Andy Davidson (1) (1978–)

Nellie is fleeing an abusive relationship with her 11-year-old son...but she's taking him to a different type of danger... a place she once called home. The story tells us of danger, but also greed, revenge, and obsession. This horror tale tells the story of the unforgivable trespasses that cost multiple generations their very souls. The year is 1989 and Nellie Gardner is fleeing her nursing school, her home and her abusive husband with her son, Max, to Georgia. Her abusive husband, Wade show more Gardner, is an academic with a quick, hot temper. The story then takes a slight detour...same place, but the year is now 1917, and we are now with Nellie’s grandfather, August Redfern and his wife, Euphemia, who have started a turpentine enterprise in the southern Georgia wilds and soon are the parents of twins Charlie and Hank. Hank goes on to be Nellie’s father. The twins soon learns that the land they are defiling for profit demands more sacrifice in the full meaning of the word, than mere greed can satisfy. Nellie settles into her grandfather’s creepy Gothic mansion and is soon confronted by local "snake oil" salesman Lonnie Baxter, who has always thought that the property and the house was his birthright. Her reunion with Hank doesn't go well and leads to an uneasy discussion between father and daughter, and soon Nellie and Max are also threatened by some unpredictable phantoms; the ghost of a young girl; a dead bear who won’t seem to stay put; and the resurrected Dr. Gardner. Of course, we were expecting something on this order...after all if you hang out in dusty old mansions that are populated by long well-kept secrets, along with guilt, remorse, and madness, something unwanted, unexplained and undead is bound to come slithering out of a moldy hole. I really liked the way Andy Davidson deftly sloughed his way between bated-breath anticipation and a downright unexplained horror. By the end I was thinking this would make a great horror movie...move over Shirly Jackson. show less

I seem to be on a horror feast this month and this one certainly fits right in. It’s a noir thriller dipped in the dark mud of the bayou, packed with witches, demons, and gods I have never heard of...nor wish to hear of. I’ve never before read anything by this author but I know that he knows how to write my darkest dreams...or give me some shiny new nightmares. I love to read. That should not be news to all that know me and I try hard to not be judgmental of an author’s work. After all show more I have no personal experience with seeing someone tear your hard work apart but I do know when something comes along that has merit and appeals so much to the depth of my being that I don’t want to put it down. This was one of those books. show less

The weirdness of the old world's ancient magic meets the grit of a modern crime story, all in the mysterious southern gothic setting of the Texarkana bayou. The fates of a mad southern preacher, a crooked cop, a witch, and the gutsy-est young woman since Mattie Rose of True Grit revolve around a secret child's past and future. I have not encountered a page-turner of this caliber in many years, and it was an absolute joy to read, even though I tend to be adverse to violence. The imaginative show more story, characters that feel real, and perfect pacing kept me hooked from start to finish. show less

I loved the vibes and writing of this novel, which in some ways felt like a marriage of Carson McCullers and Cormac McCarthy, with just a touch of Joe Hill. Sinking into the scenes and the setting as things unfolded was a pleasure, and as the book kept going, the reading got faster and faster.

The issue for me, though, became clarity. So often, it felt like I needed just a bit more connective tissue and narrative to help be sure of how the characters related to each other, how their pasts show more connected, and exactly what was happening on the page. Especially in the middle of the book, there were moments where I loved what I was reading, but still wasn't quite sure of what was going on in that moment. At a certain point, all of those moments of confusion added up, and I was reading for vibes as much as meaning, letting the language and individual scenes pull me on even when I wasn't quite sure of the larger canvas and how it was coming together. Probably, this is a book that would benefit from multiple reads...but when it comes down to it, I never quite connected to the characters well enough that I'm tempted to re-read. In some ways, that makes me feel like this is a plot-driven novel which is written more in the style of a literary or character-driven novel. Not to say that all those things can't come together at once, but in this case, I'm not sure they did.

I look forward to trying more of Andy Davidson's work since I loved so many elements of this. I'm not sure I'd recommend this specific book, but it was immersive enough that I think I'm glad to have come across it. show less