The Fisherman

This is an amazing book and I disagree with anyone who says it's not well written.

Cormac McCarthy also writes 'horribly' and I have no problem with him at all.

You'll appreciate this book if you can relate to personal loss, and that's not a signpost above my head to say I've experienced something that you maybe haven't, just the way I feel about this book.

The funny thing is, I'm not usually a fan of cosmic horror and rate H.P. Lovecraft around 3 stars, and I've come across so much commercial/mainstream horror over the last couple of years this book read like an absolute delight.

John Langan struggled to complete it over about 10 years, instead of churning it out under a tight publisher deadline, which is why so many books are top heavy these days and unfulfilling.

With its drawn out cosmic horror and fantasy elements, this heartfelt and bizarre book teaches you a few things about love and life as it magically swings between fantastical fiction and back down to earth again at the swing of a hat.

The "What about Lottie?" phrase bowled me over. You're in no state to be thinking about such basic sentiments under duress.

The Fisherman consists of a story within a story and I can see why some people might consider this cheap or poor writing, and it takes such a long time for the main adventure to go full circle, which is fair enough if you hate this book.

The main character loses his wife to cancer, while his friend also loses his wife and twin sons in a car accident. They suffer similar losses but in different ways, who then connect and become fishing besties.

We've all experienced loss to some degree. Divorce and losing my house, for example, but nothing in comparison to no longer seeing my sons on a regular basis, and I wept at the local bar when 'Wish You Were Here' came on the stereo, I can hardly bear that song these days, and this book reinforces the reality that <b>I haven't lost anything at all</b> except a nagging ex wife and some material possessions, hey, and my children are alive and well and I am actually rather blessed, blessed by your company and enjoyment of this book if you liked it as well.

Sometimes it takes a book from another person's perspective to open your eyes, and isn't that after all why we read? Whatever the genre, whatever the reason?

It's also important to thoroughly buy into the main characters and if you can't do that you've not got much to return to as the book goes full circle.

And if you don't like long and drawn out tales, you might not enjoy this book, especially if cosmic horror isn't really your thing. In the author's own words, this is "the shaggiest of shaggy dog stories".

Funnily enough, it's the mid-section of this book that's the most eerily compelling, with the 'main' story acting as a looking glass to get in and out of fishy hell.

There are many influences too: Kristopher Triana and the harrowing river scenes, Clive Barker for the trippily macabre concepts, Ronald Malfi and Cormac McCarthy for their desolate landscapes, and even a bit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Fisherman is quite graphic and even sexual in places, but most of all fantastically bizarre in a relatable way.

What's your personal definition of hell? I know what John Langan's is: a watery grave inhabited by a giant Leviathan that can be hooked up and tapped into for whatever life-preserving powers seem most personal to you.

This book is educational, scary, gripping and rewarding, and I loved it for all its flaws.

Most of all it was a surprise u-turn from the boring cosmic horror platter I was expecting to hook onto my plate.