Book Review: The Wind Began to Howl by Laird Barron
Title: The Wind Began to Howl
Author: Laird Barron
Release date: May 16th, 2023
I’ve had this book on my TBR for far too long and with how wonderfully kind and supportive Laird’s always been, it’s a bit shameful I didn’t get to it sooner.
In my defense, my Kindle has like 5000 books on it and my TBR continues to grow taller and taller (well, digitally, but you know what I mean!) with no end in sight.
Not too long ago, I read (and loved) Barron’s ‘The Croning,’ but I’m more of a tried-and-true horror reader, and that fell within that category nicely. I’m not a huge fan of crime fiction, of noir type stuff and having never read any of Barron’s Isaiah Coleridge books, I wasn’t 100% sure how this one would hit, considering it’s listed as Coleridge 3.5.
But still, the synopsis sounded intriguing, and the cover art was phenomenal. Murano at Bad Hand Books keeps putting out fantastic work, and when you put Murano and Barron together, then surely it’s going to be a home run, yeah?
What I liked: The story follows our M/C, Isaiah Coleridge, former mob enforcer, who has now become a P.I., who gets hired to do what should be a simple job. A movie producer needs him to track down two ambient/black metal musicians and get them to sign the contract necessary so a snippet of their song can appear in a movie. The song is absolutely necessary for the movie and with that in mind, Coleridge sets off.
As I mentioned, normally, this wouldn’t be my bread-and-butter, but the writing really reminded me of Adam Nevill’s stunning ‘Lost Girl’ and Barron had me captivated in no time. It also helped that this focused on how these two brothers who made up the band, reminded me a lot of the crazy dudes who populated the PNW when I lived up in that area. Wolves in the Throne Room type folks, who live off the grid, make music that they believe will open portals, connect with Gods and help them see far into the future. The type of music that will literally let them walk through walls. (I should note, I met Wolves in the Throne Room once, and they were all really friendly, I’m just using them as an example of bands from that area who live in seclusion.)
As the story progresses, we find Coleridge partnering up with someone connected with the brothers and a few leads come through. Barron keeps the truth concealed really well and even a few times, when you are certain things are unravelling he laughs at the reader and takes it elsewhere.
The big reveal ending was fantastic and definitely left some questions unanswered, all for the betterment of the reader.
What I didn’t like: Now, obviously, this won’t be an issue with long time Barron/Coleridge readers, but for a new reader diving in here, I think it would absolutely help if I’d read the other books first, just so I was more familiar with the secondary characters that play a role in Coleridge’s life. Saying that, I was never lost nor confused and there didn’t appear to be any significant ‘inside’ info that I was missing out on.
Why you should buy this: I assume all Coleridge/Barron fans already have this on their shelves, but for those who don’t or for those looking for a great cosmic-horror/crime-fiction mash up, this one fits that bill perfectly. The inclusion of the band, their back story and the truth of what was going on will make every reader happy,. Count me as one who was very delighted with the reveal. And while I’m still on the fence over whether I want to make the plunge into the Coleridge series, this definitely pushes me closer to wanting to, than not.
5/5
