LOVED this. Weird, scary, insightful.
I was very excited to read this - I had seen some praise I trusted, and have to admit phrases like "Jordan Peele of horror literature" and "creeping horror of Paul Tremblay" were quite enticing. And they are well-warranted. This book is the best kind of weird and creepy, and darkly funny at times. The writing is sharp and the voices are interesting, with varying levels of bitterness and nostalgia. Also it definitely gave me nightmares.
Each of the book's parts is distinct and brings its own style of creepy, along with different characters' perspectives. After the shock of Part 1's brutal ending, I went into Part 2 stressed out for the escalation. What I actually got was time for that built-up tension to simmer (helped immensely by the sudden use of second-person) while also zooming out to develop the characters. Then it's all shaken up /again/ in Part 3.
The book has a seamless balance between the horror/magic/WTF elements and the gritty realism of, well, the rest of it. Nothing is wasted - pieces come together that I hadn't even realized were pieces. This was my first read by Stephen Graham Jones and I will be seeking out more.
Each of the book's parts is distinct and brings its own style of creepy, along with different characters' perspectives. After the shock of Part 1's brutal ending, I went into Part 2 stressed out for the escalation. What I actually got was time for that built-up tension to simmer (helped immensely by the sudden use of second-person) while also zooming out to develop the characters. Then it's all shaken up /again/ in Part 3.
The book has a seamless balance between the horror/magic/WTF elements and the gritty realism of, well, the rest of it. Nothing is wasted - pieces come together that I hadn't even realized were pieces. This was my first read by Stephen Graham Jones and I will be seeking out more.