Grimscribe

I have to say I found this book painful. I'm going to go off on a tangent here, and explain how that's not something I like to say. I usually try to give authors the benefit of the doubt, especially in their own, niche, domains. After all, I'm certainly no author. Also, one should always try to account for matters of personal taste when attempting to be objective. For instance, I don't really like pure ghost stories, where there isn't anything at least a little tangible to actually fear. That may have influenced my opinion here.

That out of the way, I don't think I'm being unfair in giving this 2 stars. I decided to read these stories based on a comparison to Lovecraft, which, given, is probably unfair. Ligotti seems to like everything substantially more abstract and intangible than Lovecraft. Maybe that's just the progression of the genre, but I didn't like it. I was left wondering, at nearly every turn, whether any average person would be afraid in the circumstances of the protagonists. Or even somewhat worried, for that matter. The whole thing reads like case studies into paranoia, which maybe could work, but wasn't the intent here.

Even when things do enter the tentative grasp of reality, he often leaves enough wiggle room for you to imagine that nothing is actually, physically happening. This may not even be the biggest problem, though. Another reviewer already made this point, but I must reiterate. The reader is so inundated (bludgeoned, really) with 'creepiness' right from the get go, that it's annoying. Everything is so abnormal right out the gate, it's impossible to build on. Worse, since it's the protagonist/narrator who is setting this scene, it becomes impossible to empathize either.