Blood Cypress

Faulknerian unease oozes from this earthy Southern gothic by Broadbent (Ink Vine). Stifled by the nearby swamp’s “scum-sweet” air and in the shadow of its “old as bones” cypress, the Carson family house is a broken-shuttered wreck. Mama, a former county beauty queen and now widow, struggles to provide for her four children. Twins Quentin and Lila, 18, are at odds with their violent older brother, Davis. who despises them and the autistic youngest, Beau. When Mama goes to the store and leaves the others to look after Beau, the nonspeaking boy wonders off into the swamp and disappears. The subsequent search brings a posse of deputy sheriffs to the Carsons’ kitchen where they harass beautiful Lila. When Quentin, who has always been her one ally, tries to defend her, he’s beaten up and handcuffed. After he’s let go, he attempts to rape her, sending Lila fleeing into the swamp. There, she meets an albino alligator and a black panther, embodiments of ancient good and evil. The panther leads her to her brother—but he is transformed beyond her wildest imagining. Broadbent brings this warped novella to a close with a series of stunning final twists—including a devastating reveal about who is narrating the story. This is coming-of-age fiction at its creepiest. (Apr.)