, and Eustace, a gravedigging son of an ex-slave, the heartbroken young Jack sets off on an epic quest to rescue his sister from the corrupt men who control much of the new territory.

In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But blood and redemption rule supreme. ( )

I listened to this audiobook because I had read a review of the author's latest book Born for Trouble and since I had never read anything by this author I thought an audiobook would be a good introduction. Turns out Lansdale isn't my cup of tea. I am increasingly turned off by the excessive violence portrayed in some American literature and films and this was just too violent for me. ( )

I may have already stated this in a previous review of a Lansdale book, but even if that's the case, it's worth repeating: I don't believe Lansdale is capable of writing a bad story.

That being said, this book is nowhere near his best. Which means it's still an absolute must-read. For 98% of this novel, he's in absolute top form and Jack, as the narrator, is superb. Shorty is a fantastic creation as well. There were times when I was laughing out loud with the turns of phrase, and times when I was absolutely in utter hatred with the antagonists of the novel and their vile, evil ways. I even quoted a passage that I thought particularly brilliant on Facebook.

That quote was, "Those who refuse to consider what they do are cloaked in the shadow of stupidity, but they enjoy the shade." Love that line.

I had two issues with this novel. The first is a minor quibble, however the second one I felt was more impacting due to its absence.

The first was the motivation, or the impetus for the novel. Jack's sister Lula is taken. Every second she remains in the company of the villains, she's that much closer to a horrible end. Lansdale takes pains throughout the novel to keep this top of mind. And yet, none of the characters ever seem to be in much of a hurry to actually get going and stay going. I consider this one minor as Lansdale also did take some time to remind us Jack could only go as fast as his posse. So, minor quibble.

The second is a spoiler, so I'll note it as such:

At the end of the novel, when Lula is saved, she had been with them for days, maybe over a week. Throughout the novel, Lansdale paints a picture of men who would not only rape her, but likely enjoy disfiguring her, if they decided to allow her to live for a while.

And when she's saved, she confides in Jack that she's "not the same woman" as she was. And for the most part, that's it. This is someone that was serially raped, witnessed murders and god knows what else, and it seemed to be given short shrift in favour of a happy ending.



It's the only false note in the entire novel, and the only reason I gave it a four-star rating instead of five.

Still, as I said, Lansdale at his worst (and this is absolutely nowhere near his worst) is still a joy to read. So, read this. ( )