The Fisherman, by John Langan. A review.
This is a strange tale of loss, realms beyond our own, and the price some people are willing to pay to see their loved ones again. Abraham, Abe, tells his story reluctantly, wandering somewhat in his retelling at first. Abe starts by saying how fishing saved his life and how he met and lost his wife. He tells of their life together and how grief took over his life once she passed. And this is what this tale is primarily about, loss and love and how some people never move past it. And, in this case, one man is willing to go to inhuman lengths to bring back those they have lost. Abe had found himself adrift until one day awoke with an urge to go fishing, something he had not experienced before. This urge, this strange desire, leads to a degree of normality coming back into his life. He hasn't moved past his grief, but he begins to care for himself again, and the routine helps ground him. His tale continues as he meets Dan at work, and they have little in common at first, and then something terrible happens. Dan's family are killed in a horrific traffic collision, Dan is thrown from the vehicle, but his wife and two children are taken from him. He is in shock from the loss, adrift in everyday life, and then one day, Abe asks him to join him in fishing. Dan isn't sure if he is being serious, but Abe convinces him that he is, and the two begin to go fishing together. And for a while, it helps Dan, and they don't talk much, but the fishing season allows them to think about things other than their losses. Heading into the second year of his family's passing, Dan falls apart, making it through the holidays and turning up on Abe's door one cold February day. Dan tells him of spending time by the junction where he lost his family before he falls asleep in Abe's house. That night Abe has a dream about fishing, and Marie is in his dreams. She tells him of the Fisherman and that what is lost is lost, and he wakes up shaken.
This is the first hint that something is out of the normal in this tale. That grows as Dan convinces Abe to go fishing in an area called Dutchman's Creek, but something about how he suggests the place doesn't sit well with Abe. The two men go to a diner called Herman's and learn of the Der Fischer. This is a tale within a tale of events that occurred within this area over a hundred years ago. This tale was told to Herman by another, and that tale was told to Reverend Maple by an old woman named Lottie Schmidt. We learn of the area where the reservoir resides and the people that had lived there before. Long before Lottie's family had arrived in America, another had lived there, Cornelius Dort. Cornelius had married a younger woman Beatrice, and she had nearly died in a tragic accident, losing their child as well. Beatrice survived but fell into a wasting sickness, and Cornelius sought out every doctor he could to help her. It is to no avail until a stranger comes looking for Cornelius, and this man just appears one day and goes to the house where Cornelius stays with his sick wife. And the villagers think that Beatrice might recover, but unfortunately, she is gone within two days of his arrival. But the Guest doesn't leave and stays with Dort after Beatrice's death. The two men remain there for decades, and though the Guest is barely seen, Cornelius does not vanish from view.
Lottie and her family arrive there as the government decides to build the reservoir in the Esopus Valley. This is years before the first world war and decades since the Guest arrived at Dort's estate. Her father, Rainer, and her mother, Clara, bring their family over from Europe, and he takes work as a stonemason. Rainer had been a professor in Heidelberg, but in this country, he takes what work he can. After arriving in New York, Rainer worked in a bakery before hearing of this opportunity. He takes his family to the valley to begin working. It's 1907, and Cornelius finally passes on, the Guest remaining in his house after everything is passed to him. For the first time in twenty years, he is seen about the area, measuring points in a nearby stream, though that seems strange given that this whole area will be flooded once the reservoir is completed. At first, things are well until a woman named Helen is tragically trampled. Helen is their neighbour, and her husband, George, falls to pieces after her death. After a week, the man goes missing, leaving his children scared by his vanishing. He returns that night, to everyone's surprise, and insists that his children return home with him. Something in his smile makes Rainer deeply uncomfortable. This is the smile of a man that knows he has done something wrong. Worse, he says that there has been a miracle. Though he doesn't want to give up the children, Rainer has no choice. The children's screams wake a dozing Rainer, and he rushes to the house. To his horror, he finds Helen sitting there. This woman has been in the dirt for a week and should not be there. She doesn't move but looks at Rainer with eyes now golden, her body broken. Seeing this sight, Rainer is shaken to his core. He manages to pull himself together and gets the children out of there. Thus begins a series of horrible events, this thing that looks like Helen seeking to get the children back however it can. This leads to Rainer and others in their community dealing with Helen directly, seeking out the one that has summoned her. She calls him the Der Fischer, and it seems he is here to hook something beyond their comprehension. Strangely, it turns out that Rainer has knowledge of these things, that he has delved into this world beyond our own and the things that exist there. Events continue to unfold as Rainer and a few others go to Dort's house to face the Guest to stop what he is attempting to achieve.
After passing into another world, they face a terrible confrontation, but they stop the Fisherman. Freeing what is attempting to bind, something that is so terrible that they struggle to register what it is. This marks each of them, Rainer possibly the worst of them all. Somehow most survive the encounter. Rainer knows that they haven't stopped the Fisherman, but they have pushed his plans back decades, if not more. In time the reservoir is complete, and the family all move from the area, though Rainer and Jacob have one more encounter years later. Again, the veil between worlds thins, forcing Rainer to come back to put a bandage on it in the hopes of stopping the spread. He believes that they achieved this, but there are stories about that place that have reached people in the years since.
Dan and Abe hear this story, Dan looking uncomfortable throughout the telling, but both men claim not to believe it. That is until they reach Dutchman's Creek and have their encounters with those that are lost to them and the Fisherman. Abe barely manages to escape after Dan turns on him to give Abe's strength to the Fisherman so he can have his family back. Dan is turned on by his 'family', and Abe flees, injuring himself and falling into the Creek. He is found by some hikers and recovers in the hospital. Years have passed, with Abe having retired, and he finds himself returning to fishing. It has taken him a long time to reach this comfort again, and the introduction of a new family moving in next door helped him with that. Abe gets one last encounter following a flood, with Dan appearing at his door. Dan has been dead for years, and this thing is here for some form of vengeance. Thankfully, Abe fights it off but gets one horrible vision before the water recedes. Hundreds of shapes in the water watching him, and in those bodies, he sees Marie with two children, children that he comments have his mother's nose.
This is a haunting tale, made more so by the horror of the things within it. We learn of this Fisherman, what he wants to achieve, and how he believes he can achieve it. As I said, the core of this tale is loss. People will do crazy things to get back those they have lost. They will put others in danger to get them back, consumed by a sort of madness. And Abe is nearly lost to it, and his grief allows something to happen that takes advantage of that, and he has to live with it for the rest of his life. Worse, he is left with the knowledge of what exists beyond this world, that the Fisherman is still there, trying to catch the Leviathan.
I enjoyed this book. It got its hooks into me and never let go, pun intended. It is a sad book in many ways, with the otherworldly presence adding a supernatural element. I have always enjoyed Cosmic horror, and this book does those elements well. This book is an easy 8 out of 10. I recommend this book to fans of Horror and Cosmic Horror.
