The Thicket

Give Joe Lansdale credit for versatility. He's written mysteries and suspense novels, science fiction and horror, comic books and cartoons. If he isn't making your bones shake with fear, he's making your teeth rattle with laughter. The Thicket is an old-fashioned western with a modern sensibility and a considerable amount of humor. Many books make me smile but few make me laugh-out-loud. This one did, repeatedly -- when I wasn't gagging at Lansdale's descriptions of carnage and mayhem.

In an attention-grabbing first sentence, we learn that sixteen-year-old Jack Parker will "take up with a gun-shooting dwarf, the son of a slave, and a big angry hog" before finding true love and killing someone. After Jack's parents (like many others in East Texas) die of smallpox, Jack's grandfather decides to send Jack and his sister Lola to live with their aunt in Kansas. Before they travel far, desperados make off with Lola. Hence Jack's need to take up with gun-shooting folk who can help him track the bad guys. Eustace, the slave's son, is a semi-reliable tracker. Shorty, the gun-shooting dwarf, learned his craft from Annie Oakley. The angry hog is named Hog. Eventually a woman of ill-repute named Jimmie Sue joins the posse, as well as two others. The search take them to the Big Thicket, a hiding place for all things evil.

It's easy to feel sympathy for Jack, who does his best to maintain his naïve innocence despite his dark experiences in a rough world, and for Jimmie Sue, who has had a difficult life. More surprising is the sympathy Lansdale creates for Eustace and Shorty. They are violent and greedy but not truly evil -- they generally direct their violence (if not their thievery) at people who deserve it -- and their status as underdogs makes it easy to cheer for them. Some of the characters are so outrageous that liking them isn't an issue, including the sheriff who only ever shot three women "in the line of duty, or nearabouts." As always, Lansdale creates landscapes and attitudes that draw the reader into the time and place in which the novel is set.

The Thicket is often a funny novel but it isn't shallow. Lansdale's characters occasionally debate the meaning of life, paying particular attention to faith and prayer. Jack's grandfather taught him that comforting religious beliefs are preferable to thinking "too much on my own, cause it might lead to other ideas that might be right but unpleasant." Shorty argues that faith in God's will leads to "disappointment and false expectations." Jack's Christian teachings, cautioning against vengeance and urging him to turn the other cheek, are at odds with the more violent but arguably more effective methods that Eustace and Shorty believe will help them find Lola. Still, this isn't a heavy philosophical tome. Lansdale uses the discussions of morality to poke good natured fun at hypocrisy.

Some aspects of the story (like the hooker with a heart of gold) are clichéd but the clichés are played for laughs -- and more often than not Lansdale gives the cliché a little twist. Fans of shoot-outs will be amused by the most hilarious gunfight I've encountered. Gore aside, The Thicket left me smiling.

The Thicket by Joe Lansdale is a terrific novel about ruthless violence, desperate survival struggles, the loyalty and trust of friends, the coming of age of a teenage boy, and much more. During the early 1900s in East Texas, Jack and his sister lose their parents to smallpox and are forced to leave their home with their grandfather. However they encounter a group of ruthless bank robbers who kill their grandfather and abduct Jack’s sister. Jack seeks help from a dwarf named Shorty and an ex-slave named Eustace, who are both previous bounty hunters, to help him find and rescue his sister. However, their efforts turn into a prolonged, arduous and extremely dangerous journey that tests the endurance and bravery of each of them, as well as the motley group of characters that join them on their quest. I was totally enthralled by the characters in this book and by the superb story that Lansdale created for them. Every page of this book held my interest and propelled me to its conclusion. I recommend it to any adult, especially those who thrive on well-developed and fascinating characters, excruciating suspense and grievous violence. Make sure you arrange for plenty of uninterrupted time to read the last 50 pages. They provide and wonderfully satisfying concluding experience that you will not want disturbed. This is a wonderful book.

Synopsis/blurb............

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 travelling 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).

"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

"The Bard of East Texas is back. . . . He has been writing brilliantly about East Texas for three decades, but never has the region appeared stranger or more violent than it does here. . . . Memorable characters, a vivid sense of place, and an impressive body count make The Thicket another Lansdale treasure." --Booklist (starred)
"Storytelling laced with bravado, good humour, action, and heart . . . As captivating as the best of Larry McMurtry and written in a style reminiscent of Mark Twain. . . This title cannot help but captivate readers." --Library Journal (starred)

"A gently legendary quality makes this tall tale just about perfect." --Kirkus Reviews

"Satisfying . . . Lansdale's humour and skill at characterization comes across well." --Publishers Weekly

Another book I have read through the Net Galley site. I have enjoyed Lansdale before, most notably his Hap and Leonard series which is about 9 books long, though I'm lagging behind with it and will in all probability start at the beginning again whenever I do get around to it.

The Thicket at 240-odd pages long was a quick blast through rural Texas a century ago. Violence, gun-play, casual racism which was the norm for the period, death both by natural and unnatural causes, an abduction, a pursuit, an ex-Circus performing dwarf, a career-changing prostitute, bars, faith and religion, jails, sheriffs, family and friendship all figure in a superb tale of a boy's passage into manhood whilst seeking to save his sister from a ruthless, lawless gang of rapist, bank robbers.

Whilst I enjoyed reading about Texas of 100 years ago, I wouldn't care to have been around there then or have spent much time in the company of Lansdale's outlaws. The Thicket had a great setting with a fantastic story, populated by marvellous characters - both good and bad. Highly recommended.

Time to dust off the earlier Lansdale books I think.

4 from 5

As mentioned earlier I accessed this book through the Net Galley website.

By turns violent and hilarious, <I>The Thicket</I> is Joe R. Lansdale in peak form.

The book is set in East Texas, early in the Twentieth century, just as the oil boom is reaching that area. Sadly, a smallpox epidemic has swept through the area, and sixteen-year-old Jack Parker and his fourteen-year-old sister, Lula have lost their parents to the disease.

In the company of their grandfather, the children are leaving Texas to live with a relative in Kansas. But the journey has barely begun when a group of savage outlaws, kills the grandfather and abducts Lula. Jack runs to the law, but the sheriff has been murdered; the deputy is scared into resigning and so Jack his left to his own devices if he is to rescue his sister.

He teams up with a group of accomplices that only the mind of Joe R. Lansdale could conceive. They include a bounty-hunting midget, an alcoholic grave digger who keeps a feral pig as a pet, and Jimmie Sue, a prostitute who winds up sweet on young Jack. The villains they are pursuing are as dark and amoral as anyone could imagine, and Jack is constantly reminded by his new-found friends that even if they do recover Lula, she will doubtless have been very ill-used in the meantime.

If only more books were like this. That you finish them and feel totally bereft because you're leaving behind characters you've grown to love.

While the plot behind The Thicket isn't anything complex or twisty, the dialogue and pace, along with a host of wonderful characters, keep you turning the pages. This novel sparkles with wit and charm, and I found myself re-reading many parts just for the sheer pleasure of how certain sections were phrased. My favourite character was Shorty - a midget who's anything but a small man; fierce, loyal, wise and witty. And how can you not love a character who comes out with gems like: "... what you have done is tie an anvil to the feet of time, causing it to drag itself about in circles", in response to a character who's telling bad jokes to try and pass the time. And the narrator himself had a pretty nifty turn of phrase too ... 'he looked like he'd been through a fire and someone had tried to put it out with a dull hatchet'.

All I can say is that this book is simply wonderful and I honestly feel upset that I've finished it now. I would love for there to be a follow up to this novel. It doesn't need one (it's not one of those unsatisfying books that isn't properly tied up at the end). However, I do feel that those characters who survived the Thicket could easily regroup for another adventure!

Jack Parker is having a bad run lately. His parents died of the pox, Grandpa was shot by a roving gang of nasties and his little sister Lula was taken captive. Now he has joined up with a posse of his own to get her back - Shorty, a temperamental gun toting midget, Eustace Cox a self-proclaimed tracker, and Hog the 600 pound…well…hog. They are sure to meet some more classic Lansdale characters on their quest and bring them along for the ride. And what a crazy, bloody ride it is.

An excellent western tour de force of violence and mayhem with a truly unique cast of characters that only Joe could have cooked up. Well done. 5 the store Stars and Highly Recommended!

I listened to this on audio and this story wasted no time getting to it. A teenaged boy seeks to retrieve his younger sister after his grandfather is murdered. I'd been wanting to read a Lansdale book for a while after reading one of his short stories a year ago and The Thicket just leapt out at me.

The Good

The writing is awesome. Every character is rich with his own history and you feel like you're behind each characters' eyes. I only knew Lansdale as a horror author, but he is extremely adept at a period piece thriller (I guess that's what you'd call it). And there are several parts that are laugh-out-loud funny. Like Shorty describing the man who came into his story who kept threatening to dress him up in doll's clothes.

The Bad

Nothing. Honestly, I loved every bit of this story. If anything, I'd like to see another story with some of these characters.

And How Did I Feel About That…

I'm a new Joe R Lansdale fan. Now I'm going to find as much of his stuff as I can and begin reading.

Gerald Rice
Author of Where the Monsters Are

THE THICKET deserves to be considered as a classic American novel. It's the best thing Joe Lansdale has ever written, and reminded me of Portis's TRUE GRIT more than anything else, though it's definitely its own book. I read Cormac McCarthy's BLOOD MERIDIAN a few weeks ago, which deals with the same theme of the deep-seated violence in man, and found this superior. The scenes of violence are equally harrowing, but more effective since they're seen from the points of view of characters that you deeply care about. There's also a deep well of humor in the book, and it's extraordinary how Lansdale is able to turn from dead serious to laugh out loud funny on a dime, without losing a bit of the gravitas that pervades the narrative. Above all, it's a deeply moving book, dealing with questions of god and man and love, and I'm not ashamed to say I had tears in my eyes at the end. I highly recommend this to *any* reader who loves a good story brilliantly told.

Memories of east Texas, just before the oil boom. It's not like it used to be but it'll do. The sun is setting on the "Wild West" but it hasn't quite gone away. Young Jack Parker having just lost his parents to small pox, and his grandfather shot and killed by evil thugs who are so bad that calling them scum would be an insult to scum. The same thugs have taken Jack's sister Lulu captive and he is bound and bent to get her back alive. With the land deeds for his parent's land as well as his grandfather's land as payment he meets Shorty a dwarf who speaks like an English teacher and has a boat load of life lesson's to pass on to Jack. Add to this Shorty's side kick Eustace, the grave digging son of an ex-slave and oh yes a wild hog called Hog that helps Eustace track the bad guys. Jack is set in his faith and wants the thugs brought to justice and not killed and as the story unfolds we see that Jack shares more than just faith with his grandfather. The book has a wagon full of one liners, brutal violence, humor, and hard fought hope that all will turn out in the end. I loved this book right from the start as it holds you and doesn't let go and I could say more but will end that this is the best book I've read of 2013. A tip of the hat to Joe Lansdale for an excellent book!

THE THICKET may be Lansdale's best work ever (though I am highly partial to his overlooked ALL THE EARTH, THROWN TO THE SKY). Like all his best novels, from THE MAGIC WAGON to EDGE OF DARK WATER, it's a coming of age story, though this one is a little rougher than the aforementioned in terms of language and violence. It's a kind of perverse MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, where the seven include a midget, a teenage ex-prostitute, and a boar hog. What makes this book sing--aside from Lansdale's usual acutely visualized descriptions and genuinely funny repartee--is the compassion throughout and the documentation of the terrible price paid by victims of violence. Lansdale's big heart even goes out to the landscape, tortured and burned by encroaching civilization as motorcars and oil wells come to East Texas. If you've ever liked any of his work, you'll love this. If you've never read him, this is a great place to start.

Even if you think that western novels are not your "thing," you really need to read THE THICKET. Joe R. Lansdale, whose output over the past three decades or so is exceeded only by the quality of the works produced, brings his usual "A" game to this book. He merges a grim, dark tale of revenge with a parable of a quest while combining memorable turns of phrase with odd --- and oddly believable --- characters to create one of his best novels to date.

THE THICKET is told in the voice of Jack Parker, a teenager living in East Texas at the turn of the 20th century. The oil boom is just beginning, and the world is full of uncertainty, a feeling that the center may not hold. Jack has experienced more than his share of tragedy. Having lost his grandmother to a tragic farm accident, Jack and his younger sister, Lula, are once again facing loss as the book begins. A smallpox epidemic is roaring through Texas, and their parents are among the victims. Jack and Lula's grandfather, a crusty, capable customer, is transporting them to their aunt's home in Kansas when circumstances for them become even worse. In the seeming blink of an eye, their grandfather is murdered and Lula is abducted, while Jack is left for dead.

Jack stumbles into the nearest town and, through a series of events, recruits a somewhat unusual group to join him in hunting down the outlaws who have Lula. The group's first members consist of an ex-slave and current gravedigger, Eustace, and his friend, a very deadly bounty hunter named Shorty who, if you haven't guessed, happens to be a dwarf. And yes, he reacts badly to jokes about his height. They are eventually joined by Jimmie Sue, a prostitute who lends a street-wise savvy to an odd but sincere attraction towards Jack. The group, adding a member or two along the way, experiences a series of adventures that are relayed in Lansdale's dark, matter-of-fact prose, which is occasionally brutal, often funny, and almost always brilliant.

I have been reading Lansdale practically from the beginning of his career, and his turns of phrase continue to be as original and memorable as it was in his early work; I don't recall that he has ever repeated himself, even when revisiting certain themes. It bears mentioning that THE THICKET is not all action. There are several passages where Shorty and Eunice share their respective backstories with Jack, and Shorty, in particular, attempts to school Jack in the ways of the hard and difficult life that is ahead of him, whether or not he recovers Lula. The dialogue, though, is as vibrant and exciting as Jack's accounts of the violent adventures that he and his unlikely team experience as they follow, with difficulty, the trail of Lula's abductors through a land where order is more of an exception than the rule.

While ultimately the story of Jack's coming of age, THE THICKET is also a masterful account of how his relationship with Eustace and Shorty slowly evolves from an uneasy alliance to a solid friendship. As for Jack's relationship with Jimmie Sue, you'll have to read the book, but you won't be sorry. If you have read Lansdale before, you know to expect the unexpected. And if this is your first exposure to Lansdale's world, I can almost guarantee you that it will not be your last.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This is a delightful story. Our young hero, Jack, has to rescue his sister who has been kidnapped by the dastardly villains Fatty, Cut Throat and Black Pete (actually not "Black" Pete, but the store will not print my review if I repeat his actual name in the book). Jack is aided in his quest by Shorty (a midget), Eustace and his pet hog, and a prostitute he meets and falls in love with. It sounds over the top, but it is wonderful, entertaining and like a Western morality tale. Just great.

THE THICKET, another fine Joe Lansdale Western, is populated with interesting, eclectic, warts-and-all characters, blood-upon-bloody action and more than just a sprinkling of humor. Writing in a style reminiscent of his PARADISE SKY and THE MAGIC WAGON, Lansdale authored another winning Western in THE THICKET.

In a novel over-burdened with metaphors, similes and cliches is the traditional literary theme of a young boy’s journey into the woods who becomes a man along the way. I love adolescent Jack, the main character, and his struggles with right and wrong, goodness and evil, and how circumstances sometimes call for good men to do wrong. I have to admit that the author’s figurative language adds humor to the graphically violent story, but I grew weary of it. For instance, “It popped out of her like a seed squeezed from a pomegranate,” or “If he’d have run any faster, he’d have run out of his clothes” are examples that litter almost every page. Jack's adventure involves a pig, a midget, and a prostitute, guns, horses, bad guys, and a quest to find Jack's kidnapped sister. I am glad I read this book by Joe R. Landsdale and plan to read another by this author.

Dark, funny, often gory, always engaging, this story demanded my attention through all of the escapades of the characters as they charge headlong into danger to rescue a damsel in distress. Told in the voice of the main character, an east Texas boy that learns what it means to be a man. The ending healed the wounds to my soul from the portrayed violence and despair, and renewed my faith in humans. I loved the naive young main character and his comrades, particularly Jimmie Sue.

A genuinely well written book. Locate somewhere between Cormac McCarthy and (closer to) 'True Grit', The Thicket has strong characters and some real moments. It could've done with less talk, which isn't always engaging and more action. A really good job.

I've thought that Lansdale could not possibly be more entertaining than his Hap and Leonard books, but I was wrong. The Thicket kept me engrossed and smiling from start to finish. Great story, interesting characters, and wonderful dialogue. What more could you want?

Lansdale doesn't disappoint in his latest novel, "The Thicket". Filled with that great Southern/Texas atmosphere and imagery as well as memorable characters, "The Thicket" keeps you engaged from the first pages. Lansdale is particularly adept at wringing humor out of situations filled with tragedy, loss, and violence. A great novel truly transports the reader, and I felt like I needed to shower off the dust and blood from my body by the end. Always looking forward to the next yarn that Joe spins. . .

This western is simply a great read from start to finish, violent of course, but with great well developed characters, and also manages to be quirkily funny. On this evidence Joe Lansdale is not just entertaining but a top-notch writer to boot.

Once again Joe R Lansdale presents a story full of great characters set in historical Texas. Each charcter stands out as unique and important, and I wouldn't mind reading more stories about Shorty's past.

Don't bother with this flagrant "wanna be a movie" book. It is so filled with imitation of True Grit / Lonesome Dove / and Blood Meridian it gets almost funny...despite the blood and gore. And if you've read those others, you will not be convinced this particular fiction holds together. Each successive chapter is saying: "make me a movie please". The central character, Jack Parker, is changed for the worse a third the way in and you no longer believe he is the "Twain" character that the author enjoys citing. If you want an great Lansdale, imo, read THE BOTTOMS. I will continue to look for another of his near as good. I hope it isn't because The Bottoms was 1997 and this one is 2013? but Joe should be embarrassed at all the clipping, imitation and and obvious "isn't this a great movie" writing in this one. (Note no one made a movie of Blood Meridian, and All the Pretty Horses sucked next to the book. Give us a book like "The Bottoms, not a wanna be movie book….

Though related to "True Grit" and others , the author is his own voice. He makes this gritty, glad-I-didn't-live-like-this tale a page turner with some real emotion. I wonder if Peter Dinklage has seen this yet.

Lansdale does it again, masterfully. The Bottoms, A Fine Dark Line, Edge of Dark Water, and Sunset and Sawdust all must be enjoyed. Early days of east Texas and the characters of Lansdale`s characters are pure joy to experience. Finishing The Thicket makes me want to re-read his earlier novels I mentioned earlier. Do yourself a favor: read this.

Bought the book for my husband for Christmas because of the rave reviews from the Houston Chronicle, He could not finish it-- way too trashy, in poor taste -- he said disgusting. With such a hideous review, I will NEVER read it, trust me! Do not waste your money, from a professor in Aggieland