The bayous of South Louisiana have always seemed like the perfect playground for crime fiction or even horror fiction. While much of this specific kind of Southern culture has been sensationalized by popular culture, there are a few realities some folks haven’t quite grasped about this unique setting. Maybe it’s the carnivorous creatures that occupy the bayous and waterways. Maybe it’s the ever invasive kudzu that turns everything it touches into a Gothic nightmare (or dream, depending on your interests). Possibly it is the unique stories and traditions that may seem to be from another planet to outsiders but feel familiar to Cajuns. Whatever the reason, these listed or those unspoken, authors N.L. Lavin and Hunter Burke know this place as their home and have penned one psychologically enthralling novel of murder, mystery, and madness with Of Flesh and Blood.
The genre of fictional true crime is gaining momentum, and if you aren’t familiar with this niche subset of fiction, the premise is quite imaginative. Image a crime (or horror) novel told from the perspective of someone researching the topic, not unlike an investigative journalist. These stories read with a lived-in authenticity that the realities of true-crime offer while remaining fictional. Lavin and Burke straddle the line of horror and crime thriller by embracing the unique subgenre of fictional true crime to deliver the story (or the alleged story) of the Cajun Cannibal, a serial killer plaguing the swamps of South Louisiana. Told from the perspective of a distant relative of the Cajun Cannibal and forensic psychiatrist, Vincent Blackburn, Of Flesh and Blood reads as a wholly unique, fully-realized story that embraces the strange in light of the traumatic.
More than ghosts can haunt people, a fact that is fully explored with this compelling novel. While the beginning unfolds with a rather clinical presentation of the Cajun Cannibal’s background that perfectly suits the character of Dr. Blackburn, it becomes readily apparent that the personal stakes for the doctor overshadow our introduction. We quickly follow Blackburn down a rabbit hole of crime, violence, and mystery as many questions around the Cajun Cannibal remain unanswered. Blackburn’s dogged ambition to find these answers fuels the novel into riveting, compelling crime-fiction, that also leaves room for the inexplicable.
Yet, Of Flesh and Blood truly wins for it’s Southern heart. Look, I’ll confront my bias here as I am from a similar part of the state as Lavin and Burke. However, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Of Flesh and Blood is the exact kind of strange, brooding crime fiction I have been so desperate to read all my life. The small-town politics, the quirky characters, the slang, the food, the culture, the tradition, the strange paranormal lore, all of it is so at home within my dark, twisty Cajun heart. This is a novel that fully embraces its unique DNA, straddling the line of crime and horror to deliver something totally distinct and narratively effective.
Atmospheric, compelling, and wholly of its own, Of Flesh and Blood by N.L. Lavin and Hunter Burke is an enthralling, impressive debut. There’s no one box a novel like this falls into, but fans of thrilling crime novels with a flair for the possibly otherworldly will feel right at home in these pages. With a setting that allows for mystery to reign supreme, Of Flesh and Blood utilizes the haunted bayous of South Louisiana to deliver bone-chilling storytelling.
Of Flesh and Blood by N.L. Lavin and Hunter Burke releases on June 10th from Crooked Lane Books.
