Dandelion

Alex Bledsoe is one of my favorite writers. Guy knows his way around some tasty, easy-to-digest prose. In “Dandelion,” Bledsoe puts his considerable gifts with words to work on the interesting and horrible idea of demonic possession.

In the end, I think the fear of possession comes from the idea of losing control. If I were looking for a theme in this book, I'd say it was control. The idea that something inhabits us and causes us to lose control of our minds, of our bodies–that's is terror right there. Demons just a convenient idea that represents that loss of control, and this book uses those ideas to great effect.

TLC Mart (which is basically an amalgam of Walmart) is the center of demonic activity in the book. The department store giant comes to the sleepy town of Somerton and pretty soon, it kills off the rest of the town. Where once the town controlled its own destiny, now they hand that destiny over to TLC Mart. The teenagers in the book whom the demons prey upon are the embodiment of the struggle for control. Teenagers in general want to be seen as adults, in control of their own lives, but they're still kids, prone to doing stupid kid things, which often includes losing control (even without demonic assistance) in ways that manifest as cruelty. Cruelty is often the lowest form of control. It's a method used by small minds to wrench back a modicum of the feeling of control, and the more it harms someone else, the more control they feel. The men in the book are often controlled by women because the promise of sex is a strong currency of control. Knowledge can be a unit of control, and the knowledge of good and evil, or the knowledge of unspoken truths control others. Even the themes of religion manifest as control, like the charlatan preacher Brother Knode controlling his revival meetings as a well-orchestrated stage show to separate the gullible of the town from their money in much the same way that large-scale megachurches and their charlatan pastors prey upon the gullible in modern society–“Salvation is free–but to get there will cost you cash.”

Control is a powerful motivation, and it's a powerful source of fear. We all crave control and fear the loss of it. This novel uses that fear as its root and makes you worry about the darkness that might be unnoticed in our neighbors. In a horror novel that takes a painful look at dying southern towns and the cruelty people visit upon each other, Alex Bledsoe controls a tight, terrifying narrative that walks a fine line between southern noir and a classic tale of demonic possession. It is a book that opens with a bang and doesn't let up until the horrifying, chilling end.