Sandman

by Linda Crockett

Contracted by a new resort in Florida to build the world's largest sandcastle, sculptor Kitty Westburg brings her son to the hotel, where they are stalked by a pair of sadistic swamp dwellers.

Genres: Horror

406 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[RazorWuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A professional sand sculptor and her adopted son are stalked and terrorised by two average Floridians at a luxury resort hotel.

At first I was worried that the author would be too focused on discussing the finer details of sandcastle building, but the book gets wild pretty fast.
CW: rape, incest, and a lot of child sexual abuse. Like, a lot. These swamp hicks are freaking BRUTAL.

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

I took me like forever to trudge through this supposed piece of horror fiction. The story flatlines until almost 3/4 of the way through only to ultimately present itself as a ludicrously lightweight yawner. Far too much of the novel is concerned with explaining the art of sandsculpturing. As for the alleged plot, the two backwoodsman who have their sights set on a mother and her son are despicable and revolting without ever being portrayed as instilling fear into the mind of the reader. Towards the finale, one of them turns soft hearted of all things to cap off a truly punchless, pointless, tedious read.

[Edward Jacquemin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been a friend of this author and aided in proof-reading the manuscript before editing and printing. We had gone to several sand-building competitions along the beach in Florida, which helped inspire this book.