X's for Eyes Audiobook By Laird Barron cover art

X's for Eyes

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X's for Eyes

By: Laird Barron
Narrated by: David Stifel
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Brothers Macbeth and Drederick Tooms should have it made as fair-haired scions of an impossibly rich and powerful family of industrialists. Alas, life is complicated in mid-1950s USA when you're child heirs to the throne of Sword Enterprises, a corporation that has enshrined Machiavelli's The Prince as its operating manual and whose patriarch believes, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds", would be a swell company logo. Consider also those long, cruel winters at the Mountain Leopard Boarding School for Assassins in the Himalayas, or that Dad may be a supervillain, while an uncle occasionally slaughters his nephews and nieces for sport; and the space flight research division of Sword Enterprises "accidentally" sent a probe through a wormhole into outer darkness and contacted an alien god. Now a bloodthirsty cult and an equally vicious rival firm suspect the Tooms boys know something and will spare no expense, nor innocent life, to get their claws on them. Between the machinations of the disciples of black gods and good old corporate skullduggery, it's winding up to be a hell of a summer vacation for the lads.

©2015 Journalstone Publishing (P)2016 Journalstone Publishing Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction
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Along with Laird’s usual heavy cosmic horror tones, there is also a bit of a lighter side in this one as well. A dark and wee more playful Lovecraftian tale from one of the masters of the genre. Fun isn’t typically a word I relate to Laird Barron, but dude pulls it off with this one. Very nicely done.

Btw, there is plenty of signature dark and crazy nastiness in this one as well, so don’t get me wrong. This ain’t no comedy.

Signature dark crazy nastiness plus fun

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He has created a great Lovecraftian Alternate Reality. The only problem is, that I want more.

That was a blast!! Laird does it right.

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A (relatively) light offering from the horror great; a Tom Swift style twist on cosmic horror. Still dark but with a happier ending than usual for the genre in general and him in particular. The audible reading is adequate if a little dry.

Laird Barron at his funnest (emphasis on his)

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A very Barronian narrative that involves morally & ethically objectionable covert scientific research, corrupt government (aka government) agencies attempting to kill our protagonist(s), Elder Gods from other dimensions of time & space, classic noir developments, and no less than a baker’s dozen double-crosses as well as a body count that would make a Quentin Tarantino blush. Laird Barron goes full Jeremy Robert Johnson in this novelette & I am SO HERE FOR IT!

Laird Barron + Jeremy Robert Johnson + LSD

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I haven't read anything from this author before so maybe that was a disadvantage to me in that I didn't know quite what to expect. I spent the beginning of this very short novel pretty confused. By the end, it had started coming together a bit. I wish I remembered my greek mythology I bit better as there were references to the gods and the titans and that might have gotten me to a deeper understanding. I feel that I might have enjoyed this more if the book was a bit longer and there was more time for some exposition. To me it felt really choppy in the beginning which I understand as a writing device, but it made it more difficult for me as a reader to get into the story. This one just wasn't for me.

Hmm...

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