The Trespassers by Elmore Leonard
My rating: 4/5 cats
this short story is like a g-rated version of straw dogs, but it’s still a really tense, well-written piece.
leonard wrote it way back in 1958, which predates even the book that straw dogs was actually based on:
but the set-up is strikingly similar: young couple live in remote area, wife thinks hubby’s too nice and wishes he was a little more of a “real man” like daddy*, strange men with guns trespass onto property, sexualized threats are made to wife, confrontation ensues.
and while it doesn’t go the way straw dogs ultimately goes
etc…
it’s still a psychologically taut piece of writing, and delivers an unexpected resolution that is completely justified (heh), but still makes me feel a little unsafe, as a lady-reader. it makes me want to revisit this farm maybe a month later and see how that tactic panned out, evan…
but good stuff—i really need to read more from this fella.
* if you’re going to bother to click that link, make sure your audio is on, or it won’t make any sense,
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