The Thicket Synopsis
Now streaming on Netflix
In a rip-roaring adventure set at the dark dawn of the East Texas oil boom, a young boy draws in two unlikely bounty hunters in his search for his sister.
"Reads like a dark version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and feels like a Coen brothers movie."?Houston Chronicle
"The bard of East Texas is back."?Booklist (starred review)
Jack Parker thought he'd already seen his fair share of tragedy. His grandmother was killed in a farm accident when he was barely five years old. His parents have just succumbed to the smallpox epidemic sweeping turn-of-the-century East Texas--orphaning him and his younger sister, Lula.
Then catastrophe strikes on the way to their uncle's farm, when a traveling group of bank-robbing bandits murder Jack's grandfather and kidnap his sister. With no elders left for miles, Jack must grow up fast and enlist a band of heroes the likes of which has never been seen if his sister stands any chance at survival. But the best he can come up with is a charismatic, bounty-hunting dwarf named Shorty, a grave-digging son of an ex-slave named Eustace, and a street-smart woman-for-hire named Jimmie Sue who's come into some very intimate knowledge about the bandits (and a few members of Jack's extended family to boot).
In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But as Jack's about to find out, blood and redemption rule supreme.
About This Edition
Joe R. Lansdale Press Reviews
'A master of noir laced with laugh-out-loud black humour ... horror, bloodshed and laughs.' -Shortlist
'This latest work reads like a dark version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and feels like a Coen brothers movie. It's the perfect mix of light and dark, with plenty of humor mixed in.' -Houston Chronicle
'The Bard of East Texas is back ... Memorable characters, a vivid sense of place, and an impressive body count make THE THICKET another Lansdale treasure.'
-Booklist
'Storytelling laced with bravado, good humor, action, and heart ... As captivating as the best of Larry McMurtry and written in a style reminiscent of Mark Twain... This title cannot help but captivate readers.'
-Library Journal
'A gently legendary quality makes this tall tale just about perfect.'
-Kirkus Reviews
'Joe Lansdale is one of the dark kings of modern mystery fiction, a master of the genre. His name deserves to be whispered with the greats.'
- John Connolly
'THE THICKET presents Joe Lansdale at his finest - which is to say, at the high-water mark of all storytelling. Nuanced, compelling, darkly humorous and remarkably vivid, THE THICKET quickly becomes a one-sitting novel, told in a voice that would have called Huck Finn himself in from the river. Lansdale marries story and style in a way most writers never achieve.'
-Michael Koryta, author of THE PROPHET
'Too often overlooked in American literature is that lineage descending from our early humorists such as Bierce, and from Twain: regional, darkly comic, bizarre. That's where Joe Lansdale lives. He's very Texan, very American, very funny - and a stone brilliant writer.'
- James Sallis, author of Drive
About Joe R. Lansdale
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of more than a dozen novels, including Sunset and Sawdust, Rumble Tumble and The Bottoms. He has received the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Edgar Award, the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, and seven Bram Stoker Awards. Several of his novels have been adapted for the screen, including Bubba Ho-Tep and most recently Cold in July, starring Michael C. Hall. His Hap and Leonard series is currently in development for television. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Author photo © Karen Lansdale
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