Book Review: The Fisherman by John Langan

I went into this not knowing what I would read. I knew this was a horror story, or so it was marketed all over the internet. And in a way, it was. It’s not high-intensity horror, not to make you afraid to fall asleep, but cozy horror that isn’t actual horror but has the components to be one, pondering about life’s mysteries.

The book is narrated by Abe. He’s a widower who lost his wife to cancer. To cope with his sorrow, he takes up fishing and becomes obsessed with it. He asks his co-worker to come fishing with him, Dan, who has lost his whole family in a nasty car accident. Together, they set their way to catch the fish of their lives and maybe stifle the pain they are feeling from losing their families.

The book is slow-based and concentrates on setting the mood so that everything can be revealed at the end. In the first part, the story follows Abe and Abe’s and Dan’s relationship. Then, in the middle, it jumps to a historical setting, taking a long, long, long, long detour to tell a story of sorrow, magic, and bringing the dead back to life so that we get a background for where the book is heading. Then comes the horror part, which is quickly over, tying the whole journey into a neat little bow.

I don’t know what to think of the book. It was pleasant to read, and it kept my interest up. I wanted to see where the story would go. Yet, the story isn’t highly original. The twist at the end didn’t improve the centuries-old myth of going to Hades to bring back the one who you have lost. The book was still about the cost of love, losing, and going against what nature had intended without the moral and insightful part of the old stories. But I guess that wasn’t the point. I don’t know what it was.

I got confused by the middle part and the long detour it took. I get why the separate story was told. You needed that background, but it didn’t work for me. Yes, it explained the weirdness at the end, but I wanted more. I didn’t want to be explained. I wanted horror. And when the horror came, it was over so quickly that I didn’t get to enjoy it. It wasn’t scary.

If this book was about grief, then it didn’t deliver that either. I lost my dad suddenly not so long ago, and I know what grief is and how painful it can be. What Abe felt was superficial compared to that. I couldn’t relate. Dan, on the other hand, was tormented, and rightfully so, but as Abe narrated the book, it was a distant torment viewed by an outsider. So the whispers of the loved ones in odd situations or the hope they were still alive could have had more emotion to make me feel the ache, the fear, and the hope Abe and Dan felt.

I was the wrong audience for this book. The novelty of the age-old story and the horror of losing someone you love greatly didn’t meet me.

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful day ❤