The Twisted Ones

August 1, 2019
A woman realizes she's not alone while cleaning out her late grandmother's remote North Carolina home. Freelance book editor Melissa, aka "Mouse," can't say no to her father when he asks her to clear out her grandmother's house. Unfortunately, the house, which has been locked up for two years, is a hoarder's paradise, but Mouse digs in with her beloved coonhound, Bongo, at her side. One day bleeds into another as she hauls junk to the nearby dump and makes friends with her kind and quirky neighbors, Foxy, Tomas, and Skip. When she finds a journal belonging to her stepgrandfather Frederick Cotgrave, things get creepy. The prose sounds like the ravings of a man unhappy in his marriage to a woman who wasn't a very nice person, but the mention of something called the Green Book is intriguing, and the line "I twisted myself about like the twisted ones" gives Mouse the chills. While walking Bongo in the woods, Mouse stumbles on a strange gathering of stones on top of a hill that shouldn't exist. After discovering a gruesome deer effigy hanging in the woods, Mouse confides in Foxy, who tells a few strange tales of her own. Something is lurking just outside Mouse's house, and that effigy isn't of this world, but just when she's ready to leave, Bongo disappears. And Mouse isn't going anywhere without Bongo. Kingfisher effortlessly entwines an atmospheric and spooky "deep dark woods" tale with ancient folklore and pulls off more than a few very effective scares. Mouse is a highly relatable and frequently funny narrator who is also refreshingly willing to believe her own eyes. The charming supporting cast is a bonus, especially the glamorous, 60-something Foxy, who goes above and beyond the call of duty to help Mouse when she needs it most. Read this one with the lights on.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 26, 2019
A witty young girl and horrific creatures tangle in this atmospheric folk horror novel from Kingfisher (a pen name for Ursula Vernon). When Melissa (aka Mouse) is asked by her father to clean out her grandmother’s house, she heads to North Carolina with her coonhound, Bongo. What she finds is a hoarder’s nest. After a few days digging through junk, she unearths a rambling journal belonging to her stepgrandfather, Frederick Cotgrave, which tries to retell a fairy tale. Everything in it sounds like the ravings of a man losing his mind until bizarre creatures show up outside Mouse’s window. Her neighbor, Foxy, calls these creatures the holler people. Mouse wants nothing more to do with the house, but before she can leave, Bongo disappears, and she refuses to go home without him. Kingfisher neatly combines modern elements into a combined folktale and horror story that is rich in atmosphere and characterization (“She hadn’t just hoarded; she’d made walls and ramparts out of her possessions like she was expecting a siege”). Mouse is a down-to-earth character with a quick wit that never wavers, even when her circumstances are disturbing. This occult thriller with heart boasts genuine scares. Agent: Helen Breitweiser, Cornerstone Literary.

September 15, 2019
Mouse goes to rural North Carolina to clean out her dead grandmother's house, finding an unsettling, hoarder mess. Amidst the garbage, she finds her step-grandfather's journal, which describes horrors in terrifying detail, and which Mouse and her dog also begin to experience. Told with a found book frame and an intense first person narration, this folk horror novel begins with the unease of Mouse telling readers how her life was forever tainted by the experience she is about to recount. The tale is as tightly twisted and menacing as the carvings she finds in the woods. Readers will stand back in awe as it all unravels, slowly at first, and then with great and terrifying speed. This is a modern retelling of Arthur Machen's seminal weird fiction tale, The White People, a story that greatly influenced H.P. Lovecraft, but readers won't need that context to enjoy The Twisted Ones. Kingfisher brings this brand of horror to a new generation, and the book will appeal to readers of Lovecraftian adaptations by Caitlin Keirnan, Matt Ruff, and Paul La Farge.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)