The Thicket
Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
4.11
· 18 ratings · 353 pages · Published: 11 Apr 2013
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.
In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure equal parts True Grit and Stand by Me - - the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm -- or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review).
Tagged as:
- thriller 4
- western 3
- historical 3
- historical fiction 3
- horror 3
- mystery 3
- crime 3
- coming of age 3
- action / adventure 2
- suspense 2
- noir 2
- literary fiction 2
- funny 2
- revenge 2
- drama 2
- family 1
- hardboiled detective 1
- grief 1
- kidnapping/abduction 1
- industrial era 1
- Add topics
- format - reader age
- young adult 3
- audiobook 2
- book 1
- content warnings
- death / grief 1