With two books, Percival Everett has become one of my favorite authors. I loved his take on Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in James. And when I read the blurb on The Trees I knew I had to take a look.

I didn’t know that I would be blown away by it.

Everett delivers a story layered in humor, satire, and horror as he immerses the reader in a mystery set in Money, Mississippi. When a white man is found brutally murdered, and a dead black man is discovered next to him. The local PD investigates, but when the black man disappears only to reappear at the scene of a brutal murder it draws the attention of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

Two agents, Ed and Jim are sent down to take a look as the book looks racism in its hateful eyes.

But what starts as a homicide turns into something more fearful, and as the agents dig deeper they may not be ready for what they find and what is to come.

I really like the way Everett tells his tale. His sly humor makes some of the more horrific moments easier to take. There is one line, however, that stays with me. I’m paraphrasing here but it’s something like this: how do you notice a genocide that is taking place over hundreds of years?

There are politics in this book. It’s hard for there not to be. There also seems to be a theme of the idea that those who were brought to America are working to make something of themselves, to strive to be more, while those that did the bringing are simply languishing in their perceived entitlement. Not to mention blaming their troubles on everyone else.

Ed and Jim are great characters, I love their banter, and the way they interact with the world around them. This world grows throughout the book, expanding beyond the borders of Mississippi, as the dark history of the United States is also explored… through its lynching.

There’s a chapter in The Trees that kicked my ass. One of the characters, Damon Thruff, is compiling a list of lynching victims. The chapter is just one name after another. And all of those names are real people. People who were lynched for not being white.

It’s a powerful piece, and putting their names to paper gives them life again. It serves as a counterpoint to some of the strange things happening in the book, driving home the brutal reality of America’s history.

It’s a powerful, fun, and horrifying read, and Everett can be guaranteed I will be picking up another of his books in the near future. He is a fantastic storyteller, and the subject matter he is delving into is as important as it ever was.

He makes you think, while at the same time entertaining you. That’s just brilliant.