"Uncle" by Daniel Woodrell

From: A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir. Ed. Megan Abbott. Busted Flush Press, 2007.

Woodrell's Edgar-nominated story is told by a young woman who's lived for years under the thumb of her serial rapist uncle. One day she rescues a particularly feisty girl and, in the aftermath, attacks her uncle with a mattocks, leaving him brain-damaged the rest of his life.

Now forced to look after her uncle, the narrator wonders if, in his debilitated state, he is still evil.

A fine nominee, "Uncle" is an example of how to use voice and description to their best effect in five pages.