Publisher's Summary:
When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.
When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?
Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.
Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.
From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher.
My Thoughts:
It was funny and creepy. I enjoyed the slow burn of something not quite right in the house, and with her dead grandmother, and the forest out back...Her dog Bongo was a hoot too. Kingfisher helps us make sense of why Mouse doesn't leave immediately and makes it believable...granted a few of the things that happened towards the end were a little out there for believability, especially when it comes to her neighbors helping out! But hey you can't fight Evil without neighbors and a dog!
The mystery of her step-grandfather and the white people was really interesting. Kingfisher explains she took it from a really old story and went from there. I thought the world-building was well-done and those poppets were creepy as...well, they were pretty damn creepy!
I like folk horror, especially in movies cuz you just never know which route it's going to take, but I haven't read any folk horror in books so I'm not sure what to compare it to, but I really enjoyed this one and look forward to more horror from T. Kingfisher!
Read as part of my I Read Horror Year-Round Reading Challenge (folk horror prompt)
This sounds like my sort of book!
ReplyDeleteOh sweet! I think you'll enjoy it then!
DeleteI'm a North Carolina girl so you've caught my eye for sure. I'll have to look for it!
ReplyDeleteNice! If you love a fun folk horror, this will be up your alley!
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