Reviewer: Bob Lind, Echo Magazine
Publisher: Gallery Books (Oct. 2013)
Five Stars Out of Five
Niquette (Nikki) Delongpre lived with her upper-class parents in
New Orleans, while they were finishing their showplace estate which they called
Elysium, in a swampy bayou area outside of the city. Nikki had been a popular
girl in prep school, where she dated Anthem Landry, a handsome but somewhat dim
blue collar transfer. They had been apart only a short time, when Nikki went on
one date with Marshall Ferriot, who tried to force himself on her, ending the
date prematurely. A lasting effect from that evening was that both Marshall and
Nikki got infected by a strange parasite, present in the untreated well water
in Elysium’s recently-finished pool. Not long after, Nikki and her family
vanished, and their wrecked car suggested that they may have died in an accident
en route to the estate, though no bodies were ever found in the bayou.
Nikki’s disappearance affected all those she knew, but
especially Anthem, who fell into an alcoholic haze soon thereafter. Their best
friend had been Ben Broyard, a slight but outspoken gay teen, who now spent
much of his time trying to befriend Anthem and try to get him sober. Marshall
had attempted suicide, and ended up in a comatose state in a long-term care
facility, where the nurses swore that he somehow could control people and small
animals just by making eye contact.
Fans of the talented Mr. Rice have been awaiting his new book
for over three years, and will not be disappointed. Taking his first giant step
into the supernatural genre, the author delivers an engrossing (though a bit
overly complex and gory) tale of the mysterious bayou country, with its racial
and class disconnects, political and corporate corruption, personal greed and
revenge, and regrets for actions that could not be undone. It’s not primarily a
“gay book” in itself, though the character of Ben is fully nuanced and somewhat
pivotal to the story. Well-written, highly imaginative and worth your time.
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