I want to thank [a: Clayton E Spriggs|14005877|Clayton E Spriggs|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] for bringing my attention to a free offer he ran for a limited time on his novel [b: Billy: A Tale of Unrelenting Terror|26798762|Billy A Tale Of Unrelenting Terror|Clayton Spriggs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442931691s/26798762.jpg|46821606] Renamed "Billy: A Tale of Terror." He asked if I would consider doing a review. In the case of this book, I would have had he not even asked.

I just finished the novel this morning. It is "one of those" where the reader becomes so vested that they do not want to end the journey, but torn to find out what happens at the end.

Southern writers bring something to the table that only others who have sweated in the South, or avoided gator ponds, or had their poodles nearly carried off by mosquitoes can relate to. I was born in California, and moved to the South about forty years ago. I probably would have had trouble imagining the story of Bill La Pierre and his Cajun family.

Had I not been run out of Lufkin, Texas by Hurricane Rita chasing me with 75 m.p.h. winds and waters rising over 30 feet, I may not be able to allow my imagination to grasp the power of wind and water. If I had never attended a crayfish boil, or smelled the red clay and swamps, I may not have a picture, or scent to give to my imagination.

"Billy: A Tale of Terror" is well written. It does have allusion to sex and incest, but it is not graphically displayed. There is a lot of violence, but it is left up to your imagination to fill in the cruelty.

If you want to take a horrifying ride in a story that takes you into the depths of the Louisiana back swamps, and into a culture that not many get a peek into, please give this a read. [a: Clayton E Spriggs|14005877|Clayton E Spriggs|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] does an excellent job of including Cajun dialogue and craftily adds the definition in the same line.

The main protagonist Detective Nicholas Vizier arrives late, and is a little clunky in romance, but I am sure he has many more adventures in which to drag us.

Thank you. ( )