readerbythewater 's review for:

Blackwater: The Complete Saga by Michael McDowell
5.0

I have only one fellow reader in my new hometown. She recommended this, and I was reaaaaaaaally nervous. Not only was I unsure of the genre, it was 30+ hours on Audible! Yikes.

It was fantastic. Ya'll. My house is SO CLEAN right now because I would listen for hours a day and needed something to do with my hands.

It's a character-driven epic Southern Gothic horror serial novel reprinted in a single volume. The central character is not quite human, strategic, and cunning. It's mostly a family drama with surprising little murders sprinkled throughout.

As one reviewer (Justin Tate) states here, "It's a quiet, creeping horror that doesn't exactly feel supernatural. After grounding the reader so firmly in realistic, earthy characters, how can anything--even water monsters and vengeful apparitions--be unreal?"

The narrator on Audible was exceptional. He had a different subtle affectation for every character so I had no trouble knowing who was who in a story that covered 50 years.