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Billy: A Tale of Terror
Deep in the swamplands of Louisiana, a monster is born.
Hidden away in the cypress swamp of the Atchafalaya Basin, a cabin sits on pilings long driven into the murky water, home to a family of Cajuns known as the St. Pierres. A newborn joins their brood, a badly deformed infant who arrives unwelcome and unwanted. He is believed to be sent from the depths of hell itself as punishment for the unspeakable sin from which he sprang.
Soon, the boy grows into the monster they have feared all along. Seizing their opportunity, they drug him and chain him up in the attic until they are able to dispose of their curse once and for all. The only problem now, they lose access to the dark, cramped space overhead. No problem, exclaims Poppie St. Pierre, “No reason to ever go up dere again.”
When the wrath of Hurricane Katrina comes to Bayou Noir, they are forced to confront the terror that awaits them.
In the aftermath of the great storm, a group of college kids set out to look for survivors, never to be seen again. Detective Nicholas Vizier is hired to locate the missing search party and recruits local gator hunters to aid in the search. As their expedition leads them further into the swamp, they find more than they bargained for. They find Billy.
From the opening chapter in the backroom of the cabin on Bayou Noir, to the creepy confines of St. Elizabeth’s Institute for the Mentally Ill and the haunted ruins of Lost Bayou Plantation, ‘Billy’ will send you on a terrifying adventure until the shocking conclusion that will haunt you long after you put the book away. So turn on the lights and prepare yourself for the horror that will surely come with every turn of the page and find out the answer to the riddle, “Why didn’t they go up into the attic?”
Hidden away in the cypress swamp of the Atchafalaya Basin, a cabin sits on pilings long driven into the murky water, home to a family of Cajuns known as the St. Pierres. A newborn joins their brood, a badly deformed infant who arrives unwelcome and unwanted. He is believed to be sent from the depths of hell itself as punishment for the unspeakable sin from which he sprang.
Soon, the boy grows into the monster they have feared all along. Seizing their opportunity, they drug him and chain him up in the attic until they are able to dispose of their curse once and for all. The only problem now, they lose access to the dark, cramped space overhead. No problem, exclaims Poppie St. Pierre, “No reason to ever go up dere again.”
When the wrath of Hurricane Katrina comes to Bayou Noir, they are forced to confront the terror that awaits them.
In the aftermath of the great storm, a group of college kids set out to look for survivors, never to be seen again. Detective Nicholas Vizier is hired to locate the missing search party and recruits local gator hunters to aid in the search. As their expedition leads them further into the swamp, they find more than they bargained for. They find Billy.
From the opening chapter in the backroom of the cabin on Bayou Noir, to the creepy confines of St. Elizabeth’s Institute for the Mentally Ill and the haunted ruins of Lost Bayou Plantation, ‘Billy’ will send you on a terrifying adventure until the shocking conclusion that will haunt you long after you put the book away. So turn on the lights and prepare yourself for the horror that will surely come with every turn of the page and find out the answer to the riddle, “Why didn’t they go up into the attic?”
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2015
14 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Clayton E. Spriggs
7 books11 followersCLAYTON E. SPRIGGS works as a health care professional in Southeast Louisiana. Married with a son and two stepdaughters, he is an active participant in the Bayou Writer’s Club and a dedicated member of the Who Dat Nation (an avid New Orelans Saints fan). Johnson Road was his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 30, 2017
The first thing I need to say is that I was drawn to the story by the blurb which promised something that it did not fully deliver on. I was expecting some real horror here but got luke warm horror and a bit character study, not to say that I did not enjoy any of it. The characters are never fully realized and they play out as shadows that you have to fill in the blanks for in order to understand them. None have a fully formed personality which makes it hard to really care about them one way or the other. The backstories for the majority of the characters are vague and do not give enough information to know their motivations. To top everything off things seem to jump around in a way that makes it all very unsettling.
A curse is brought to the home of the St. Pierre family for the transgressions of the patriarch. His daughter has a baby that is less human and more animal than anyone could have expected. The baby is unwanted and unwelcome especially when it takes a beloved member of the family. As Billy grows he is tormented by his siblings and father as they attempt to get rid of him. While they do their worse to him, they are sure that he will one day come for them if they do nothing. Billy becomes a legend in the deep Bayou country.
I basically enjoyed the story even though it was not as linear as I would have liked it to be. It did jump around a great deal leaving you somewhat confused about time. Still, it was worth a read and Kept me going if for no other reason than that I wanted to know how things were going to end. Sorry to say the ending was not really very satisfying at all. I would still recommend it with the caveat not to expect any terror.
A curse is brought to the home of the St. Pierre family for the transgressions of the patriarch. His daughter has a baby that is less human and more animal than anyone could have expected. The baby is unwanted and unwelcome especially when it takes a beloved member of the family. As Billy grows he is tormented by his siblings and father as they attempt to get rid of him. While they do their worse to him, they are sure that he will one day come for them if they do nothing. Billy becomes a legend in the deep Bayou country.
I basically enjoyed the story even though it was not as linear as I would have liked it to be. It did jump around a great deal leaving you somewhat confused about time. Still, it was worth a read and Kept me going if for no other reason than that I wanted to know how things were going to end. Sorry to say the ending was not really very satisfying at all. I would still recommend it with the caveat not to expect any terror.
June 23, 2016
This book will keep you up at night. Fast paced and frightening, you won't want to go into the attic along ever again.
April 18, 2017
Good One!
A well written tale of a boy conceived by a human monster, who is beaten, shunned, and traumatized by his family and ultimately he is labeled the monster. Forced to fend for himself, he learns to become the predator of the Cajun swamp where he was reared and gives rise to a legend of the swampland. Very well written and another great book by Clayton Spriggs!
A well written tale of a boy conceived by a human monster, who is beaten, shunned, and traumatized by his family and ultimately he is labeled the monster. Forced to fend for himself, he learns to become the predator of the Cajun swamp where he was reared and gives rise to a legend of the swampland. Very well written and another great book by Clayton Spriggs!
November 25, 2018
Billy: A Tale of Terror begins with a horrifying slap to the face and the horror continues to build from there. Part One mixes unspeakable real-life horrors and speculative horror to twist your psyche and stomach. It is a horror story all on its own.
Part Two introduces the bigger story. It adds new characters and subplots and weaves a gruesome tale full of suspense and very relatable characters. The story is told with expert skill, well-paced and compelling, creating an ominous dark bridge between the horrifying Part One and the terrifying Part Three.
Part Three plunges the reader mercilessly into psychological and visceral horrors with the final sequences, climax, and conclusion. The story takes surprising twists as Spriggs bombards you with the unexpected, always one step ahead of his own foreshadowing.
Billy is an incredible read, compelling, entertaining, horrifying, and surprisingly complex. Highly recommended for those with strong intestinal fortitude.
Part Two introduces the bigger story. It adds new characters and subplots and weaves a gruesome tale full of suspense and very relatable characters. The story is told with expert skill, well-paced and compelling, creating an ominous dark bridge between the horrifying Part One and the terrifying Part Three.
Part Three plunges the reader mercilessly into psychological and visceral horrors with the final sequences, climax, and conclusion. The story takes surprising twists as Spriggs bombards you with the unexpected, always one step ahead of his own foreshadowing.
Billy is an incredible read, compelling, entertaining, horrifying, and surprisingly complex. Highly recommended for those with strong intestinal fortitude.
January 4, 2017
No good
The prologue intrigued me enough that I bought the book, but... excellent start, then very shoddy writing. I enjoyed the Cajun, I have read others from the deep south. Big holes missing in the plot, no back story and a piss poor sloppy ending.
The prologue intrigued me enough that I bought the book, but... excellent start, then very shoddy writing. I enjoyed the Cajun, I have read others from the deep south. Big holes missing in the plot, no back story and a piss poor sloppy ending.
November 11, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. There were some truly gruesom scenes, but beyond that this is an interesting study of what makes us human. The book reminds me a little of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
April 28, 2018
Great story
Great story but way too much rambling during the telling. I thought there could have been a lot less detail.
Great story but way too much rambling during the telling. I thought there could have been a lot less detail.
October 26, 2018
What a book!!!
Talk about a good read it you like horror this is a book that has it covered. Would recommend it. Will read more from this author.
Talk about a good read it you like horror this is a book that has it covered. Would recommend it. Will read more from this author.
November 8, 2016
I want to thank Clayton E Spriggs for bringing my attention to a free offer he ran for a limited time on his novel Billy: A Tale of Unrelenting Terror Renamed "Billy: A Tale of Terror." He asked if I would consider doing a review. In the case of this book, I would have had he not even asked.
I just finished the novel this morning. It is "one of those" where the reader becomes so vested that they do not want to end the journey, but torn to find out what happens at the end.
Southern writers bring something to the table that only others who have sweated in the South, or avoided gator ponds, or had their poodles nearly carried off by mosquitoes can relate to. I was born in California, and moved to the South about forty years ago. I probably would have had trouble imagining the story of Bill La Pierre and his Cajun family.
Had I not been run out of Lufkin, Texas by Hurricane Rita chasing me with 75 m.p.h. winds and waters rising over 30 feet, I may not be able to allow my imagination to grasp the power of wind and water. If I had never attended a crayfish boil, or smelled the red clay and swamps, I may not have a picture, or scent to give to my imagination.
"Billy: A Tale of Terror" is well written. It does have allusion to sex and incest, but it is not graphically displayed. There is a lot of violence, but it is left up to your imagination to fill in the cruelty.
If you want to take a horrifying ride in a story that takes you into the depths of the Louisiana back swamps, and into a culture that not many get a peek into, please give this a read. Clayton E Spriggs does an excellent job of including Cajun dialogue and craftily adds the definition in the same line.
The main protagonist Detective Nicholas Vizier arrives late, and is a little clunky in romance, but I am sure he has many more adventures in which to drag us.
Thank you.
I just finished the novel this morning. It is "one of those" where the reader becomes so vested that they do not want to end the journey, but torn to find out what happens at the end.
Southern writers bring something to the table that only others who have sweated in the South, or avoided gator ponds, or had their poodles nearly carried off by mosquitoes can relate to. I was born in California, and moved to the South about forty years ago. I probably would have had trouble imagining the story of Bill La Pierre and his Cajun family.
Had I not been run out of Lufkin, Texas by Hurricane Rita chasing me with 75 m.p.h. winds and waters rising over 30 feet, I may not be able to allow my imagination to grasp the power of wind and water. If I had never attended a crayfish boil, or smelled the red clay and swamps, I may not have a picture, or scent to give to my imagination.
"Billy: A Tale of Terror" is well written. It does have allusion to sex and incest, but it is not graphically displayed. There is a lot of violence, but it is left up to your imagination to fill in the cruelty.
If you want to take a horrifying ride in a story that takes you into the depths of the Louisiana back swamps, and into a culture that not many get a peek into, please give this a read. Clayton E Spriggs does an excellent job of including Cajun dialogue and craftily adds the definition in the same line.
The main protagonist Detective Nicholas Vizier arrives late, and is a little clunky in romance, but I am sure he has many more adventures in which to drag us.
Thank you.
November 14, 2016
It Had Potential
I was invited to review this book and will do so as best I can. The premise of the story was interesting and not being familiar with bayou country, I thought I'd learn something new. Alas, not to be. The protagonist is a self-absorbed, pathetic waste of time. As for the plot, it seems disjointed and kind of thrown together, without a clear direction. The first part of the book had potential, but in my opinion, the author 'lost the plot' at about mid-point.
I'd like to say it got better, but it didn't. After a long, drawn-out lead-in, all of a sudden, everyone is dead, absolute mysteries are resolved without explanation, initial "secrets" that formed the basis for the plot ... and it's "the end." There is no coherence to this tale. I'm not going to comment on the dreadful grammatical errors, but will note that in his effort to provide a sense of authenticity with use of language, it instead felt forced and did nothing to enhance the undeveloped characters. Sorry. I doubt I'll be reading anything else by Spriggs.
I was invited to review this book and will do so as best I can. The premise of the story was interesting and not being familiar with bayou country, I thought I'd learn something new. Alas, not to be. The protagonist is a self-absorbed, pathetic waste of time. As for the plot, it seems disjointed and kind of thrown together, without a clear direction. The first part of the book had potential, but in my opinion, the author 'lost the plot' at about mid-point.
I'd like to say it got better, but it didn't. After a long, drawn-out lead-in, all of a sudden, everyone is dead, absolute mysteries are resolved without explanation, initial "secrets" that formed the basis for the plot ... and it's "the end." There is no coherence to this tale. I'm not going to comment on the dreadful grammatical errors, but will note that in his effort to provide a sense of authenticity with use of language, it instead felt forced and did nothing to enhance the undeveloped characters. Sorry. I doubt I'll be reading anything else by Spriggs.
November 15, 2016
"Eeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaggggghhh!"
I could smell the water, the swamp, the decaying buildings! I could feel the mosquito bites and the humidity. I could imagine the terror of changing from hunter to hunted. I could see red, glowing eyes and hear that ungodly howl.
Very scary page turner!
I could smell the water, the swamp, the decaying buildings! I could feel the mosquito bites and the humidity. I could imagine the terror of changing from hunter to hunted. I could see red, glowing eyes and hear that ungodly howl.
Very scary page turner!
January 30, 2016
Great fast moving read!
Enjoyed the characters and a good fast moving plot. A great quick read and easily laid out for your imagination to take hold.
Enjoyed the characters and a good fast moving plot. A great quick read and easily laid out for your imagination to take hold.
April 24, 2016
Very good!!
November 7, 2016
Well developed story, kept my attention to the point I read it in one sitting.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews