Wow. I wasn't sure I'd be into this book, but I gave it a chance because I've had good luck with books published by Algonquin. Holy guacamole, this was a good one. A little over-the-top and quite gruesome, but so, so good. Read it in one sitting (who needs sleep?). 
 I can say hardly anything about this novel without spoiling so many things, but I think it's safe to give one quote that I particularly liked: 
 "It is easy being nice when being nice is easy, but niceness is the first thing to go when an unexamined life becomes even slightly difficult." (p 166) 
 And I'll also mention that the lights flickered twice while I was reading (no idea why; it's not even stormy), and I was very grateful that the power didn't go out.