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    Edge of Dark Water
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    Edge of Dark Water
    Unavailable
    Edge of Dark Water
    Audiobook9 hours

    Edge of Dark Water

    Written by Joe R. Lansdale

    Narrated by Angele Masters

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Mark Twain meets classic Stephen King--a bold new direction for widely acclaimed Edgar Award winner Joe R. Lansdale.

    May Lynn was once a pretty girl who dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star. Now she's dead, her body dredged up from the Sabine River.

    Sue Ellen, May Lynn's strong-willed teenage friend, sets out to dig up May Lynn's body, burn it to ash, and take those ashes to Hollywood to spread around. If May Lynn can't become a star, then at least her ashes will end up in the land of her dreams.

    Along with her friends Terry and Jinx and her alcoholic mother, Sue Ellen steals a raft and heads downriver to carry May Lynn's remains to Hollywood.

    Only problem is, Sue Ellen has some stolen money that her enemies will do anything to get back. And what looks like a prime opportunity to escape from a worthless life will instead lead to disastrous consequences. In the end, Sue Ellen will learn a harsh lesson on just how hard growing up can really be.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateMar 27, 2012
    ISBN9781611135145
    Unavailable
    Edge of Dark Water
    Author

    Joe R. Lansdale

    Joe R. Lansdale is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and six Bram Stoker Awards. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas.

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    Reviews for Edge of Dark Water

    4/5

    135 ratings15 reviews

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    • 3/5
      While any book by Joe Lansdale is better than any book by most other authors, logic dictates that some of his books will be better than others and visa versa. So it is with this standalone thriller. The narrator and characters are well constructed and entertaining but the plot is often disjointed and some what happens seems to be thrown in. Bottom line: I still enjoyed the book but there are several of Lansdale's books that are far better. My thanks to the folks at the On the Southern Literary Trail group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.
    • 3/5
      How did Sue Ellen, the novel's determined adolescent protagonist, find herself on a raft in the middle of the Sabine River in East Texas with two friends, her mother, the ashes of a deceased friend and a tin can filled with stolen money hoping to get to California?The impetus of this journey occurred when Sue Ellen's friend, May Lynn, was found dead after being pulled from the Sabine River. May Lynn's dream was always to travel to Hollywood to become a movie star. Sue Ellen convinces her friends to dig May Lynn body's up, cremate her, and spread her ashes in Los Angeles. The trip will funded with stolen money taken from a couple of nefarious characters. After launching their raft, the crooks hire a evil man named Skunk to get their money back.I found the Odyssian journey a suspenseful thriller for about half the novel but found it a bore for the final half. I did enjoy references to Ulysses, including the lotus-eater's metaphor and the maelstrom event; however, not enough to rank it better than an okay read.
    • 5/5
      REVIEWED: The Edge of Dark Water
      WRITTEN BY: Joe R. Lansdale
      PUBLISHED: March, 2012

      One of the best new novels that I've read in a long time. It's described as being half "Huckleberry Finn" and half "Deliverance," which is about as accurate a comparison as I could come up with. Lansdale's descriptive prose and imagery is absolutely breathtaking and the dialogue alone is pitch-perfect: Quick, funny, and poignant. It's a coming-of-age novel set in the dark badlands of east Texas in which three teenagers who feel trapped in their small town lives along the Sabine River come across an opportunity to leave and realize their dreams. Their friend is found dead and along with her a map to stolen loot. Hot on the teenagers' trail are their abusive and drunk kin and the gruesome hired killer, Skunk, whose legend is too great for them to believe... until he shows up after them. Yet another Lansdale masterpiece.

      Five out of Five stars
    • 4/5
      Least favorite of what I think of as his East Texas trilogy (includes The Bottoms, The Thicket), still its one of the best damn yarns you'll read. Skunk is one of the most dreadful and horrifying characters I've ever encountered in a novel.
    • 4/5
      Two teenagers are fishing with one of the teen's families when the teens pull in a dead body in their net. It is May Lynn, a sixteen-year-old who was friends with the other teens.Being from a poor area and with no family, May Lynn is buried in a pauper's grave. Not much is said about her murder but three of her friends decide to dig her up and cremate her and then bring her ashes to Hollywood, where May Lynn always wanted to go.Sue Ellen is the central character and narrator. The three teens include herself, Jinx a colored girl of age sixteen and Terry, the same age and who thinks he might be gay.When they are digging up May Lynn, they find something in the grave and when they leave, along with Sue Ellen's mother, it makes Sue Ellen's token father and a constable chase after her.The group is traveling down the Sabine River in East Texas. They meet obstacles along the way. They work together to overcome their difficulties and also tell more about each other. This is one of the beauties of the story.The characters are memorable and full of courage and determination. At the conclusion, the reader will be able to catch their breath and nod that this is the only way the story could have ended.
    • 5/5
      Edge of Dark Water is another great story from Joe Lansdale. To be specific, the consistency of character in this book is impressive. Mr. Lansdale never loses his tone. The dialogue never loses its authenticity. The atmosphere always matches the action. I grew up in East Texas (the setting), and Mr. Lansdale's depiction of the denizens is rooted in reality, although taken to the Nth degree. If you like this book, try Mr. Lansdale's Edgar-winner The Bottoms - it's even better!
    • 4/5
      Joe Lansdale KNOWS how to tell a tale. I've never read anything thing by Lansdale that wasn't good. he bats 100 per cent with me and Edge of Dark Water is no exception. A great book with fleshed out characters and a plot with a twist that I didn't see coming.
    • 5/5
      This story is narrated by Sue Ellen, a young girl living in poverty in a small southern town during the Depression. A local girl is found dead, and Sue Ellen and her friends are joined by Sue Ellen's mother as they head out to take the ashes of the young wannabe starlet to her ultimate goal of Hollywood. Of all of the characters, I think my favorite was probably Jinx. I loved her honesty and found it refreshing. Any scene with Jinx I could see clearly in my head, as Jinx was so colorful and full of life-- a mouthy little firecracker!At times this book made me feel somewhat depressed, but a lot of the time it made me smile with the quaint colloquialisms and honest remarks. And once it actually made me shiver, as a few parts of the story were particularly creepy.A mysterious and dangerous character by the name of Skunk is introduced partway through the story, and this character was presented in such a creepy way that I actually felt a shiver go through me at one point, which is not easy to do. I do not creep-out easily!Part psychological thriller, part pure entertainment, and part cautionary tale, this story held my attention throughout. While not a roaring ride, it kept a nice steady pace, and it kept me guessing.I loved the author's writing style. Shocking, honest, horrifying, and brutal. I can't wait to read more. My final word: Author Joe Lansdale has found a fast fan in me. Honest and genuine writing, quirky southern prose, refreshing characters, and shocking subject matter coalesce into one of the best books I've read thus far this year, and has left me hungering for more!
    • 4/5
      This is a good story all on it's own. What made it a bit diluted for me is that it feels like a "light" version of Lansdale's "The Bottoms", which I have already read. It is not the same, but it feels similar. This story has "the Skunk" man/spook/legend, and the other had the Goat Man. And it's the same river, area, and nasty-ass briar/vine thicket. It definitely has it's own voice and tale, and it was an enjoyable read. Maybe I'll just consider both books to be a "Sabine River Series" and enjoy them for their own. And maybe root for a third installment? Hmm...
    • 4/5
      Ah, Joe Lansdale. This guy sort of creeped on me to become one of my favourite authors. His Hap & Leonard series is a lot of fun, but he also gets serious on amazing novels like The Bottoms.

      This novel falls somewhere in between. I think every review up to now name-checks Huckleberry Finn and it's easy to see why, when the protagonists are floating down a river, but this is a much different story. Borrowing some elements of both the H&L series and The Bottoms, adding a touch of both Stephen King and Shakespeare, Lansdale once again weaves a gripping story full of horror and laughter.

      If you haven't read Lansdale, then you're missing out.
    • 5/5
      Synopsis: Sue Ellen, Terry and Jinx are best friends. They, along with their slightly older friend May Lynn, dream of leaving their poverty stricken area. One day Sue Ellen, Terry, and Sue Ellen's father and uncle find May Lynn's body sunk in the river. Since neither law enforcement nor family make any effort to find who killed May Lynn, nor do they give her a decent burial, the three friends decide to exhume her body, cremate it and take it to Hollywood. In the midst of this planning, they discover that May Lynn had a map to a stash of money from a robbery. They find the money, get May Lynn's ashes and take off, only to be followed by a mad man, Skunk, that Sue Ellen's uncle has hired to kill them all and get the money.Review: One of Lansdale's best, this book provides an accurate picture of people living in poverty in East Texas. It is also a scary adventure that raises questions about murder, evil, and good.
    • 4/5
      Osttexas, in der Zeit der 'Great Depression' (also 1929/30), als es den Menschen so richtig übel ging.
      Als Sue Ellen, die 16jährige Ich-Erzählerin, ihren Vater und Onkel zusammen mit ihren FreundInnen Jinx und Terry zum Angeln begleitet, finden sie die Leiche der gleichaltrigen May Lynn, verschnürt und mit einer Nähmaschine beschwert. Doch niemand ist an einer Aufklärung, wie sie zu Tode kam, interessiert und so wird sie kurzerhand verscharrt. Doch ihre Freunde wollen sich damit nicht abfinden, graben ihre Leiche aus und verbrennen sie, um ihre Asche nach Hollywood zu bringen. Dabei entdecken sie, dass May Lynn eine Menge Geld versteckte, hinter dem plötzlich eine Schar von Leuten her ist. Es beginnt eine wilde Jagd entlang dem Fluss Sabine, der die Flüchtlinge samt Asche nach Gladewater bringen soll...
      Wow, das ist wirklich Abenteuer pur! 320 Seiten packende Lektüre, die zeitweilig vielleicht etwas überzogen wirken mag (Leiche ausbuddeln, ein Killer der wie eine Figur aus einer Geisterbahn wirkt, jede Menge Tote undundund), aber zum Jargon Sue Ellens und der damaligen Zeit dann doch wieder voll und ganz passt. Die einzelnen Charaktere sind herrlich speziell und nicht das kleinste bißchen klischeehaft: Sue Ellen, tough und mit einem wunderbar trockenem Humor, die kluge, völlig rationale Jinx, die für alles und jeden die passende Entgegnung hat und Terry, der gutaussehende schwule Freund mit einer erstaunlichen Bildung für diesen Landstrich und diese Zeit. Wie diese Drei (und noch ein paar mehr) sich gegen alle Widrigkeiten mit mehr Glück als Verstand durchschlagen, ist einfach großartig zu lesen. Dazu die sehr eindrucksvolle Beschreibung dieser Gegend (man merkt, dass der Autor von dort kommt) - ich bin in diesem Buch förmlich versunken und habe es mehr oder weniger in einem Rutsch verschlungen.
      Klasse! Für Freunde von Abenteuerliteratur ein unbedingtes Muss!!!
    • 5/5
      I totally enjoyed getting lost in the world Joe R. Lansdale has created in Edge of Dark Water. Set during the Great depression in East Texas, the story is about Sue Ellen Wilson and her friends Jinx Smith, a colored girl, and Terry Thomas who is considered a "sissy" by his friends, who set out on a jouney to take the ashes of their friend, May Lynn Baxter, to California.May Lynn's body was found by Sue Ellen and her Daddy one day when they were fishing and I use the term fishing loosely since we learn in the novel's opening line, "That summer, Daddy went from telephoning and dynamiting fish to poisoning them with green walnuts."Having read a number of excellent reviews for Edge of Dark Water I expected it to be good, I just didn't relize it would be this good. Sorry I didn't get around to reading it sooner.Lansdale is a wonderful story-teller and I found this particular tale reminiscent of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. If you found those American classics offensive, the same might be said of this work, but I thought the story was honestly told in the language of the times. Kudos to Joe R. Lansdale for doing that.And then there's the prose. Lansdale can paint a picture with words with the best of writers. Like, "To top things off nicely, it began to lightning in the east, stitching up the pit-black sky like a seamstress with bright yellow thread."There were times I found myself squirming from the gruesomeness of a scene and other times laughing at what one of the characters had said or done. Jinx was my favorite. Oppressed and often put down by the white folks around her, she had a spunkiness which often made me smile. Case in point, "'She's still a human being,' Mama said. 'God makes all human beings, no matter who they are.' 'Well, he needs to find him a better mold,' Jinx said, 'cause some of these he's making ain't worth the waste of material.'"If you're like me and didn't get around to reading Edge of Dark Water when it first came out, I'd like to suggest you move it to the top of your To Be Read pile or purchase a copy today and read it right away. Published by Mulholland books, it's available in a variety of formats just about everywhere.Strongly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Addictive "hillbilly" noirIt is a pivotal moment when Sue-Ellen finds the murdered body of a friend. Nobody seems to care about anything but the stolen money, money that’s going to get Sue-Ellen away from the wandering hands of her father and a future of domesticated drudgery and violence.I wasn't sure about this at first: narrated by a 16 year old, uneducated, Texan girl and I just wasn't sure if I was going to get along but Lansdale is consummately skilled at character and any issues vaporised as the plot drew me in, my assumptions quite nicely destroyed (I love a book I can't predict). It is a fantastic, well plotted story. Meandering as much as its river but still managing to grip, delighting and scaring as its fancy takes it. It’s a very cinematic story, with vivid actions scenes, quiet moments of unsettling horror all cut with flashes of dark humour. I can smell the bad guy (Skunk), hear the roar of the river and the cadence of speaking and feel the terror of the chase. I mentioned the great characters from Jinx who just delights with her bluntness, to the lost Preacher. It's a story where you root for the motley collective, whatever they have done, you can empathise with the fear of the unknown and that they hold themselves back rather than face a strange unimagined future. I have no idea how authentic Sue-Ellen’s voice is, nor how playful the story is with depression era setting or how much it riffs off [Huckleberry Finn]. It’s just a fine story, well told.Recommended for crime/horror/thriller lovers
    • 5/5
      Joe Lansdale’s new novel, Edge of Dark Water, can be characterized as Huckleberry Finn on steroids (an easily imagined image for today’s sports fans), but a more apt categorization of the book is one author Joe Hill uses for it: hillbilly noir. I love that term and the image it creates.Set in rural East Texas, an area Joe Lansdale calls home, this depression-era novel recounts the very personal quest that16-year-old Sue Ellen, her alcoholic mother, and Sue Ellen’s two closet friends embark upon, one that involves perilous journey along the path of the treacherous Sabine River. Sue Ellen, Terry (the town “sissy”), and Jinx (a teenaged black girl) are close despite the prejudice and rigid segregation of the times, and they are determined to spread the ashes of the town’s recently murdered beauty queen in Hollywood where she had always dreamed of becoming a film star. Sue Ellen’s mother, needing to flee her old life before it kills her, insists on going with them.Lansdale is quick to set the tone of Edge of Dark Water. The novel opens on the banks of the Sabine where Sue Ellen’s father, who has decided that electrocuting fish is too much work, is busy poisoning them so that Sue Ellen and Terry can drag them out of the river for him. When local beauty May Lynn’s bloated body is dragged to the bank from the bottom of the river, things take a nasty turn that will have the reader rapidly turning pages for the rest of the novel.Just as Sue Ellen and her two friends are wavering on following through with their plans to go to Hollywood, the decision is snatched from their hands and they have to run for their lives, May Lynn’s ashes in tow. Along the way, these Twain-like characters will meet, and often face-off with, some of the most interesting new scoundrels and villains any reader is likely to run into in this year’s new books, including super-villain, Skunk – a man who smells so bad that his victims often know he is around long before they see or hear him. One suspects that Twain would be pleased to be mentioned in association with a novel like Edge of Dark Water because Joe Lansdale has created a story here that is every bit as funny as it is terrifying, much like what Twain did with Huckleberry Finn. In a novel filled with unforgettable characters, it is remarkable that even the book’s minor characters are memorable. Do not miss this one.Rated at: 5.0