I admit it. I didn’t look closely at the cover. A quick glance at Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees caught my attention with Patrick Horvath’s storybook style, a bear dragging a bag into the woods. Of course the bag drips blood. But I was quickly picking up several books at once, and thought hey, nice Over the Garden Wall vibe.
The title comes from the classic children’s song “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” a tune which promises both whimsy and menace. At least, when sung right. If you go down to the woods today, you might want to take protection.
Don’t get me wrong; the book is good. It’s just not heartwarming and melancholy. Spinster bear Samantha Strong runs a friendly hardware store in the small town of Woodbrook. On the surface, it looks like the kind of town you’ve seen in the works of Richard Scarry. Anthropomorphic animals work side by side, greet each other with friendly smiles, and generally know each other’s business. Just not in an intrusive way.
When Samantha gets the urge for something more, she goes to the big city. Because when someone goes missing in a big city, no one pays much attention. Happens all the time. If it happens in Woodbrook, folks would notice.
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees will feel familiar to you, but not for the reasons you might think. Horvath’s delicate illustration expertly evokes a children’s book, aided by perfect lettering from Hassan Otsmane-Elhou, but this one’s not for children. Instead, it’s about a serial killer backed into hunting another serial killer. Only… cute. Almost cuddly.
Even when Horvath gives us an overhead shot of one of Sarah’s victims, too many years of seeing illusion cakes lessens the gore. But not the impact. Though we’ve seen stories like this before — most obviously with Dexter, but let’s not forget Image’s A Voice in the Dark — this take holds the most surprises. In a world where carnivores have sublimated their instincts, and herbivores can be savage, it’s possible that no one — or no thing — is what they seem.
When I paid for the book, the comic shop manager told me she was interested to hear what I thought. Quite simply, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. And thus, I’m hooked.
