The Thicket

With his latest novel, The Thicket, author Joe R. Lansdale has created a cast of interesting characters in the heart of East Texas.  Although not straying too far from his popular Hap and Leonard series, Lansdale paints an incredible picture upheld by strong dialogue and characters readers will find easy to love.

Having published works in a great number of genres, Lansdale is no stranger to the limelight.  Lansdale has been awarded the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker awards, and the British Fantasty Award among numerous other achievements.  Perhaps most famously, Lansdale's novella Bubba Ho-Tep was turned into a feature film starring Bruce Campbell.
 
The Thicket takes place in East Texas during the turn of the 20th Century.  Sixteen year old Jack Parker and Lulu Parker, his younger sister of two years, suddenly lose their parents during the smallpox epidemic.  Their grandfather helps them leave the deteriorating town of Hinge Gate in order to live with their aunt.  While on a small ferry, Jack's grandfather is callously murdered and Lulu kidnapped by Cut Throat Bill and his notorious gang.  Jack travels to the nearby town of Sylvester and begins to assemble a posse including grave-digger Eustace, his pet wild boar Hog, and a dwarf bounty hunter by the name of Shorty.  Their main objective: revenge.

The narrator of The Thicket is an elder Jack Parker as he looks back at the pivotal moments in his life.  Change is definitely a theme as East Texas at the start of the 20th Century was in a state of rapid advancement due to the oil boom and the rise of the automobile.  In comparison, Jack's life was in a rapid state of maturation after the shocking death of his parents and grandfather.  In the blink of an eye Jack is forever changed and affected for better or for worse by these happenings.  Readers are given the opportunity to experience these changes with Jack and see how opinions of God and love can transform over a lifetime.

Lansdale relies heavily upon dialogue to enhance the story and accomplishes that task to perfection.  Conversations between characters bounce between witty and light to downright gritty and unapologetic.  Undoubtedly the dwarf bounty hunter Shorty will become a fan-favorite with his overall demeanor and fascinating backstory.  This western is rugged, so be forewarned that violence, sex, and racism is prevalent as it was in this particular point in history.  Readers eager to escape to the Texas countryside with a ragtag group of misfits should dive head first into The Thicket.