Posted in: Books, Movies, Recent Updates | Tagged: Alan Moore, Alaska, eldritch horror, horror, Laird Barron, monsters, novel, Swift to Chase

Laird Barron's Swift To Chase Is A Collection Of Happy Nightmares, Both Fantastic And Bloody

Laird Barron's Swift to Chase is a cobwebby, weaving collection of nightmares from the fantastical to the mundane. Spanning many characters, times and places, occasional bits that seem disjointed coalesce in the end to a tightly wove whole as details, truths and lies are revealed. It's a good, poetic read, easy on the voice of the mind's eye. An astute reader will find a variety of delightful details; and I'm sure I'll find more to love about this tasty darkness on a re-read.

The book does not lead you by the nose in a straight line, but twists and jukes this way and that, giving you clues to what's going on, slowly building up a picture of a world like our own… and yet so much worse. This book is a delicious nightmare, a polished work evoking the horrors of woodland and snowy wastelands. There's gore aplenty, enough for any veteran gore-hound out there, but the violence is in service to the tales told. Every scene, every word is carefully chosen; crafted. The style of the collection is similar to that of Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire, with motifs, characters and themes repeating throughout linked tales.

The book is not perfect; it has its flaws. For me, there's a story halfway through that took me out of the immersion, and the voices of the characters seemed to bleed together as the author's voice over-rode those of the characters he was working with.

I found this book to be a great read; especially for those looking for a good horror read.

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