Horror is not a genre that I gravitate toward naturally. The idea of amusing myself with terror? That just hasn’t been my jam. But Victor LaValle has changed all that, largely because his books “tick off” a couple of qualities that are in my sweet spot.

His characters have big personalities, and some of them are very funny. Plus, the language LaValle uses is juicy and finely detailed in a way that makes everything seem very real, in my imagination. In my opinion, LaValle is first and foremost a literary author, rather than a horror writer. And because of that, the monsters he unleashes are more captivating than frightening.