Whatever message McDowell might be trying to convey, there’s no question that it works from a literary perspective. Luker’s own mother, for example, gives her grown son long, semi-erotic foot rubs in front of the entire family and no one bats an eye. Yes, the father likes taking semi-inappropriate photographs of her and has no problem giving her alcohol, but she’s fully in control and their relationship is meant to be seen, I think, as a minor escalation from what is “normal” southern behavior. It’s certainly weird, but McDowell doesn’t seem to be suggesting that there’s outright abuse going on.
She’s a mature thirteen years and flirty toward her father, who’s flirty back. The father-daughter relationship of Luker and India is relentlessly fascinating. The funeral scene should be considered for the greatest opening chapter of all time, and everything that follows maintains that bizarre energy. Many of the best moments include no horror at all, but are mere depictions of this family living their unusual lives. This theme is explored at great depth in his 1,000+ page epic Blackwater (1983), but this short novel has plenty to say as well. As an Alabama native himself, it’s clear his authorial eye has always been intrigued by the incestuous culture of wealthy southern families. It’s a testament to McDowell’s talent that the supernatural creature is not even the most bizarre thing about this plot. Until this year, that is, when thirteen-year-old India is unable to resist her curiosity. Rather than do anything about it, however, they’ve elected to let it become overtaken by sand dunes and fall into ruin. The family had suspicions about the house for years. Something that’s not quite ghost, not quite monster, but capable of physical manifestation and elemental manipulation. One of the vacant beach houses is infested with a nasty spirit. The respite is much-needed after the death–and bizarre funeral-of a detestable family matriarch. With sparkling waves at their doorstep and tanning oil on their pale skin, an exceedingly wealthy southern family relax in isolation at their Victorian beach houses over the summer. Horror virtuoso Michael McDowell discards the gloomy norms of haunted house literature and sets this masterpiece along sandy shores of the sunny Gulf Coast.
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