Books › The Fisherman
The Fisherman
358 pages
A sprawling, sorrowful folktale that wades through the quiet agony of grief before plunging into the terrifying depths of the cosmic unknown.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a dimly lit diner on a rainy afternoon, listening to an old local spin a yarn that starts as a tragedy and slowly warps into a nightmare. The narrative takes its time, unfolding with a steady, deliberate rhythm that lulls you into a false sense of security before pulling the rug out. It is steeped in a profound, aching melancholy, exploring the devastating lengths to which grief will drive a person. The prose is conversational yet deeply mythic, anchoring cosmic dread in the muddy, rain-slicked reality of upstate New York. It is a perfect, dread-soaked descent for readers who appreciate slow-burn weird fiction and horror that breaks the heart just as thoroughly as it chills the blood.
- Mood
- dread-soaked
- sorrowful
- eerie
- atmospheric
- Tone
- melancholic
- conversational
- ominous
- reflective
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the weight of grief · the inability to let go · cosmic insignificance · bonds of male friendship · the allure of the impossible
- The writing
- Evocative and conversational, reading like a dark, sprawling folktale told over a few beers at a local diner.
- The arc
- Begins in profound, quiet sorrow and descends into a terrifying, awe-inspiring confrontation with the abyss.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love slow-burn cosmic horror, deep explorations of grief, and the nested storytelling of classic weird fiction.
Content notes
- profound grief
- loss of a spouse
- loss of a child
- body horror
- gore
About the book
In upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman's Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other's company and a shared passion for fishing, hear rumors of the Creek, and what might be found there, the remedy to both their losses, they dismiss it as just another fish story.
Soon, though, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Reservoir. It's a tale of dark pacts, of long-buried secrets, and of a mysterious figure known as Der Fisher: the Fisherman. It will bring Abe and Dan face to face with all that they have lost, and with the price they must pay to regain it.
Description from Open Library.
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