jodiromero 's review for:

Blackwater: The Complete Caskey Family Saga by Michael McDowell

3.0

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Michael McDowell’s southern gothic saga follows the Caskey family in Perdido, Alabama. It reads like a gothic soap opera. The serial novel follows the Caskey family drama for more than fifty years. Starting with The Flood, we are introduced to a shapeshifting lake monster, Elinor who marries into the Caskey family. The way McDowell describes his characters in Blackwater is as satisfying as some of his other novels: The Elementals and Cold Moon Over Babylon. In his horror novels, McDowell’s characters’ flaws are oftentimes more horrific than the actual events. Unfortunately, that is where the novel is lacking. The plot is driven by the character development and not by the events. Possibly the serialized release of the six parts of the saga caused this lack of climax and inciting events. And that is exactly why the saga reads like a Southern soap opera, which may or may not be a good thing for readers.