This is definitely one of Gaiman's most disturbing/dark texts, which for me makes reading it feel like finding a missing puzzle piece I didn't know I was looking for, fitting around his other novels like a glove. It recreates the sensation of a childhood nightmare better than other books I've seen try, and some of its scenes were even hard to stomach. Still, this sits firmly within Gaiman's well known fantasy territory, and by now that darkness is par for the course. The writing, as always, is great and mesmerizing, both when the narrator reflects upon childhood memories that feel all too real and when the focus switches to entities made of shadow and oceans that fit in buckets.

My only complaint about it would be its length; I didn't mind having to read it in short bursts so that it would last me longer, but still, the characters and world-building had more potential than the book's 180 pages allowed for. Still, it's good to see Gaiman return to adult fiction; and even though I know quantity doesn't trump quality, I hope his next book is closer to American Gods' page count than this.