Actual rating: 1.5 stars
This book... Is not well written. There are a few typos, but mostly it doesn't flow. There are far, far too many phone conversations and recaps of what just occurred, the setting description lacks the oomph necessary for atmospheric horror, and the humor sprinkled throughout should definitely have been spread and amped more. It often sounded like a secondary thought, not a consistent part of the narrative voice - something that could have been encouraged with a good, hard story edit. (And it wasn't even my preference for humor - I didn't find it especially funny, but it was unique enough to be extended, imo.)
Also, I'm pretty sure they said what type of car the main character drove more than his name. Like, it took me over 150 pages, probably, to remember that his name is Eric, but I'll be damned if I don't remember for the rest of my life that he drives a PT Cruiser!!!! 😂
There were some really interesting concepts, despite the execution. I also really appreciate that some of the monsters were set apart from Jewish golemns and were just conventions on the name. (Though I WAS disappointed that they weren't really golemns.)
My enjoyment arc of this was pretty low, then it rose around the 60% mark, but it really threw me for the ending. I didn't really vibe it and it felt much more religious than I was expecting.
Throughout, the narration, despite its third person voice, was also extremely male-gaze-y.