Not going to give a star rating as I made it half an hour in before the edgelord language, misogyny, and some of the most disgusting ableism I've read in a long time made me go read some reviews. I have no problem worn fancy words or expletives, but seeing them employed to no effect other than as an affect is just not for me.

I would just say, check out a variety of reviews before you try this and lots of content warnings.

I've been waiting for this book to settle in my brain so I could give it the review it deserves but it just won't happen. This book was so many things; horror, time travel, a bit of science fiction, fantasy, even fairy tales. It's everything. And I loved it. It kept me up nights with its tension and gave me bad dreams to boot. And still I loved it.

( )

In terms of modern Lovecraftian horror, this is fairly unique. It Has the components of a family saga as well as a long term degenerates subtext. The pacing could do with some tightening and in places it became difficult to see how the story could progress. I think the author does capture the feeling of nihilism and despair that readers more familiar with the Carcosa mythos will understand. ( )

A trippy bit of cosmic horror. Well written with compelling characters. Got a bit bogged down in the middle, but the details added quite a bit to the main character's story.

Couple of spoilers below.

I'm not sure why people are basically calling him a simp. He clearly isn't. He is the product of a long line of men who have been manipulated by forces much stronger than humans. His "forgetfulness" and bowing to his wife's peccadilloes and transgressions aren't indications of his weakness, they're indicators of the forces at work on him. Their trips together. That party. He was surrounded, pummeled and yet he survived.

And of course I was happy that Thule made it out of there. At least I think he did. He was loyal and a good boy.

Overall I really enjoyed this. There really aren't enough of these books out there. I'm really digging on this genre. ( )

4-1/2 stars; almost gave it five stars but it was a little too derivative of [a:H.P. Lovecraft|9494|H.P. Lovecraft|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1299165714p2/9494.jpg]'s The Whisperer in Darkness so I subtracted half a star for lack of originality in plot. That said, it's like The Whisperer in Darkness on acid and speed. Some of the amnesia/flashback is a little hard to swallow but, hey, we're dealing with the supernatural here so let's not be too picky. The ending once again reminded me of [a:Michael Shea|7213910|Michael Shea|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]'s The Autopsy or that movie Fallen with Denzel Washington.

Barron gets it on but with none of his wiggy philosophical enigma; we know what's goin' on here.

The great thing about Barron now is he keeps mining the same vein/theme but in so many different ways. He's got his own Mythos going (I know I'm stretching it a bit) but he's upped the creep and despair factor since [b:The Imago Sequence and Other Stories|911954|The Imago Sequence and Other Stories|Laird Barron|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1391343266s/911954.jpg|897056] with more solid endings that are just going to make you wonder if he doesn't know something about the universe that we don't.

Barron has now shown he can go the distance in story, novella, and novel. He should be better known. ( )