The Hanging Woods

March 10, 2008
Squeamish readers might steer clear of this potent first novel, which begins with the 13-year-old narrator savagely bludgeoning a trapped fox to death in the Alabama woods. The brutal opening scene sets the tone for an increasingly disturbing tale centered on the narrator, Walter, and his two best friends, Jimmy and Raymond, nicknamed Mothball. As Walter tells readers, he has just discovered a devastating family secret in his mother’s diary (it is not revealed until close to the end), and a deep anger grows inside of him. The people around him, overcome by a sense of powerlessness, seem gripped by fury, too, and immune to violence. Mothball, for example, decides he will break the Guinness record for keeping alive a headless chicken; Sanders builds in the gruesome scenes with ax and chopping block, later with eye dropper and corn slurry, creating a horrifying metaphor for the blind cruelty that increasingly governs Walter’s actions. The tone only darkens, while the novel stays suspenseful from start to finish. Readers will want to learn Walter’s secrets and will not guess many answers in advance. The shocking ending, though wrapped up quickly, won’t disappoint. Ages 12-up.

June 1, 2008
Gr 10 Up-This psychological thriller is told by a seemingly unrepentant murderer. Walter narrates a tale of the tenuous friendship of three boys at loose ends during the summer before they begin high school. Walter lives with his parents in relative comfort in spite of his father's brutal verbal abuse. Mothball, perhaps the most well adjusted of the three, is overweight and easygoing, part of a large family with little money. Jimmy is obviously troubled; it is revealed that the abuse he suffers does not stop with physical blows, but extends to sexual assault. Tensions mount as the boys push one another in ways that go beyond the normal teen behavior. Many bizarre events occur, not the least of which is Mothball's obsession with keeping a turkey alive after its head has been severed. Sanders tries to develop the case for Walter being psychopathic, dripping clues about fire, bedwetting, and cruelty to animals. But, these clues are blatantly superficial. The animal cruelty depicted is within the context of learning to hunt; the fire is presented as an accident. Readers are also misled by the fact that Walter tells the story, yet is untruthful, giving several false clues. There are some elements of true suspense and many very well-written passages, yet the book as a whole is not as cohesive as it could be."Wendy Smith-D'Arezzo, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2008
At the opening of this disturbing novel, 15-year-old Walter bludgeons a fox to death and feels, for the first time, how flimsy life is. The first scenes visceral brutality forms the undercurrent to this suspenseful story, set in a small, economically depressed town in 1975 Alabama. Caught restlessly between childhood and adolescence, Walter and his best friends, Mothball and Jimmy, share a camaraderie spiked with aggression that echoes racial tensions in their community and in their homes. While reading his mothers diary, Walter discovers a horrifying secret, unleashing a chain of shocking events that ends in murder. Writing in Walters believable voice, Sanders suggests motivations that lead the characters to act, but despite his efforts, the novel maintains a persistent moral ambiguity and a rushed ending that will unsettle readers. Themes of crime, punishment, and the mysterious, lethal volatility that can result from guilt, rage, sorrow, cruelty, and unspoken truths drive this gripping story, which, like Chris Lynchs Inexcusable (2006), invites readers to examine the darkest facets of human behavior.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)