The Croning

The Croning is Laird Barron’s interpretation of hell and what it's like on the other side of heaven on earth.

Overall I didn't really like it.

It’s well written however with lots of imaginative ideas and great characters, particularly Don Miller and his wife Michelle, penned for what feels like an intellectual horror audience instead of the blood and splatter brigade, but that's also the problem - a meandering plot that's all over the place.

I had to fight against DNF several times at 30, 40 and 50 percent.

It then starts to get better because of the detailed insight into a tempestuous marriage - one minute they're f*cking until it hurts, the next out of sight while living their own lives.

It's this relationship dynamic that could have made a really emotional thriller, but I missed perceiving things from the perspective of Michelle, instead portrayed as a distant, abstract and often eccentrically uncontrollable partner as you never see things from her side.

That's the cosmic element - never directly witnessing the most interesting side or really understanding what the 'croning' is about other than a reference to an elderly female passage of right.

The book has a high sense of self-importance and could have been wonderful, making it disappointing for not delivering on that promise, reminiscent of the excellent The Fisherman by John Langan, going off on unrecognizable tangents through the middle section, but nowhere near as good!

I can’t recommend The Croning to friends or group members because of how warbling it is in large chunks and because I personally struggled with it.

Yet it has atmosphere, but needs more plot to dovetail with the intellectualism.

A great introduction, great cover art and a unique, dark and scary feel that's actually quite dull for about 80%.