Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review.
I’ve been having such a hard time writing this review, and that’s because I know I need to re-read it in order to actually convey my thoughts. The second half of this book, listening to it felt like a fever dream, and I probably wasn’t paying as much attention to it as I should. And unfortunately, I think the second half is when the book is really crucial to understanding the themes Tingle is wanting to explore. I am definitely reading this again and annotating once I have my special edition copy from Aardvark.
At the same time, I know while I was listening to this, I was riveted. Tingle’s imagination is so bizarre and his concepts so absurd; the things he comes up with to populate his horror are not the kinds of other people come up with. The idea of a Low Probability Event being a huge disaster and killing millions of people is wild, and he pulls it off. He also, as always, manages to thoughtfully explore queer themes of belonging and identity. (How the two things connect is the part my brain has managed to miss because I went into a fugue state while listening or whatever. Can’t explain it. Happened with Victorian Psycho earlier this year, also. Still need to re-read that one!)
I would recommend this book and his other books even for people who don’t normally like horror. There’s something about the way he writes these books that transcends horror, and it just feels like he’s doing something else. Whatever it is is great.
[4.5 stars]