This was a very strange novel. It’s written piecemeal and jumps from fairy tale to modern horror but is so disjointed I was just as confused as the main character as to what was happening.

Even at the end, when the loose threads are being tied up, I felt let down since the cosmic horror that had been hinted at the entire novel was never fully explored to make it feel real.

It would have been better if the story had been told linearly. I might have kept the plot better in that case.

There were a couple creepy scenes in the novel but overall it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Some sloppy continuity errors aside, this was a pretty good horror read. I don't usually get scared from reading horror novels, but I will admit this was really rather creepy at times. As per usual the last 25% (when you get to see and know more) is less scary, but YMMV.

So glad I read this after listening to 3x short story collections. This novel is like a bingo card for all the Children of Old Leech references. Great stuff. I also really enjoyed the befuddled protagonist, it's a great way to weave uncertainty into the narrative.

The Croning, aka How I learned to Stop Worrying and Accept that My Wife was Worshiping An Eldritch Abomination

This is a stellar book, in many senses of that word. Firmly implanting the cosmic in "cosmic horror," Laird Barron's first novel takes a number of threads started in his short stories and weaves them into a stunning gallows rope. The longer novel format gives Barron the space to lay out a deep back story and slowly simmer his nightmarish stew, as opposed to the microwave oven necessitated by the short story form.

The Croning tells the story of aged geologist Don Miller and his anthropologist wife Michelle Mock. Jumping around between three different periods in their shared life, we meet their family and associates, as well as government agents and the ancient cult of Old Leech, familiar from some of Mr. Barron's previous stories. Unfolding for the most part in his familiar Pacific Northwest locales, the strange family histories of the Millers and the Mocks slowly but surely crystallizes into a soul-shattering fugue of doom and unthinkable horror.

Barron includes enough of the mundane and the familiar in the story to give it a good grounding. To his credit, the settings seem very real, even when very unreal things are occurring. As the tension ratchets up and the story starts moving faster and faster, the little details and realistic touches from earlier in the book lay a nice groundwork for the creeping dread and awful realizations to come.

Mr. Barron's central theme strikes me as an alloy forged from classic Lovecraftian cosmic horror, Thomas Ligotti's idea of The Darkness, and his own unique rare-earth minerals. This overarching mythology has been teased and hinted at in previous stories, and here it is laid bare. If I have any quibble with this book, it would be that the concepts underlying the "Barronic Mythos" (to quote T. E. Grau) are almost too illuminated. The story features some nice twists and reveals right up until the end; when that end is reached, it appears there is little ambiguity left regarding the story of Old Leech and related entities.

Still, at this point I trust Barron implicitly. I have liked or (more frequently) loved everything he has written to date. He is a well-reasoned and seasoned writer of exceptional quality, and The Croning is one of the best novels I have read in quite some time, horror or otherwise. Beautiful and brutal, with genuine skin-crawling moments shuffled in with scenes of wide-eyed wonder. I predict you will see this book on many Best of 2012 lists and awards ballots.

Laird Barron has proven, definitively, that he can write long stories that are just as effective as his short fiction, and I'm looking forward to reading more, much more, of this unique man's singular and haunting vision.

This book was awesome.....just what I was looking for when I wanted a scary October read. Very reminiscent of Lovecraft. I'll definitely check out more of Laird Barron's work.