King of Nod: Some Things Never Die

Scott Fad
Hooded Friar Press (2008)
ISBN 9780981760902
Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (11/08)


Down on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia there is a slowly-fading Creole people, the Gullah.  Being a family who is interested in history and loves the sand, we have traveled to the low country several times and soaked up sun and the wonderful Gullah culture.  From delicious dishes, unique and intricate sweet grass baskets, magical coastlines, chilling ghost tales and people that are carrying on this wonderful culture you will be mesmerized by the Gullah people.

Boo Taylor grew up on Sweetpatch Island.  When he was a young boy the island was called Sweat Patch.  “The pure hell-fire of the Carolina sun un-checked by any shade, boiling the island’s beaches and marshes, until the air was hot, thick soup.”  His childhood was a combination of pleasure and pain, royalty and outcast.  Miss Laylee, a wonderful witch of a woman from the marsh, protected him from evil as best she could and enabled him to protect himself when she could not.  Boo’s one love, Gussie Tutton, who is a wild young thing, teams up with him to try and solve the mystery of one of the most evil ghosts around.  The ghost returns just as the stories fade looking for revenge for his murder. 

Fast-forward to today where Boo Taylor is no longer a resident of Sweetpatch Island and where the island itself is almost unrecognizable.  The magical island is overcome with tourism and all the trappings that come with it.  The evil undercurrent has not washed to sea.  Boo’s father is now dead and Boo returns to Sweetpatch Island to face his past – both pleasant and not. 

‘E tru mout’
He is a truthful person

The previous Gullah phrase speaks mountains in the historical prevalence Scott Fad has captured in “King of Nod.”  Scott Fad has just proven himself a master at weaving all the elements together to capture a culture in a great work of fiction.  “King of Nod” reads like a magical tale of mystery and history, hatred and love.  When you put the book down you will be anxious to return to it and when you finish the final page the magic of the island and the ghost of Joker and Bathsheba Tribbit will have you loosing sleep for many, many nights.

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