The Fisherman by John LanganMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I wanted to like the Fisherman more than I ultimately did. I enjoyed Langan’s conversational style, which added the intimacy that a successful horror story must have. I enjoyed his imagery, and how he related those images to his characters’ personalities. I found the imagery very Lovecraftian, because it dealt with issues much greater than individual human lives, and tended to illustrate how universally insignificant a human life is. Langan’s principal topics, death, grief and the hereafter, were the perfect ingredients to evoke terror.
Then why didn’t I rate The Fisherman at five stars? Because it was too long, and it was fractured. The bulk of the story was historical, and did not directly involve the protagonist. It was a good story, a great story,but it was in fact, a prologue, and it took up more of the book than the protagonist’s story did. So when we finally got to that, it felt anti-climactic.
That said, I still think the book is worth reading, and I recommend it.
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