The Book of Accidents

Thanks to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for a complimentary digital ARC of this title. In addition to the ARC, I also purchased an audiobook version of this title. This review reflects my impressions of both the text and audiobook. The Book of Accidents is an epic novel combining gothic, supernatural, and cosmic horror with profoundly human themes. Nate (a fish and game officer), Maddie (an artist), and their highly empathetic son Oliver move into a old house, Nate's childhood home, and signs appear that they may be being haunted by Nate's late abusive father. However, this book quickly transforms itself and begins to unspool itself in anything but a standard haunted house story. Chuck Wendig has written a highly complex plot spanning and combining many different ideas together all around the themes of pain, empathy, generational trauma, suffering, and healing. The early chapters are short (and have amazing titles) and the pacing is a rapid and driven race forward as things get weirder and weirder. Then the pacing slows as more of the complexity and mystery of the book begins to be revealed. I became invested in the characters early on and never stopped caring about them. I was hooked by the premise and commend Wendig on writing something so original and interesting. My only critiques are that I think the book could have been a bit shorter, as the second half seemed to meander a bit, and I wanted to know more about some of the supernatural aspects of the book (especially Maddie and her art). Despite these critiques I loved this book. I really enjoyed the portions (majority) I listened to (read by Xe Sands and George Newbern), and felt the narrators did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. I've seen other reviews and advertising comparing The Book of Accidents to the work of Stephen King. While The Book of Accidents is definitely written in Chuck Wendig's wonderful and distinctive voice, what this work has in common with King is the ability to use the fantastic, the frightening, and even the weird to point the reader toward reflection upon and empathy toward their own human condition. In that sense The Book of Accidents is truly a triumph. Like Wendig's prior book, Wanderers, I expect The Book of Accidents will be a book read, enjoyed, and discussed for many, many, years to come. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️