EVERGLADE

Greg Barth

July 2017

All Due Respect

At the opening of EVERGLADE, our “hero” is arising from a blackout in her front yard.  Selena is plenty on the drinks and drugs and sex.  Pleasure guides her movements, including those that have created her killing spree borne of well-earned vengeance.  She likes killing those that have wronged her, almost as much as she likes bourbon and cocaine.

EVERGLADE finds her running the local drug trade…well.  However, she finds her breaking point and wants out.  Thing is, when you are a really good drug dealer, there is always someone that wants you to keep earning.  And that guy…well, he’s a complete fuck.

We all know a Selena.  Someone who leads with their desire for pleasure, above all else.  Unfortunately, that desire clouds most things, including their relationships with…you know…us.  The Selena series, five fast-paced, visceral, exciting novels, has provided a window into the life of a pleasure-monster, without having to marry it and let it destroy your life.  Thanks, Greg Barth!

The literary Selena finds herself at a crossroads of sorts in EVERGLADE.  She is the lead drug dealer in her town, protected by her relationship with the local sheriff.  The world believes her dead, providing her a respite from the nightmare life that followed her vengeance-murder spree which landed her on the most wanted list.  

It’s tough to write about the last installment of a series.  You can’t give away too much, but you want to rave if the author stuck the landing.  Barth did, in an awkward, unsettling way…which absolutely suits our anti-heroine.

Selena novels are no place for warm-fuzzies.  Unless gore and vengeance give you those feelings…and, if they do, holler at me, boo!  True to the series, EVERGLADE is thrilling, bloody, visceral, and honest.  Despite her desire to go clean, Selena never stops being Selena.

You could read EVERGLADE alone…but that would be foolish.  The series preceding is so quick, so exciting, and so much bloody fun, I have to recommend that you do the whole damn thing.

That said, if you want a tale of a vicious woman coming to terms with her empty life, and trying to find release by any means…read the hell out of Everglade.  It’s a hell of a ride.