The Blackwater Books Series
Image from: https://www.brandonhbell.com/blog/blackwater-by-michael-mcdowell
I am simply in love with the Caskey family - and I think I hate most of them on some level.
Elinor, my beloved fish-lady. Pop-off queen, go commit another murder.
Oscar, my favourite dumbass. I'm sorry about what happened to you.
James, my bestest gay man. I have nothing else to say. 'stamp of effeminacy' my ass, never seen anyone more gay.
Grace, my cottage-core lesbian. Keep doting you useless woman.
Sister, what a spinster you were. You deserved better.
Mary-Love..... ) : I don't like Mary-Love
Like, damn. I am surprised that more people do not talk about this series - it really is worth the short while it takes to read it. I think that despite it being a horror novel, that merely serves as cream on the wonderful treat that is the decades-long family drama of this story. It. Is. Wonderful.
And I think something else which is very interesting is the underlying evil going on in the book beside the supernatural. The Caskey family becomes incredibly rich and more often than not they remark that they have more money than they know what to do with. It is excessive. It is unethical. The Sapp family too - as expected from a southern gothic horror - is such an unsettling point at times. There isn't any outright racism in the books as far as I remember but seeing the Sapp family trapped in servitude to the Caskey family by necessity - even after the end of southern slavery - and simply seeing too much is unnerving.
I feel so bad for these bastards.
Go read the book. Please.
I do genuinely think that it is a wonderful format for horror. There is nothing more horrific than a family history.
