Laird Barron’s “Occultation”

I have a thing for the outer dark.

Not in the sexy way, but instead a darker, filthier fascination of what oblivion means to all I know as me. Terrified of either truth. That kind of thing.

“Occultation” by Laird Barron definitely satisfies this particular hunger and manages to do so in one of my favorite formats: the short story. The book is a collection of nine short stories all dealing with those things that are beyond ken for many. Madness waits for the rest. If Eve ate an apple and gained the understanding of her vulnerability, then “Occultation” is eating the whole damned tree and losing oneself in the process.

I won’t pick a favorite story. The entire book is full of things I love. They range from a couple slowly going mad while the world outside devolves to eternal dark to a man who hears strange sounds in his vent, the voices slowly getting closer as he loses his mind. Most of the stories deal with relationships in some shape or form, showing both the comfort and claustrophobia such ties bring when the stars are right (when, really, they’re all wrong).

If you are into the kind of creeping madness that stays out of sight but definitely on the mind, while also breaking down the ties that bind us to reality in a sort of folie a duex, “Occultation” is a fantastic read.

Would I Read it Again?: Happily. I think this is one of those books where you pick up more and more details once you already know the end of the story.

Rating: 4.5. The .5 is about how dense the language can be, especially concerning dialogue. Reading through things again to catch clues is awesome, but needing to read it again to understand what is going on is a complete PITA.