Mari Sloan

“Nothing is what it seems, in Beaufort Falls,” declares the cover. Indeed, in this small community in the wilds of Alabama, only the mentally disturbed seem sane. This remarkable tale of interpersonal dynamics and emotional and physical abuse isn’t comfortable reading, but it’s gripping, engaging and alleviated by delightful moments of comedy, especially in the episodes involving Spike and Virgil, probably the two most incompetent hired assassins in literature. The strongest features of the novel, apart from the evocative prose writing and the excellent characterization, are the author’s brilliantly controlled point-of-view switches and the sharp (and often welcome) contrasts of mood and atmosphere.

The multiple interlocking plot-lines defy easy summarizing, but the essentials are as follows. Southern Bible-thumper John Duke Parsons abused and finally murdered his wife, Eliza, and killed one of her babies (who wasn’t his). Now he physically and emotionally abuses his little daughters, who love each other intensely. JD suffers a series of near-fatal accidents, apparently engineered by the unquiet ghost of Eliza, whose primary concern is to protect her surviving children; his grip on reality gradually slackens. The effect is both comic and disturbing. When the elder daughter, Molly, is consigned to the local children’s psychiatric hospital – a Dickensian institution – and thus deprived of her sister’s company, her isolation is movingly portrayed; even her mother’s ghost has limited power to protect and comfort her. A group of boys at the hospital meet in a nearby cave, creating a children’s fantasy land into which they intend to introduce Molly. Anna Johnson, a splendidly determined Family and Children’s Services officer, does her best to protect the children, but regulations restrict her options. Meanwhile, the unlikely hero of the tale – Charlie Callaghan, a Revivalist preacher and psychopathic killer who preserves and befriends the severed heads of his innocent victims – is fleeing from justice and ends up working at the psychiatric hospital. These strands of story (and I haven’t mentioned them all!) are adroitly brought together to produce a hair-raising climax situated in the boys’ fantasy-land cave. At that point, I couldn’t have stopped reading for a winning lottery ticket.

Mari Sloan resolves the complexities of plot, characters and relationships with satisfying aplomb. “Beaufort Falls” is an impressive debut novel. It is highly distinctive and a very satisfying reading experience. I recommend it strongly, and I look forward keenly to the promised sequel, “Road Trip”.… (mehr)

Beaufort Falls is the first published novel written by Mari Sloan. The setting is in a small southern town in Alabama during the 1970’s.

“This was the country everybody left to go somewhere else, leaving the town with two filling stations, a school and fourteen churches, but few residents.”

The author cleverly keeps you reading while she takes you on a fast-paced paranormal ride and exploits family dysfunction at its worst. Written in a very descriptive style, Mari brings passion and intensity to her characters. Then, you empathize with them.
As the forces of good and evil unravel to expose the secret of Beaufort Falls, you will become fascinated and emotionally affected as this town becomes unhinged.

J. D. Parsons, town mechanic, while raising his two young daughters encounters many mysterious happenings. J D is an evil man who abuses his children; physically and mentally while pretending to be religious. His dead wife, Eliza, returns from her grave to protect her girls from evil and to avenge her murder. While on earth as a spirit she also searches for her lost baby.

J D is stalked by a white furry dog with supernatural powers, deadly spider attacks, and venomous snake bites, but these torments have no effect upon him and so he lives through many attempts at his demise! He also reluctantly relinquishes Molly to a social worker who sends her to a local psychiatric hospital. There, she meets wonderful children who will tear at your heart strings. These lonely youngsters band together for salvation and in unity of purpose they protect Molly.

Eliza haunts her maniacal murderer and influences her demented ex-lover Charlie to avenge her own death. Charlie and Eliza previously had an extra marital relationship which resulted in her giving birth to Charlie’s child while married to Parsons.

Vividly shown are the effects of cruelty and neglect upon children. However, Sloan has made this story whimsical, entertaining, and funny when you confront death and the spirit world. This book is in the stylistic nature of becoming a Hollywood movie thriller.… (mehr)