Michael McDowell's Blackwater

The author divided the story of the Caskey family into six short novellas, rather than publish it in one tome. From the first page, this eerie story grabs the reader and sucks them in just like the muck of the Perdido river which is where the story opens. A town has been hit by a flood that submerged almost every building and forced the evacuation of the townspeople. One intrepid town father and his manservant brave the flood-waters to view the damage and find one lone refugee stuck in a second story hotel room. After rescuing the woman and taking her to dry land, the manservant reluctantly returns to the room for her belongings. He notices that the high-water marks on the walls of the room reach near to the ceiling and wonders how she survived. So begins what will become the lurid and creepy descent of a once proud and high-standing southern aristocratic family.