The Backwoods
by Edward Lee
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Book Summary Information
Author: Edward LeeEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-12
ISBN: 1587671212
Number of pages: 271
Publisher: Cemetery Dance Pubns
Book Reviews of The Backwoods
Book Review: BRUTAL AND SADISTIC!
Summary: 4 Stars
This was the first book I've read by Ed Lee and I was pleasantly surprised...not just because I did enjoy it so much, but also the fact that many of the previous reviews were so negative which I really don't understand. Lee explores horror in a very real, man-made way. While there are supernatural elements to `Backwoods" it is the humanistic horror that is front and center in a very brutal and in your face way, further emphasizing the fact that there is no worse monster than man and no worse influence than greed.
Patricia White is a high profile real estate lawyer in Washington D.C., living a very comfortable, if not altogether satisfying life with her rather plain, restaurant critic husband Byron. Patricia has just heard the news that her sister Judy's husband Dwayne has been murdered. While she has sympathy for her sister, she holds none for her abusive, womanizing husband who most people feel got exactly what he deserved. Patricia returns to her childhood home of Agan's Point for the funeral with a lot of trepidation. Something very bad happened to Patricia there some 25 years ago. We will later learn that she was brutally sexually assaulted as a teen and her attacker was never caught.
Judy runs a crab processing plant and employs a group of people known as the "The Squatters". The Squatters are an uneducated, yet harmless group of people who live in run down shacks on land Judy owns and provides rent free to them. The Elder of the Squatters Everd Stanherd, hints at an almost primeval origin of the Squatters by proclaiming that they've always been on the land. The Squatters are a superstitious lot who practice a rather arcane mysticism that seems a cross between voodoo and Wicca. Patricia discovers first that there were some very strange circumstances to Dwayne's murder. First he was decapitated and his head was not found. But that's not the strangest thing as she will learn later. Patricia also finds out that a wealthy construction developer has started to build luxury condos in the area. Gordon Phelps wants to buy Judy's land but Judy is reluctant to sell as this would displace the poor squatters. Yet in recent months, several of the Squatters have turned up missing and the local law believes they've simply left town although there are hints at something much more sinister.
Meanwhile, ever since Patricia has returned to Agan's Point she's been plagued by powerful sexual fantasies, not only at night in her dreams, but also during the day, mainly centering on her unexplained lust for Ernie Gooder who is the family gardener and handyman. No matter how hard she tries to subdue these powerful sexual urges, she soon finds herself throwing herself at Ernie in the middle of the woods. This is the last thing that Patricia expected to feel back home where she suffered the assault so many years ago. As Patricia continues to try and find out what's going on in the small town, more and more bodies turn up, killed in sadistic fashion.
"Backwoods" pulls no punches. There are several gruesome murders including a woman hacked in half at the waist, people burned alive, and others suffering a much worse fate. The Supernatural elements linger just below the surface and are only hinted at until the books climax. Most readers won't have too much trouble early on figuring out the plot although it's not something that Lee necessarily tries to hide. The characters, with the exception of Patricia are a bit one-dimensional: greedy construction developer, red-neck trouble makers, overweight small-town sheriff, etc..., but there's definitely enough there to enjoy and it's a very brisk read that never bogs down.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
Summary of The Backwoods
Looking for evil is one thing. Finding is another. When Patricia White re-visits her backwoods home, an atrocious secret from her past isn?t the only thing that begins to haunt her. Creepy, erotic, and relentless, THE BACKWOODS delivers up a new kind of horror in a foreboding terrain of reclusive hillfolk, demented murder mysteries, and soul-searing horror. Has the town Patricia calls home really been cursed? No, it?s been blessed. By an unspeakable evil older than sin.Horror Books
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