A review by the_weirdling
Hold the Dark by William Giraldi

4.0

This is an excellent books which is slightly misleading in the way it is packages, marketed, and presented. Based on the jacket, marketing, and first few chapters, most readers will expect to be settling in to a sort of murder mystery which we will be solved by the somewhat burnt out wolf expert, Russell Core. There is a murder. There is also a bit of a mystery as to how the murders came about. To be sure, the early chapters of the book have all the feel of being the opening salvo of some sort of not-your-usual-type-of-sleuth-mystery series, sure to contain 20-30 pulpy installments. The action, however, shifts away from Core early on. Instead, you are lead on a journey that takes you into the deepest darknesses that hide in the human mind. The book has far more in common with Heart of Darkness or Lord of the Flies than any formulaic, paint-by-numbers murder mystery. I won't go into the details on this one, except to say this: it is dark as hell, and you will be left with the conviction that when human beings break, we break badly.

There is very little I have to add that hasn't already been expressed by the other reviewers. I only which to add my own voice to the chorus of others who have said that this book is beautiful written. It is such a great juxtapositioning and adds to the overall feel. William Giraldi writes about utterly horrible things in a sublimely beautiful way, and it bugged me the whole way through the book, in all the right ways.

A great book, even if its not what I and many others expected.