Borderland

by S.K. Epperson

For a hundred years, the seemingly docile residents of Denke, Kansas, have used dark powers to prey upon strangers, and now the time has come for all of them to pay the price for their evil deeds. Reprint.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creepy novel by Epperson that moved with frenetic pacing, smoothly interweaving several story arcs before the ringing denouement. Where to start with this one? Vic recently inherited his father's stud farm in BFE Kansas and none too soon. Vic's wife recently died of cancer and the cost forced Vic to go on the take when he was a Kansas City cop; although not enough evidence was compiled to convict him, he left the force in disgrace. Now, broke, with two little daughters to take care of, the farm seems like a god sent. He gets his best buddy Nolan, also a former cop, to help him move down there.

Nolan now works in the fire department and is on leave due to injuries to his hand, so what the hell? He figures he can help Vic and his kids get settled in for a spell. Meanwhile, Epperson takes us to the farm in question where a woman and her child are being seriously harassed by someone-- sabotaging her car, cutting the phone lines, and stealing the horses. Why? Well, it could be her mother in law trying to compel her to bring her grandson to her, or it could be the townies, but why? We slowly learn the dark secrets of the little town and they are not pretty. After Vic and Nolan arrive at the farm, the girls start 'seeing things'. Is the house haunted? If so, by what?

What impressed me the most about Epperson the vivid characters brought to life here, from the villains to the heroes, although the story also won me over. Epperson packed quite a bit into this slim volume along several story arcs but I never felt lost. The slow reveals helped to build the tension nicely until the whizzbang ending brought all the arcs together. I had pretty low expectations, given that this was billed as 'Kansas Gothic', but I will be back for more Epperson. 4 spooky stars!

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Hush now. This is useless, you know. Useless to fight. It’ll all be over soon.”

The conceit in S.K. Epperson’s Borderland might one of horror’s hoary old chestnuts, but it’s a favorite of mine. In this case, it’s the little burb of Denke, a hamlet hidden in a remote corner of the hardscrabble Kansas plain, that takes a predatory approach to its interactions with the unwary traveler. The backwoods have given me shivers ever since Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes and this one ends up squarely in that same genre.

I especially dug the opening set-piece … pioneers who make the wrong stop on the ole’ wagon trail. As the story shifts to the modern day and a few ‘out-of-towners’ take up residence on the outskirts of Denke, there’s a nice feeling of claustrophobia as the new residents end of getting themselves progressively more stuck in an old house on the plains while creepy things lurk progressively closer around them. Epperson isn’t exactly shy with the gore (or the smut) as the freaks start to circle – which is probably a prerequisite for this sort of thing.

While this one might scratch the ‘guilty pleasure’ itch, it’s not exactly a perfect gem. Despite getting all the stage dressing in the right place, main character Nolan turns out to be too much of an ass for the reader to really root for and Myra’s stalker ex-mother-in-law is a bit too big of plot pill to comfortably swallow. And despite the good start, things take quite a long time to come to a head – lots of meander in the middle – and the ghost-story aspect of the tale could have hit a bit harder.

Still … there’s nothing wrong with a bit of paperback schlock. Borderland feels like b-movie horror from an old VHS cassette tape -- nostalgic, but not exactly the best of the genre.

[DJMikeG · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing I've read by S.K. Epperson, and I was impressed. It isn't a perfect novel, by any means, but the story is mostly quite good and there is some emotional heft to it that elevates it, as well. The concept of the story is great and disturbing and the execution is mostly very good. There was almost too much going on towards the end, as the story hurdled towards its climax, but overall, this is a very satisfying book. A bit of a mashup, too, with horror, thriller, noir, supernatural elements all at play. Epperson's prose is economical without feeling sparse. I very much enjoyed this book and I'll definitely be reading more works by Epperson.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The decision to have the "hero" of this book be an aggressively sexist, misogynistic weirdo was certainly a choice. It wouldn't be as bad if all other male characters weren't constantly justifying him and having the only woman, who he treats terribly, still apparently finds him irresistible.

Not enough actual suspense or horror to be really engaging and a completely out of nowhere ghost subplot that's sprinkled in a few pages that makes absolutely no sense.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A slow, plodding story more crime than horror, that revolves around a town that survives on outsiders.

[Snood · Rating 2 out of 5]

S. K. Epperson has a very good story concept here, but his protagonists are only remotely likable when compared to the murderous hillbilly villains. Nolan Wulf is supposed to be charming but flawed and ends up just being immature and misogynistic. Vic isn’t as bad, but immediately dismisses Myra when she tries to explain that she’s being attacked by intruders. Myra, despite constant harassment from him, gets together with Nolan because he’s the protagonist. The three kids talk like miniature adults, but at least aren’t insufferable.

To substitute for good characters, Epperson tries to shock the reader:

Murder? Check!
Rape? Check!
Cannibalism? Check!
Pedophilia? Check!
Animal cruelty? Actually no... I guess he forgot to kill the kittens in the barn.

The novel is also sprinkled with a few spelling errors and infrequent missing quotation marks.

I can at least say Borderland is fast paced and interesting in concept, but there are too many things holding it back from being something I’d recommend.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a weird, mean-spirited little horror novel. Like an off-kilter, slightly tone deaf, sadistic alternate universe version of something Stephen King would have written in the late eighties. Often genuinely unsettling--and at times unintentionally hilarious--but something just feels off throughout, like the author doesn't quite grasp how to write convincing human beings. The novel's "hero", disgraced cop-turned-disgraced firefighter Nolan Wulf, is a misogynist sociopath nightmare that is often the most terrifying thing happening in these pages. Add in a dirty cop best friend, a woman-in-peril, a handful of helpless children, and a townful of geriatric inbred murderers, and you have the makings of what's often a tense, singularly strange reading experience.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoilers.



I wont say this is an epic novel. I will say it kept me interested and wanting to know more. There were more than a few parts that pissed me off. The downplay of the sexual assault. There was also a really weird sexual dynamic between the 13 year old son and the "would be boyfriend, Nolan". The 13 year old is encouraging the would be boyfriend to "get physical " with his mom and comments on it many different times in the book. That felt fake.

Also, there are a lot of unexplained/unanswered questions. Who is Drusilla? You get this idea she is going to be a main character but you're left wondering. What happened to the grandma? Did the hired killer go through with it?

[Carol Aselton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new author for me -- much to my surprise, I enjoyed the book. She is listed as a "terror, horror" author. I picked-up the book because the title intrigued me. It was entitled "Borderland" -- and took place in the fields of Kansas. Good story, not too much terror and horror, a quick read and for the part of the heros and heroines, they were believable. I look forward to reading another one of her books.

[Monica Ramsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mix of the supernatural and the tangible terrors of which humans are capable. This is definitely a page-turner.

[Jessica McDonough · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written so well I can see each scene playing out visually in my mind's eye. This book has you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good and neato

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine novel, suspenseful, scary at times, with likeable characters and skilled writing. I've never heard of this writer before, but she does have a few others published, mostly from the early and mid 1990s. I got this from the library, which had a few more of her books.

Vic Kimmler, a down-on-his-luck former vice cop, has inherited his late father's farm in Denke, Kansas. Eager to get a fresh start, Kimmler moves his two young girls there from Kansas City, along with his good friend Nolan Wulf. Vic's had a rough few years - his wife died after a long and expensive illness, and to pay the bills, Vic sold cocaine. He was caught and asked to resign. He did so and has been struggling since. He's hoping the farm, which supposedly has some valuable stud horses, will make some money for him.

But Denke isn't what it seems, which is true for nearly all small towns in horror novels. The locals seem friendly but Vic and Nolan discover that they have some truly strange and murderous traditions, started since the Denkes founded the town in the late 1800s.

Myra and her son Cal could tell them some about it. She worked for Vic's dad and lives in a trailer on the farm. The locals have been harassing her because she's an outsider and they want her gone, but she thinks it's her late husband's mother, who wants Cal to live with her.

So that's the setup.

Vic and Nolan aren't very likeable at first, especially after we discover Vic's a former crooked cop. Nolan is also a former cop and fireman, but he doesn't treat women well. Epperson, to her credit, makes these two likeable by the end, so we care what happens to them.

I don't know if she intended this, but her book seems to make a statement about the power of tradition. Denke locals do what they do because that's the way it's always been done. Few of them ask any questions or second-guess what they're doing. Maybe blind faith in tradition isn't such a good thing. Maybe tradition should be challenged more often.

Then again, maybe the author didn't gave a rat's you-know-what about tradition and just wanted to write a good book.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the outset I admit that I’m at least a little likely to enjoy any book set in Kansas that includes enough details to make it perfectly clear that the author is actually familiar with the territory. So my hat’s off to S.K. Epperson on that count, at least. And in addition to the locale, this book also offers a mildly amusing premise (a small town thriving by robbing and murdering strangers) and some fairly well-crafted characters. It’s not a real engaging piece of literature, but if you’re looking for a quick summer read you could do a lot worse.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read. One of the ultimate heroes in this novel is hard edged, which renders him as being difficult to get along with. But that same hard edged quality later on in the climax of the book make his successful efforts to thwart the evil group of men in town seem all the more credible. Neither overly original yet not exactly " seen that before. " Neither is it over the top unbelievable. Good character development helps to make a pretty good read a bit better.

[Cassandra Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really was a nice surprise! It pulls you in as soon as you begin to read it. I can say this these are some sick crazy people in a small town. I had never heard of this author until a friend of mine recommended it to me, and I'm glad she did!! Awesome quick read! I gave it 4 stars because I feel like she left things out, and didn't harp on the importance of one particular kid in my opinion, but it still made for a good read.. see what I did right there "goodread"

[Athena Workman · Rating 4 out of 5]

S.K. Epperson is one of my favorite authors-- I wish she was still writing. What a pleasure to find her on the summer paperback table at the library years ago.

This is one of her best tales. The heat of a Kansas summer is palpable. While some of the fine details of the story are muddled, the characters are fully-fleshed, and the tension is high.

[Burma Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out so good, then toward the middle, it just fizzled out. This is usually the kind of book I love, family moves to small town, nothing is as it appears. I was very disappointed in this one, I just didn't feel the characters were well developed, it was just hard to care about what happened to them.

[H3yd00 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prologue was one of the most chilling things I've ever read... not sure why, it just creeped me out. Parts of the book were slow, and a few important characters weren't really fleshed out, but overall, it was definitely a solid read.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a little town on the Colorado/Kansas border, family ties dating back to the Civil War....make it a strange place to live.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent, twisted tale!

[Luanne Pettit]

Great book! I had a hard time putting this one down!