Kiernan is one of those writers who, like Gene Wolfe or CJ Cherryh, affects my thinking process. The syntax structure and delivery of words is just... off... kilter... enough that I have to stop myself and review just what the heck is going on. I love it when a writer can make me do that.

This is the first published Kiernan novel but not the first one I have read. As an early work, it's not quite up to the weirdness of The Tindalos Asset trilogy or the brilliance of The Drowning Girl. Thematically, it is not really much like those works either. I would say it falls closer to The Red Tree in that respect. Regardless, there is more here than merely a glimmer of what is to come later in Kiernan's career. They are a writer that deserves every accolade, in my opinion. ( )

I've liked quite a bit of Caitlin R Kiernan's work but damn, this sucked. Like a bad 90z episode of The X-Files but without the charm. ( )

Caitlin Kiernan is your typical, run-of-the-mill Irish-expatriate-Southern-lesbian-punk-rock-guitarist-horror-writer-vertebrate-paleontologist. I haven’t read all of her books; just Silk, Murder of Angels (sequel to Silk), Threshold, and Low Red Moon (sequel to Threshold). The novels are Lovecraftian, and although they have the requisite amount of splattered gore they are really more gloomy than horrifying, with a cast of depressing characters that are a little difficult to relate to. Nevertheless, I find it difficult to resist books where Carboniferous temnospondyl amphibians are an important plot element. I’ll have to track down Kiernan’s papers on Cretaceous mosasaurs sometime and see if there’s any discernable relationship to her horror novels. Kiernan has attracted some attention from Hollywood; she collaborated with Neil Gaiman to do the novelization of the recent Beowulf movie. ( )

I loved down-spiraling into this storyline. There was never a dull moment, and it was packed to the brim with awesome music references that I insisted upon playing in the background as a soundtrack.
I was immediately thrown headfirst into 90's, when I was a mere juvenile delinquent- a Guinea pig of antidepressants and adhd meds, surrounded by misfits. The scent of body odor and stale smoke and dirt surrounded me as I continued on along this “journey”. This is more than a story for me, it was a journey of memorable derelicts moving along in a blended blur of either reality or drug induced distorted fantasy horror.
I’ve known people like Niki, Keith and Spyder in the 90s, rarely do their futures turn out well.
This was a fascinating plunge into the depths of hell comingled with mental disorders and drug addiction coupled with just a slight paranormal touch.
I enjoyed so much I will re-approach it again someday!
( )

Not for the faint of heart. ( )