really good, really thrilling, really fun book. haven't been truly thrilled and creeped out by a horror story in a while and this hit the spot. the start was a bit slow, almost boring, but once you get into it, whew, i couldn't put this book down. jackson had an intense way of writing scenes and interactions and sequences - very bizarre but not difficult to follow; it's jarring in the way that it reflects the setting of the book. and following the character's thought processes as well was fascinating and gripping.

i also thought it was interesting that this book was set in the 60s - it was one of those transitional eras, i think - times were changing, the way characters were interacting with each other was a bit unusual to me; like, okay it was formal-ish, the way they talked was still "old"-ish but not like anything you'd read from the 20s and for me not TOOOO difficult to understand. all this to say that the writing style reflected the era the book was written, and i appreciated that.

this could maybe be one of the OGs of psych horrors, and im not like, IN LOVE with it, but i highly recommend it.