Product Description

When young Harry Collins finds the mutilated body of a black woman bound to a tree with barbed wire, he and his younger sister suspect the legendary Goat Man, who is said to lurk under the swinging bridge crossing Texas's Sabine River. The creature holds the key to a string of brutal murders--and a chilling truth. A "New York Times" Notable Book of the Year".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56825 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.com Review
Joe Lansdale, author of several horror novels, Westerns, and some outrageous thrillers, is something of a cult writer. The Bottoms, which may be the breakout book that moves Lansdale beyond the genre category, is a resonant and moving novel. Though there is a mystery at its core, it is at heart a coming-of-age story, with a more literary bent than Lansdale usually demonstrates.

Harry, an elderly man, tells the story of a series of events that occurred in his 11th year, when the mutilated, murdered bodies of Negro prostitutes began turning up in the county where his father was the local constable. Harry and Tom, his younger sister, find the first one. Only their father, Jacob Crane, seems to care about finding justice for the victims, who are dismissed out of hand as unimportant by the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan, which warns Jacob off any further investigations. Harry and Tom think they know who's responsible: the Goat Man, a creature who's said to lurk beneath the swinging bridge that crosses the Sabine River, where the first body was found. In fact, the Goat Man has something to do with the murders, and the secret of who he is and what he really did is the key to the unsolved slayings. But that takes second place to the artfully explicated character of Jacob and Harry's changing relationship with him in the course of the loss of his boyish innocence. This is a masterfully told story and a very good read. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
In his latest suspense thriller, prolific yarn-spinner Lansdale, best known for his offbeat series featuring the mismatched East Texas Sherlocks Hap Collins and Leonard Pine (Bad Chili), presents a different voice in a coming-of-age story set in the early years of the Great Depression. Lansdale's 80-something protagonist, Harry Crane, looks back to the day in 1933 when he was 13 and, with his nine-year-old sister, Tom (Thomasina), he found the mutilated corpse of a black prostitute bound to a tree with barbed wire near their home along the hardscrabble bottomlands of the Sabine River. The discovery presents their father, Jacob CraneAa farmer and barber eking out a living as the town constableAwith a nightmarish investigation. News travels slowly in the days before television, but Jacob learns from the black doctor who performs the makeshift autopsy that two other mutilated bodies have been found over the last 18 months. Because the victims are black and "harlots," no one in the county much cares. But when the body of a white prostitute is discovered, a rabid mob lynches MosesAa black man who has been something of a surrogate father to JacobAdespite Jacob and Harry's heroic efforts to save him. Predictably, another body is soon discovered. Lansdale is best when recreating the East Texas dialogue and setting. Readers will not have to work hard to unearth comparisons to characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, but gruesome details of the murders keep the novel from being labeled a period piece. Folksy and bittersweet, though rather rough-hewn and uneven, Lansdale's novel treats themes still sadly pertinent today. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This thought-provoking book portrays an accurate, disheartening picture of old-time Southern bigotry. Harry Crane, now an elderly resident of a nursing home, recalls a watershed event from his childhood in East Texas in the 1930s. The narration begins when he, nearly 12, and his 9-year-old sister discover the mutilated body of a black woman tied with barbed wire to a tree in the Bottoms, the swampy forest wilderness supposedly stalked by the "goat man" in search of children to eat. Harry's father, a small farmer, barber, and constable, begins an investigation into what turns into a series of mutilation murders of black women. Hostilities become palpable when the fear that a "white woman may be next" begins stirring in the town residents. Jacob Crane, a reasonable man trying to cope with an investigation beyond his skills and the unreasonable bigotry of his neighbors, faces a crisis that nearly destroys his family. The story is compelling, in a manner similar to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. In fact, there are many parallels to that story, in the lessons learned by Harry as to what makes a monster, what really constitutes monstrous acts, and what being a hero really means. Harry also learns of the deep reserves of strength in himself and in his family. This is a wonderful book that will capture and educate young adults about a shameful time in this country's history and the strength of an individual to make a difference.-Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

The Bottoms is an intimate trip...get onboard
I have been struggling with this review. I think that is because "The Bottoms" was such a personal experience that trying to find the words to share my thoughts with others is a bit difficult. However, I believe this deserves telling because "The Bottoms" is a very special book and I wish to share the experience with others.

This is the tale of Harry, a boy grappling with bridging that difficult gap between childhood and manhood. Along the way he confronts the search for a serial killer, race relations and his love for his parents with all their faults that we are loathe to accept in our parents.

The story takes place in Eastern Texas during the Depression. Although this is not a time and place I am familiar with, I found myself meandering through the woods, creeks and rural roads without feeling like a stranger to this part of the country. Mr. Lansdale made it so real to me that I could feel the heat, smell the air and want to swat at flies or scratch imaginary mosquito bites. It was as if I were hiding in the woods, in the barn or behind a chair in the farmhouse watching the story enfold before my eyes. Mr Lansdale has a wonderful talent for bringing you into the pictures he creates. His ability to do this reminds me of Stephen Booth's writing in "The Black Dog."

Although I figured out who the murderer was early in the book, that didn't detract one iota from my pleasure in reading this book. I was so caught up in lives of a family that I had come to love that catching a serial killer became superfluous to their story.

Of all the characters in the book, I was most drawn to Jacob, Harry's father. Aside from the fact that I wished I had grown up with a father like Harry, I suffered with him during his crisis of faith in his core moral beliefs and the very purpose for his existence.

This book will hold you in its grip until the very last page. The last chapter lulled me into a sense of complacency only to find myself in tears when reading the last few paragraphs.

I would urge you to read "The Bottoms" and experience your own personal trip.

Outstanding
I've been reading Joe Lansdale for just over ten years now, and I think this is just about the best book he's ever written. I picked up "The Drive In" when I was about sixteen, and I've been hooked by his terrific writing and his great senses of humor and story ever since.

If you've never read anything by Joe Lansdale, you're missing out on a truly unique, authentic American writer. It's true you probably need a strong stomach to make it through an average Joe Lansdale novel, but I think it's also true that you need a sharp sense of humor which enjoys being tickled, a sensitive soul and a hightened appreciation for the poetic in everyday life. Joe delivers on all of these fronts. He's like no other author I've read. He's a little bit like Mark Twain, he's a little bit like Stephen King, and something like Harper Lee. But that comparison only works if you put all of those in a blender and hit puree.

In "The Bottoms," Lansdale, who is a master of the folkilsy-gruesome character-driven story, charts some new territory. Not geographically--this one takes place, like most of his other tales, and like his real life, in East Texas--but rather stylistically.

Ever since reading my first Lasndale book I've been a huge fan. His writing is always exretemely fluid. It just makes you feel like writing must be one of the most natural human activities, like walking or breathing or taking a long drink of water when your throat feels like sandpaper. But in this book, Lansdale seems to have tightened the linguistic screws a few notches. Not only is the writing fluid and fun to read, but it is of a consistently excellent quality. Before "The Bottoms" I probably would have only recommended Joe Lansdale to people who have a taste for the weird. If you've seen "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" more than once for example, I know you'd like Joe Lansdale. He's an excellent writer, but that's the kind of taste you have to have, at least on part of your palate, to appreciate him.

The style and characterization in "The Bottoms" just blew me away. There are four excellent books that I was reminded of while reading this: "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee, "The Green Mile," by Stephen King, "Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain and "Montana 1948" by Larry Watson. If you've read and enjoyed any of those books, please do yourself a favor and read Joe Lansdale's "The Bottoms." Even if you haven't read any of those others, read this one (and then go read those also).

The only real complaint I had about this book was that the mystery was a little too easy to figure out. That almost didn't matter, though, because I was having such a good time with the writing and the characters.

One other thing was that all of the narrator's similies are mouth-wateringly food related. This become a little trying after a while, especially if you haven't eaten for a few hours. I half expected to find out at the end that the young protagonist had grown up to be a chef. I thought that would have been great.

An excellent read, though. Well done, Joe! Keep up the good work!

If you like the feel and style of this book, I also reccomend the music of guitarist John Hiatt, particularly his latest CD, "Crossing Muddy Waters." I got to know this CD at the same time I was reading this book, and they blended together very nicely in my imagination.

Worthy Winner
Edgar first prizewinner Lansdale delivers the goods. He is a masterful storyteller nailing time, place, and people with bulls-eye accuracy. The narrative and dialogue flow, and the pace never flags. He captures the child's eye view with all the authority of Stephen King or Harper Lee.

Harry is an honorable boy caught in a dark story of racism, death, and folklore. The events gradually close in on him and his family creating an almost unbearable suspense. The characterizations are sharp and multi-layered. I particularly liked the non-message in dealing with racism. Mr. Lansdale is an unblinking recorder; all the indignities and intricacies are out there with no apology; for we are hearing a story as it was, not as we would like it to be.

"The Bottoms" transcends the mystery genre. It is a particularly fine coming-of-age story. Yet mystery-thriller fans will not be disappointed. Harry's and sister Tom's search and confrontation of the killer stretch the suspense until you feel as if you are humming like an overtaxed wire.

I would rate this book the best I have read this year, and it has a permanent place on my bookshelf. Highly recommended.