The Thicket

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The Thicket (2015)
A novel by Joe R. Lansdale

Introduction by David Morrell
Afterword by Joe R. Lansdale
Art by Ken Laager

 

 

 

 


SYNOPSIS:

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).

American Library Association Reading List Award for History, Short List



250 numbered Smyth-sewn hardcovers; multiple illustrations by Ken Laager; high quality endsheets, interior stock, leather-covered boards, silk ribbon page marker; housed in slipcase covered with high quality material; materials for book/case likely to include “saddle leather” type material or other material fitting for the tale; bonus pieces by the author and by David Morrell; signed by the author on special illustrated limitation sheet, $150 Inquire about a
Numbered Copy
15 lettered traycased copies, signed by the author and artist, price TBD Inquire about a
Lettered Copy

Thicket traycase

Praise for THE THICKET and the Works of Joe R. Lansdale

“Lansdale has been writing brilliantly about East Texas for three decades, but never has the region appeared stranger or more violent than it does here. The oil boom has begun, and Jack, a naive and pious farm boy, is introduced to boomtowns, brothels, lynchings, and all manner of new things. Memorable characters, a vivid sense of place, and an impressive body count make The Thicket another Lansdale treasure.”
Booklist (Starred Review)

“Hellish and hilarious. It’s classic Lansdale, his own self peppered throughout by much piney backwoods philosophizing on everything from religion to whoring, [with] the author’s long-ago trademarked heaping helping of wry, often delightfully vulgar humanism. The Thicket is a keeper and then some.”
Austin Chronicle

“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

“Lansdale excels at giving his fans what they want. Many die, but what’s really dying here, Lansdale says, is a romanticized way of life.”
Dallas Morning News

“Lansdale offers up a coming-of-age Western adventure as captivating as the best of Larry McMurtry and written in a style reminiscent of Mark Twain. With intriguing, sometimes bumbling characters and storytelling laced with bravado, good humor, action, and heart ... this title cannot help but captivate readers.”
Library Journal (starred review)

“A folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace.” —New York Times Book Review

“A terrifically gifted storyteller.”
—Washington Post Book Review

“Like gold standard writers Elmore Leonard and the late Donald Westlake, Joe R. Lansdale is one of the more versatile writers in America.”
—Los Angeles Times

“A zest for storytelling and gimlet eye for detail.”
—Entertainment Weekly