Utterly brutal, tragic, and exquisitely well-written. Full review to come, maybe, when I let this book settle in my mind and pick my jaw up off the floor.

Edit: Okay. So about ten years ago now, I went through a grit lit phase, which mostly involved me reading a lot of William Gay and also Knockemstiff, Donald Ray Pollock's short story collection. I remember not loving it, grudgingly acknowledging that it was well-written but overall feeling kind of beaten down by the unrelenting cruelty of the stories.

Fast forward to this year, when I became obsessed with Preacher's Daughter by Ethel Cain. In the process of looking for books that feel similar to that album, I discovered that Hayden really likes The Devil All the Time, so I decided to revisit Donald Ray Pollock and see if perhaps my sensibilities have changed a bit.

And holy smokes, I'm glad that I did, because this book is such an achievement. The prose just flows into your mind like water. The characters are so vivid. This is a master class on how to write shocking sentences, how to depict tragedy without tipping over into sentimentality, and how to write explicit violence without your descriptions becoming gratuitous.

Mostly driven by setting and character, the book weaves together the stories of various people in two different towns in Ohio and West Virginia, and much of the pleasure of reading it is seeing how these characters' lives brush up against each other and eventually converge, almost always in horrible ways. You have a kid who watched his family torn apart by death and religious desperation, a couple of road-tripping serial killers, a crooked sheriff, and a former charismatic preaching duo on the lam for murder and reduced to a circus sideshow act. I described it to someone as The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter for psychopaths, and I was being facetious, but I don't think it's the worst way to elevator pitch it.

There's an ensemble cast, but Arvin is the character you actually dare to hope for, the one that you like, and the one whose plot most clearly demonstrates the through line of being stuck in a cycle of violence. I could spend a lot of time outlining parallels and demonstrating how satisfying it is to observe them, but I don't want to. I'd rather you read the book and see for yourself. I don't want to take anything away from your experience.

Highly recommended for fans of tragedy laced with absurdity, staring into the abyss, grit lit, and books that exemplify "the Fates already fucked me sideways."