The premise of a darker retelling of Rumpelstiltskin drew me to this book. The first chapter is really well done, and I can tell this author likely excels in his short stories (where he's clearly acclaimed).

After that, I could tell right away this is Dad Book Horror. There was an almost confusing nostalgia reading this as it felt like stealing Stephen King or Dean Koontz off my dad's shelf at a Way Too Young Age™. However, I'm an adult now.

The way women are talked about? Breasting Boobily.

People of color? Not great! Indigenous people specifically? Now we're bordering on HP Lovecraft levels of 'primitives worshipping an evil old god'.

All THAT aside (if you can possibly do so for a moment), the story is incredibly meandering? Building tension doesn't mean spending an entire chapter regaling us with the mc's children's lives. You can build tension in a way that's purposeful. The scares are good, I'll give him that, but come on now. This was published in 2012.