The Fisherman

De: John Langan

Narrado por: Danny Campbell

In upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman's Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other's company and a shared passion for fishing, hear rumors of the Creek, and what might be found there, the remedy to both their losses, they dismiss it as just another fish story.

Soon, though, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Reservoir. It's a tale of dark pacts, of long-buried secrets, and of a mysterious figure known as Der Fischer: the Fisherman. It will bring Abe and Dan face to face with all that they have lost, and with the price they must pay to regain it.

©2016 John Langan (P)2017 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Shifting between past and present, Langan builds terrifying scenes...the mythology is genuinely creepy." ( Publishers Weekly)

The Horror of Loss

I wanted to love The Fisherman. It's been described as a literate "cosmic" (ie: Lovecraftian) horror novel and that sounded right up my alley. It gets off to a very strong start as we meet Abe and Dan, two men dealing with terrible loss who find solace together in fishing. Langan takes the time to develop these characters (particularly Abe) into people we care about. Unfortunately, just as that relationship is becoming interesting, the novel takes a left turn into a very long story within a story. It's important to the plot but the characters in this section of the book aren't as interesting or well-developed as Dan and Abe. Structurally, the story sets up what follows later but it consumes half of the novel, leaving it's main characters far behind and by the time the tale finally returns to them, it's too easy to see what's coming, making the remainder of the book somewhat anticlimactic.

There are some wonderful descriptive passages and there's no shortage of imagination. The story deals effectively with both powerful mythological concepts and human bereavement. It's a good book, certainly a cut above many of the less ambitious horror novels I've read but in the end, I think it's sabotaged a bit by it's own structure.

I'd give it 3.5 stars if that was an option.

Danny Campbell's narration is excellent.

Great slow burn horror book

Slow burn horror with a lovecraftian twist. Fantastic narration tops of an existential take of terror. Recommended for horror fans

creepy

I liked this story. The narrator's story was not interesting to me but WOW loved the historical portion. This was the chill I was looking for.

Creepy

Best Lovecraftian story I've read that isn't Lovecraft! one of my new favorites! Lots of people seem to complain about the story within a story format but I think it worked great and both stories kept me very interested

Good story, but the middle sags a bit.

It begins with a story of two widowed fisherman. On a rainy day they go into a cafe where they mention that they are determined to go to a certain area to fish.

One of the fisherman seems to know more about this place than the other. It appears that he's lied about how he found out about it. I stopped in the middle of this story and intend to finish it, however, I'll just say that like many horror authors I've read lately, they get bound up in a very lengthy demonstration of the monster's powers and bad behaviors. It just goes on too long sometimes until you don't care if it gets wrapped up or not. That's where I find myself on this book. I was hooked immediately, and was truly enjoying the story until I realized that it just kept going on and on and there was no end in sight about the monster's origins. there should be a more compact way to present this chilling situation which is quite imaginative and impressive but too long.

okay, I'm going to try to get back into that story and finish it out. It went on for hours when all most audience listeners are readers want is to find out what we needed to know as the basis of the things that are going to happen to the protagonist.