The Fisherman (2016)
By John Langan
290 pages (Kindle Digital Edition)
Genre : Horror, Fiction, Magic
Rating : 3/5
The content of this book is quite a surprise to me. I knew this is horror and naturally based on the title, expected monsters and threatening sea creatures to inhabit this scary world - but to tie it all with undercurrents of sorcery and black magic felt surreal. I would say I was hooked - like a fish - to the plot till about 50 percent. The history of the fisherman was having quite a spell on me when it all starts falling apart.I skimmed through the rest of the book just catching the flow of the narrative from disconnected scenes.
The author's descriptions of fight sequences and landscapes fail to evoke the right imagery. They feel flat and designed towards being scary while not really being so.
I think the author could have improvised on the character of the Fisherman - he is a centuries old black magician that succeeds in bringing dead people back to life, uses them as baits to fish for people's souls - he barely uses any magic when it comes to defending himself from being cast off into oblivion.
Abe and Dan are two colleagues at IBM. Abe has lost his wife to breast cancer and over time learnt to deal with it. He finds respite in the act of fishing and alternates between multiple spots of his neighborhood. Dan has more recently lost his family in a car crash and becomes Abe's fishing partner/companion. As they navigate through the many spots, he pitches the idea of checking out a Dutchman's Creek. The place has a history and a hideous past. Many people have lost their lives while fishing there and the stream of water now looks to capture both the men. How did they escape the dangerous waters? Do both of them survive whatever the waters cast at them : Physical horror and psychological mind games?
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