Epeolatry Book Review: Blood Cypress by Elizabeth Broadbent

by · Published · Updated

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Blood Cypress
Author: Elizabeth Broadbent
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Raw Dog Screaming Press
Publication date: 3rd April, 2025

Synopsis: What would you do for more time?
No one cares when Lila Carson’s ten-year-old brother Beau disappears. He can’t speak. He throws tantrums. He’s a useless Carson, one of those kids in a broken-shuttered house that lost its glory when his father died. When the sheriff and his good ol’ boy deputies show up to investigate, they eye up Lila and call her twin brother, Quentin, names. A closeted bisexual girl in the South, she’s terrified.

Lower Congaree recites it like an eleventh commandment: Don’t go in that swamp. But as the long night drags on, it’s clear Beau disappeared behind those ancient trees. The sheriff’s deputies won’t risk going back there.

Lila might not have a choice.

 

Is there a setting any more primed for horror than a swamp? Desert sand, as far as the eye can see, fills one with a sense of impending doom. And isn’t a snow-covered tundra just a cold desert? But a swamp attacks all the senses. Foul smells, humidity that soaks the flesh but dries the mouth, endless insect clicks, and low visibility of ten feet on the best of days. Perhaps I’m partial to the swamp, having lived between the everglades and mangroves of Florida, but a place where a man can disappear without leaving a trace is the stuff of great terror.

Blood Cypress by Elizabeth Broadbent is a novella from the “Selected Papers from the Consortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena” series. These select papers are curated by Dr. Calixta Beauregard who introduces the story submitted by Broadbent. The novella is divided between McKenzie Newcomb and Caroline “Lila” Carson. McKenzie will serve as the skeptic as Carson lays forth a story that is hard to believe.

Broadbent sets the environment of misogyny, homophobia, and social stigma firmly in the little South Carolina town of Congaree. Lila’s brother, Beau, is clearly described as having autism spectrum disorder. When his developmental disability is discussed among the family, or nosy neighbors, he’s simply written off as “wrong”. Lila is subject to demeaning and vulgar comments from the sheriff and deputies who are meant to be finding Beau. Quentin, Lila’s twin, is berated for not acting how the locals think a man his age should. All the while, the dates at the start of the chapters remind the reader: this story isn’t taking place forty years ago, but now, and is a real existence for people today.

The novella is less than one hundred pages, leaving little room for character development. But every character comes fully packed for maximum reader response. Davis, Lila’s oldest brother and heir to the Carson estate, is a vile character, caring more for the honor of the family name than any of his siblings. The sheriff and his men are equally scummy; one moment they sexually harass Lila, and the next expect her to serve them coffee with a smile. Even McKenzie, who lies outside the story, is well written to represent the reader. As the story breaks to see McKenzie clarifying information with Lila, you find yourself in McKenzie’s shoes saying, “Don’t stop.”

Blood Cypress by Elizabeth Broadbent is a hard-hitting novella. It’s a profound snapshot of South society, culture, and phobias in the modern era. The true horror doesn’t involve snakes and alligators, but how we treat our fellow humans. 

/5

Available from Amazon and Bookshop.

Tags:

You may also like...