This is a horror novel like no other.

It feels strange to rate and review a book as personal as this one. The author poured so much of his own self and history into the prose. Woven between the chapters, the author inserts commentary on his own experience that lead to writing the book, completely breaking the fourth wall. The author made this cold hearted reviewer feel things. I ached for the pain and uncertainty he experienced living as a openly gay man in prejudice, uncaring world.

I have read the author's previous novel, The Bone Mother, which is a very different kind of story. The two books are so different that I cannot predict if the same readers will necessarily like both. Each is well written, providing an out-of-the-box horror, but they approach the genre from such a different perspective. All that being said, readers will just have to try out both books for themselves.

This is certainly not your traditional horror novel. In fact, some readers may try to put other genre labels on a book like this calling it more memoir or literary fiction. The horror of the novel draw from real life horrors rather than fictional monsters and ghosts. I didn't find this novel scary in the usual sense, but it was certainly horrifying in its own way.

While I loved this story a lot, I will also acknowledge that own voices readers will undoubtedly get so much more from this text. I am a bisexual woman, not a gay man, and my experience in Toronto is limited to the airport terminal. I have no doubt that this book would be very powerful to readers that more closer share the author's life,

Regardless of your backstory, I think these kinds of stories are so important to read. I would highly recommend this one to readers, including those that normally avoid the horror genre. At its core, this is a moving and poignant story of love and loss, which are universal themes that cross all boundaries.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.