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A review by leifq
Hold the Dark by William Giraldi
5.0
I read Busy Monsters last year and thought that it would be impossible to be surprised by quality in his next book I thought so much of it.
I was wrong.
Giraldi is a massive talent. Hold the Dark is best described as propulsive. Opening to the first page and beginning is as if pulling the rip-string of a child’s toy top, beginning its spinning dance across your tabletop. Putting the book down at any time feels uncomfortable, unnatural - as if the book is spinning along without you. Giraldi is my nomination for the best young author working. To my eye, only Colson Whitehead is in the discussion but has no serious claim. Hold the Dark is perfectly constructed with all that seems nihilistic and without point easily understood by the end. No thread is left dangling and though it is a despairing, violent ride, it feels necessary somehow - cousin to “Blood Meridian” in its atmosphere and immediacy if not quite stature. Just an incredible book.
I was wrong.
Giraldi is a massive talent. Hold the Dark is best described as propulsive. Opening to the first page and beginning is as if pulling the rip-string of a child’s toy top, beginning its spinning dance across your tabletop. Putting the book down at any time feels uncomfortable, unnatural - as if the book is spinning along without you. Giraldi is my nomination for the best young author working. To my eye, only Colson Whitehead is in the discussion but has no serious claim. Hold the Dark is perfectly constructed with all that seems nihilistic and without point easily understood by the end. No thread is left dangling and though it is a despairing, violent ride, it feels necessary somehow - cousin to “Blood Meridian” in its atmosphere and immediacy if not quite stature. Just an incredible book.