The Book of Accidents

It is very difficult to define how I feel about this book. At first, I saw the things that I typically like about Chuck Wendig books - good pacing, humor, irreverence, bloody violence. But after a while it started to feel like a lot. The extremely self-aware dialogue felt like a lot, the many different POVs felt like a lot, and honestly, the fact that instead of ignoring that “funny feeling”, as Bo Burnham put it, that we're all feeling these days for the sake of escaping into a fantasy/horror novel, Wendig just leaned right into it, with not only characters bringing it up pretty regularly, but the whole story kind of hinges on it. Because Chuck Wendig is an asshole.

It starts simple enough, the way most horror stories begin. Nate Graves, his wife, Maddie, and son, Oliver, decide to move into Nate's childhood home after Nate's father dies and leaves the home to him in a roundabout way that's likely so he can screw Nate over one last time, as if a childhood of abuse wasn't enough. They decide to take the house for Oliver, who's extremely high empathy is making it difficult for him to even exist, and some woods and a fresh start seem like a good idea. It's not. Because as it turns out something has been going from world to world to get to Oliver, with the intention of ending everything once and for all.

Yes, that's right, this is a multi-verse story. We've got a lot of those lately, don't we? Must have something to do with that funny feeling again. Like Stories of Old on YouTube made an excellent video essay speculating why, which I highly recommend, though fair warning - it will likely make you cry and/or trigger an existential crisis. The Book of Accidents is very much in the vein of all these other multi-verse stories, except it calls out directly why we are so drawn to them right now - the impossibility of choice. The terror of id one thing had been different, we might be different. If we had been spared pain, if we had chosen someone else, if we had stood firm instead of running away. This book is about cycles of abuse, about how much you actually have to sacrifice to put more good in the world than bad, and finding your own power.

I think this book is fascinating with a lot of really cool ideas. I found that I didn't really love the experience of reading it though. It might have been because the dialogue was a little too on the nose. You know when an author is so good at making characters talk and act realistically, that it veers right into uncanny valley territory and your brain just refuses to accept it? That's kind of what this was like. The multiple POVs also felt tiresome, I really wanted to stick with one (if I could claim a preference, I think Maddie would have been good choice for a sole POV character). That said, the story was super cool. The horror aspects were awesome, the fantasy aspects were hella weird, and I love weird. I kind of just wish it were more of just one thing, or even a few things, rather than the explosion of things it is.

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig is a study of different types of horrors. If you haven't read many Wendig books, Chuck writes with various styles and themes. Each one of his novels approaches the theme, whether horror or science fiction, originally. So, if I were to read passages from five different books blindly, I could not pull out a specific Wendig type style. He is an expert at matching tone to the narrative.

Also, I assume that Chuck is a reader, a man who appreciates the written word. I think that because he enjoys books as much as he does, it comes through his storytelling.

For instance, one of his earlier stories in his bibliography is the first book of the Miriam Black series, Blackbirds. Blackbirds stars Miriam Black, an alcoholic anti-protagonist who is cursed with the vision of the death of every person she physically comes into contact with. Miriam is brash and crude. The story is dark and twisty with a slight mystery element, but mostly it is of Miriam trying to survive in a world that hates and reviles her. It reminded me a lot of a much darker Jessica Jones-type character. It had a specific tone of roughness and desperation.

Another and one of my favorite books that I have read in the last five years is Wanderers. It is an epic horror survival story, which often is compared to Stephen King's The Stand. Again, excellent writing skills. When I read it, I could not say that it was a Wendig book, unlike a Stephen King book where I could pick it out in 3 pages.

All this brings me to The Book of Accidents, which seems very much like an amalgamation of the ability to write in various styles siphoned and condensed down into a gothic horror novel that touches on many of the cornerstones of horror. The Book of Accidents effectively has elements of preternatural horror, body horror, psychological, some apocalyptic, Lovecraftian, and even psycho killer style scenes. Wendig distilled the virtues of each of the horror disciplines down into an incredibly atmospheric read that even now, thinking about it, I know that I did not catch every little nuance, and it deserves a second read through.

The story starts with Nate Graves back in his hometown, following the death of his abusive father. Nate, his wife Maddie, and son Oliver move into Nate's childhood home. A home full of memories, not many of them positive. Those previous traumatic memories haunt Nate as if they are ghosts. Oliver, Nate's son, is an empath. He instinctually feels the pain of those around him. The less pain and slower rural lifestyle that the family is hoping for is meant to help Oliver deal with his abilities. However, Wendig describes that even smaller, more rural towns are full of horrors, just like big cities.

As the story progresses, Nate slowly begins to succumb to his brutal past and the PTSD of his childhood. He sees things that are not there; he has bouts of anger and depression. Maddie also has difficulties adjusting to life in this small town. She blacks out while using a chainsaw on a wood sculpture, and her creations come to life. It is difficult to tell what is real and what could be a psychological break from stress at this point in the story. Additionally, Maddie, as a character, is the glue that holds the family together. As her ability to deal with the reality of the events before her diminishes, she has difficulty coping, which begins to fracture the family.

The Book of Accidents plays on the horrors of the mind and the horrors of the unknown. However, I think much more importantly; it is a story about family and the invisible ties that bind individuals to each other and their past events. Nate has a great fear of passing the violence of his childhood on to Oliver through his actions. And in turn, Oliver senses the turmoil inside his father.

Oliver has a difficult time adjusting to school life. He eventually makes friends with other like-minded kids but runs into conflict when another new friend, an older boy named Jake, causes problems in Oliver's relationships. But from the get-go, readers pick up that Jake is more than meets the eye.

Wendig takes all of these bits and pieces of horror and conflict and creates a cohesive narrative that culminates in many jaw-dropping moments. If I were to tell you more, it would spoil the surprises. It jumps from serial killers, dark and evil books, demons, ghosts, and even science fiction elements. Oddly enough, in any other hands, this book would be an incohesive mess. But it all works. The serial killer angle and him disappearing moments before death, the psychological pain of Oliver's classmates, what Maddie does to make sure that they all survive. It all works, and not for one moment does this book let up. It is like a symphony starting with many discordant and uncomfortable notes that come together so fully the force of it nails you to your chair.

The Book of Accidents is another fantastic horror novel to add to Wendig's already impressive repertoire. It is a book of shock and pain and the thin grey line between good and evil. It touches on family and relationships as much as the supernatural aspects. He grinds it all together in a blender and what comes out is a hard-hitting story. It is an excellent book that will appeal to both readers who are new to Wendig's catalog and those of us who have read many of his stories. Go check it out.