A lifetime full of lost memories and vague recollections turns out to be crowded with vast dreadful horrors that cannot even be contemplated without losses of sanity, but what's it got to do with him and his wife? Brilliant first novel by master of the short story Barron. Most of the element will be familiar to readers of his terrific collections, but there's a dark humour running through this that suggests to me that there's only so many times you can contemplate Old Leech consuming the misshapen survivors of enslaved humanity in the far future before a touch of high camp enters in through the hopelessness and nihilism, at least if you have a touch of self awareness.