Review by Booklist Review
Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead, 2022) presents a southern gothic with a twist, swapping out an isolated mansion for an unassuming tract home in a North Carolina subdivision. When her latest dig gets canceled, Sam, a 32-year-old archaeoentomologist--she studies bugs at archaeological sites--goes to stay with her mom in the home previously occupied by her abusive grandmother. When Sam arrives, her mom is acting as if she is under surveillance, and there are vultures surrounding the house. Immediately unsettled, readers will quickly fall into Sam's conversational narration as she injects nerdy humor, worries about her mom, and shares facts about bugs, her grandmother's rose bushes, and more. As each day passes, things get stranger and more dangerous, and it becomes undeniably clear that something supernatural is at work--and then the wild and witchy, action-packed final act is unleashed. For fans of stories that take the haunted-house trope and overlay occult themes with generational trauma, like The Good House, by Tananarive Due (2003) and How To Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix (2023).
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hugo and Nebula Award winner Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead) goes Southern gothic (Waffle House visits included) in this hilarious and gruesome contemporary horror novel. After archaeoentomologist Sam Montgomery's dig gets put on hold, she drives to her deceased grandmother's house in rural North Carolina to spend some time with her mom. The vulture waiting for her on the mailbox doesn't seem like a good omen, nor does the strange absence of insect life; her mother's anxious, odd behavior; or Sam's new, mysterious bouts of sleep paralysis. Sam digs into her family history in the hopes of discovering medical information and scientific explanations for the weirdness--but instead she finds deeply buried horrors that are out to destroy Sam; her mother; her grandmother's rival, wildlife rehabilitator Gail; and even the local handyman, Phil. Sam makes a charmingly kooky narrator, and Kingfisher remains the best in the business at using horror and fantasy to explore abusive relationships and how to escape them. Horror fans who like a little whimsy on the way to a chilling climax won't want to miss this. (Mar.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Sam Montgomery is an archaeoentomologist--she studies insects on archaeological digs--but her latest project is on hold indefinitely after human remains are found. Needing a place to stay in the interim, she returns home to North Carolina to stay with her mother, who is living in her childhood home. Sam is surprised by the drastic change in her mother's behavior, along with the house's strange new decor. As literal vultures stand sentry over the house, Sam tries to rationalize the lack of insects in the garden and the bizarre events happening at the house, while worrying that her mother is suffering from dementia. Digging into their family history to find some answers, Sam uncovers secrets far more surprising and horrific than she could have imagined, and that past will not stay buried. Narrator Mary Robinette Kowal wonderfully conveys the wryly funny prose and the creeping horror of the story. Giving each character a distinct voice, Kowal deftly and consistently moves between them and superbly renders Sam's voice. VERDICT Both fantastic storytellers, Kowal (The Spare Man) and Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead) are a perfect pairing for this excellent Southern gothic, an essential purchase.--Melissa DeWild
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
