Title: A Lush and Seething Hell
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publication Date: October 8, 2019
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Format: NetGalley eARC

This book was a bit of a roller coaster ride for me, because as disappointed as I was with the first story, I was just as in love with the second one.

I mean, I guess they say life is all about balance, right? So for this review, I’m really going to have to separate the stories in this into two, because I had wildly different experiences with each.

The one thing I can say about both is that when it’s creepy, it’s creepy—there’s no two ways about that. Jacobs does an amazing job of building a dark, insidious atmosphere that builds slowly and will have you checking for shadows in your peripheral vision.

In that aspect, this book was everything I had hoped for going in, even if the first story didn’t quite deliver plot-wise for me.

Listen. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but everyone seems to have loved this story … except for me.

I don’t know exactly what part of me it is that is so clearly broken, but … it’s there. Somewhere. Should probably find someone to work on that.

I went in with such high expectations, considering how highly rated it was and people seemed to love it. After I got a ways in and realized, wow, this story was going nowhere fast, I lowered my expectations a bit.

❧ Avendano’s manuscripts deliver all the slow-build horror, existential dread, and paranormal darkness that one might expect from the summary.

Even if they totally set the reader up for a reveal that never actually comes. That’s not poor Avendano’s fault. I mean, he’s blamed for everything else. Give the guy a break here, at least.

For me, this was the real pleasure of this story. The manuscripts were a joy to read, because there’s this slow devolution and breakdown of what seemed like a perfectly satisfying life to … something else.

❧ When it felt like it was finally getting going and getting good, something always undermined that feeling.

Sometimes it was long, tedious descriptions of quotidian life, long passages of travel, or just some sort of randomness. I felt like the dark, creepy atmosphere it was building never had a chance to fully coalesce, because it was constantly bogged down by these slow, meandering sections that yanked me out of the creepiness and action.

❧ The story just … ended. I don’t even know what happened.

This story was so hard for me to get through, but I felt like there would be such a payoff that of course it would be worth it, and there just … wasn’t. I don’t necessarily need things spelled out, but I felt like this ending was too abrupt and abstract to feel satisfactory for me.

❧ There’s just too much in this story that’s left open and unexplained that by the end of it, I just felt confused and like there was something missing.

Other people seemed to have loved it, so I guess this is just me? But I just didn’t get it. Even now, I can’t actually tell you what this story was really about or the point of it. I for sure can’t tell you anything about how it ended or the meaning of the ending, because I just … I don’t know, guys. I’m still so confused. There’s nothing worse, in my opinion, that a story building to what feels like a super creepy finish and then it just falls flat, and that’s what this felt like.

This story is everything the first one wasn’t and everything I’d hoped for going in, and I just loved it.

Okay, end review, no go read this. If you’re looking for some seriously delicious creepy, sinister, and sometimes downright surreal vibes … read this story.

At one point, I was so into this story that my cat jumped into my lap and I’m pretty sure I died. I’m deceased.

I’m now a poltergeist, typing up this review as my final act of spite before I go terrorize poor, unfortunate souls. It’s not exactly what I imagined for my afterlife, so you’re welcome.

❧ I’m totally biased in that I already love unreliable narrators, but Jacobs takes it one step further by giving us an actual reliable narrator who becomes unreliable … only the reader doesn’t know exactly when it happens.

Maybe he was unreliable from the start? I suppose it could very well be. you’ll have to decide that for yourself. Harlan Parker is an interesting character in that he’s presented as completely sound of mind and logical—a researcher looking into the history and evolution of music. It’s not until later that things start going south for him, and the devolution is just utterly delicious to watch.

❧ I’m usually a little hesitant with split storylines, but here, I thought it was super effective, especially given that Cromwell’s situation is so relatable.

Is he a perfect person? No. Of course not. But who of us are? He’s hurt and he’s been hurt, and he’s stuck in this limbo between the two, where he’s just not quite sure of anything anymore, especially not how to move forward. Or even if he can move forward. Which, of course, makes him the perfect character to discover Harlan’s work.

Whereas Harlan’s timeline is one fueled by selfish obsession, Cromwell’s struggle is one of a highly relatable inner turmoil, where he’s on the brink of becoming like Harlan but still has a choice to make.

While I thought Harlan’s story was, by far, the most thrilling and creepy, Cromwell’s was the most emotional and made it so easy to see how someone can be led astray.

❧ This is more of a psychological horror/thriller, so while there are no real big scary moments, there are quite a few WTF moments where things just don’t seem quite right.

Mostly, because they’re not, but you sort of just have to wait and see. If you’re going in expecting all the answers, you’ll be sorely disappointed, because this story leaves a lot open-ended and up to the imagination of the reader to fill in the gaps. It draws the overall picture, and it’s your job to color it in.

I know I sort of complained about the first one being too open-ended to where I just didn’t get it, but that was so not a problem with this, and I ended up loving how it played out in this story.

It’s almost scarier not knowing for sure what the author was going for and letting my imagination fill in the gaps. My brain is a dark and scary place. It should not be allowed free rein, okay?

❧ There’s not a whole lot I can say about this story, because the beauty is in the build-up.

It takes a little while to get there, but when things start seeming off, it really starts being off. You just have to pay attention to the red flags along the way as you’re rushing past to find out what happens next, because they’re there. They’re just a little blurry sometimes.

Even though it may sound a bit like a cop-out (and okay, maybe it is), this is one of those stories that you just have to experience for yourselves.

I honestly don’t know what else I can say about this without spoiling something, because everything has to come together just so, and the reader discovers things as Cromwell discovers them, which is the wonderful thing about this piece. I’d hate to ruin that.

Do you enjoy books that leave things off with an open ending?