The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am speechless after reading this.

I mean, I was already a huge fan of Wendig but I never realized that he could pick something like this... an almost Stephen King kind of setup that has echoes of the Shining, shake it up so hard and brutal, and give us a very SK story that is every bit as original as SK but without the many divergences.

What we have here is a classic horror that is very much a Wendig. And if you know Wendig, you know he knows how to deal with the small stuff, the many great details, and the language. But he also knows how to do the mind-f**king-blowing big stuff, too. The wild fantasy, the deep horror, and pull off a massive fractal WRONGNESS that is all parts delicious.

And that's where we are with The Book of Accidents. I love all these characters but love Oliver the most. It is, after all, all about the pain. And what delicious pain it is.

(And if you think it's pain in any normal sense of the word, you have another thing coming. It's not just abuse and everyone else's pain, but it's about ALL the pain. And Wendig pulls several fantastic rabbits out of this particular hat.)

No spoilers. But this is a truly delightful horror that will stick with me for quite some time. It's rich, very twisty and twisted, and quite heartbreaking. And then there are the awesome Lovecraftian elements that never overwhelm but truly drive the story home.

I'm extremely happy with this one!

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