''The Thicket'' is an mystery/suspense novel written by American author Joe R. Lansdale. It was released by

Mulholland Books Mulholland Books (US) is an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of the Hachette Book Group. It specializes in publishing mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels. History Little, Brown and Company announced the creation of Mulhol ...

on September 10, 2013. The title refers to

Big Thicket The Big Thicket is the name given to a somewhat imprecise region of a heavily-forested area of Southeast Texas in the United States. This area represents a portion of the mixed pine-hardwood forests of southeast US. The National Park Service esta ...

, a heavily forested area in

Southeast Texas Southeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the U.S. state of Texas, bordering Southwest Louisiana and its greater Acadiana region to the east. Being a part of East Texas, the region is geographically centered on the Greater Houston ...

. This book was selected by the

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

as one of the best historical fiction books of 2013. The trade paperback was issued on 10/14/14 by Mulholland Books.

Synopsis

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 Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

sweeping turn-of-the-century

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...

—orphaning him and his younger sister, Lula. Then a travelling group of

bank robbers Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank-o ...

murder Jack's grandfather and kidnap his sister Lula. So Jack enlists the only people he can: a 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. Together the rag-tag group trail the group of criminals into the Big Thicket where they hope to rescue Lula and collect the bounty on the heads of the bandits. Soon they discover these are not your run of the mill bank robbers. They are vicious and sadistic killers and the prospect of rescuing Lula unharmed looks bleak.

Film adaptation

Gianni Nunnari Gianni Nunnari (born 10 August 1959) is an Italian film and television producer and executive. Early life After completing his studies, he followed the footsteps of his father, Alexander Nunnari, and began his career in the film business. Ca ...

is set to produce a film adaptation of '' The Thicket'' with

Peter Dinklage Peter Hayden Dinklage (; born June 11, 1969) is an American film, television and stage actor. He received international recognition for portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he wo ...

set to star as Shorty.

References

External links

Author's official websiteMulhollond Books websiteInterview with Joe Lansdale about The Thicket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thicket Novels by Joe R. Lansdale Novels set in Texas Western (genre) novels American mystery novels 2013 American novels Works by Joe R. Lansdale American historical novels Mulholland Books books