The twisted ones by T. Kingfisher
Titan Publishing, 2020. ISBN: 9781789093285.
(Age: Adult - Senior secondary) Recommended. Fans of the horror
genre will be sure to enjoy this classic tale by T. Kingfisher
(pseudonym for Hugo Award winner, Ursula Vernon) which has been
recognised with following: Locus Award Nominee for Best Horror Novel
2020, Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Horror 2019 and Dragon
Award for Best Horror Novel 2020. It tells the story of Melissa,
known as Mouse, a young woman who with her dog, arrives at her
deceased grandmother's house in rural North Carolina, to clean up.
What she finds is a mess - her grandmother was a hoarder and skip
after skip is filled with rubbish. But what is most disturbing is
the Green Book written by her step-grandfather Cotgrave, describing
terrifying twisted ones and stone figures. She initially believes
that this is nonsense but after an encounter in the woods and some
frightening figures in her yard, she begins to believe that
something is after her.
Kingfisher maintains a narrative that keeps the reader gripped to
the page until the startling conclusion. Written in the words of
Mouse, the young woman, the suspense builds up as terrifying episode
after episode are detailed; there are faces in the windows, her
beloved dog goes missing and a strange overgrown path leads to a
place where there are twisted statues and the holler people seem to
cast a strange atmosphere over the area. Segments from her
step-grandfather's journal are interspersed in the narration and add
another dimension. In the author's note at the end, Kingfisher
reveals that "the Green Book is the diary from Arthur Machen's found
manuscript story, The white people." Published in 1904,
readers may want to follow up by reading it at the Gutenberg
site.
Some light touches are added as Mouse becomes friends with Foxy, who
lives across the way, but even Foxy can be frightening as well. And
Bongo the dog is a bonus, silly and loving.
I enjoyed the thrills and scares of The twisted ones and
think that it would be an ideal choice for older readers leading up
to Halloween.
Pat Pledger