Edge of Dark Water (Lansdale) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Joe R. Lansdale slips into his folksy storyteller persona…to spin a charming Gothic tale narrated by a feisty schoolgirl…an adventure as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm—or Mark Twain.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review


A coming of age story peopled with original and fascinating blood-and-bones characters. A chillingly atmospheric tale of good and evil and adolescent angst. Edge of Dark Water has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come.
New York Journal of Books


Edgar-winner Lansdale channels Mark Twain in this chillingly atmospheric stand-alone set in Depression-era East Texas.... Lansdale's perfect ear for regional dialogue and ability to create palpable suspense lift this above the pack.
Washington Examiner


A storyteller in the great American tradition of Ambrose Bierce and Mark Twain.
Boston Globe


For those new to Lansdale's work, this novel will serve as a good intro: entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer.... Along the river chase, readers will pick up on nods to homer, Dickey, Twain and others, but the brooding East Texas atmosphere is all Lansdale: the specter of Skunk is like something out of a horror movie; man and nature both provide plenty of thrills and chills; the mystery of who killed May Lynn is given just enough attention; and Sue Ellen's precocious teen wisdom and bumpkin delivery provides the laughs.... Joe R. Lansdale could fall into the Sabine River at its filthiest point and still come up dripping nothing but storytelling mojo.
Dallas Morning News


A doozy of a read, the kind of book we call an "all nighter".... It's that kind of great, and it's pure-blood Lansdale, crammed to bursting with plot twists that recall the snaky bends of the Sabine River.... This sucker moves.... It's our favorite book of the year so far, and one of Lansdale's best, ever.
Austin Chronicle


Edgar-winner Lansdale channels Mark Twain in this chillingly atmospheric stand-alone set in Depression-era East Texas. When 16-year-old Sue Ellen Wilson finds the body of her friend May Lynn Baxter in the Sabine River, ...[she] and her two best friends...hatch an elaborate plan: burn May Lynn’s body and take her ashes to California.... When the trio discover money squirreled away...they decide to take it with them on a raft down the Sabine en route to California. Soon they must contend with more than just the current. Lansdale’s perfect ear for regional dialogue and ability to create palpable suspense lift this above the pack.
Publishers Weekly


...[N]ear the dark, snake-infested Sabine River during the Depression years... [o]nly the beautiful May Lynn has thought much about the future, and her plans to run away to Hollywood die with her at the bottom of the Sabine River. Determined that May Lynn will achieve her dream, ...three friends...cremate her body, nab money and a raft, and set out...down the river to Gladewater, where they can catch a bus to Hollywood. Like Huck Finn, each time they leave the river, the friends experience tragedy.... Verdict: Lansdale crafts a perfect noir mood using time, place, and culture for a novel that pits the pretty good against pure evil. —Thomas L. Kilpatrick, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib. at Carbondale
Library Journal


[A] distaff Huck and Jim. Paddling a makeshift raft down the Sabine River, they flee East Texas, a New York minute ahead of their pursuers. There are four of them.... Flagrantly ill-treated, consistently undervalued, they've been brought together by a murder.... It's an event that provides the restless four with both a mission and a pretext. May Lynn always wanted to go to Hollywood.... The river, the raft, a stash of money coveted by bad guys, nonstop adventures that edify, terrify.... A highly entertaining tour de force.
Kirkus Reviews