(Review) The Trouble With Being God (10th Anniversary Edition) by William F. Aicher

I went into The Trouble With Being God by William F. Aicher completely blind, so I really had no idea what it was about. The book's opening goes straight for the neck, and gives us a glimpse into what kind of story we have dived in.

Steven Carvelle, a self-diagnosed alcoholic and journalist, is reporting on a series of horrifying murders--along with his detective friend, Miles--that are biblically symbolic, and end up being the work of a serial killer. Steven, battling alcoholism and having reoccurring nightmares of murder, starts to believe that maybe his dreams and these murders are somehow connected.

This is my first time reading a book by William F. Aicher, and I assure you that I will be reading more of his work. The author builds suspense, gives characters natural life, and has a very poetic, yet every-day-life way with words.

I can easily see this book becoming a feature film. Aicher gives vivid detail--even with the gruesome murders that are depicted in very creepy and unique ways.

The two things I didn't like? Well, Steven Carvelle is just an a-hole. And he gets worse and worse as the story goes on, and he ends up annoying me. Steven's IDGAF attitude becomes a pest, his hate for religion becomes a little too obsessive (but it works with him believing he may be connected to the symbolic murders), and I wish his on and off again girlfriend, Karen, was actually the main character. Kinda.

The second thing I didn't like, although Aicher explains it in the Afterword, is the ending. I expected and wanted a much more climatic ending; it ended too abruptly, and felt like it came up too short.

I highly recommend The Trouble With Being God. It is not for the squeamish!

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