Review by Booklist Review
A chance meeting at an airport in Osaka sets off a domino effect in this unique horror tale. Jake lost his best friend after he crossed paths with a strange woman, and he learns that Mariko lost her twin brother in a similar, brutal manner. Once Jake uncovers more matching details between his story and Mariko's, he decides to try to discover a deeper connection. This takes him on a journey around the world to talk to the people that have interacted with this woman. She never has the same name or even appearance, and she leaves some with just an uncomfortable feeling, while she leads others to act strangely or as if possessed. She stands out to all that meet her as "different." Jake attempts to find her by tracing those who have been affected across the decades. Barker (Incarnations, 2015) unrolls the story using fractured perspectives, and the reader learns about the mysterious woman as Jake slowly unveils the truth. Fans of stories told through newspapers, interviews, and photos will enjoy this compelling tale.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Barker (The Incarnations) delivers a sweeping work of literary horror that spans the globe yet remains distinctly itchy beneath the skin. Strangers Jake and Mariko meet at an airport in Japan and, over the course of their brief conversation, uncover a disturbing connection between the recent deaths of their loved ones. The autopsies of both victims revealed that their organs were "the wrong way round" and both encountered a mysterious woman shortly before their deaths. The details of these encounters lead Jake on an international investigation piecing together testimonies from others who have met the enigmatic woman whose presence, he discovers, can be linked to countless deaths across centuries and continents. Driven by guilt and curiosity, he races to uncover her true nature, even as the woman, always one step ahead, sets her sights on her next victim. Barker weaves an eerie and suspenseful narrative, alternating between Jake's present-day pursuit and haunting flashbacks of the woman's victims. The slow-burning tension and lush, atmospheric prose build a creeping sense of dread that lingers long after the final page. Fans of both the deeply personal speculative horror of Carmen Maria Machado and the subtle, character-driven mystery of Haruki Murakami will be enthralled. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Strangers Jake and Mariko meet by chance when they both miss their plane at the Osaka airport. Over dinner, they realize they are connected in a very upsetting way: each has had a loved one die gruesomely, shortly after the same woman entered their lives. This revelation sends Jake on a quest to unravel the mystery of this woman, chasing her backwards from the present, meeting the loved ones of her victims, and following clues across the miles and years. He presents these heart-wrenching stories in chapters titled "Testimony," which alternate with "Badlands" chapters, told from the perspective of the enigmatic woman, that follow her as she seduces her current victim. As the storylines converge, the true nature of what Jake and Mariko are up against is revealed--a centuries-old reign of terror and death. Readers might keep their tissues at the ready as they buckle in for the novel's somber last 50 pages. VERDICT Barker's (The Incarnations) novel offers both sinister ancient evil, such as in Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton, and an emotionally resonant, supernatural thriller asking readers to grapple with mortality, akin to Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Ancient evil at large in the modern world. Horror has always been--at least, in its Anglophone form--a genre in which repetition is not just accepted but expected. An author doesn't have to show us something new, because showing us something old in a new way provides its own thrills. What Barker offers here is essentially a vampire tale with subtle echoes ofDracula. Instead of trains and coaches, we have air travel. Telegrams are replaced by information gleaned from the dark web. And, in place of Bram Stoker's bloodsucking revenant, we get an elusive woman with a camera and an eldritch god to feed. The story begins when two travelers, Jake and Mariko, discover that they share a terrible affinity. Both have lost loved ones to the same uncanny affliction, and both blame a strange woman who seems to be ageless. Mariko connects Jake with her dead brother's wife. His interview with Mariko's sister-in-law is both fascinating and chilling, as she describes her husband's transformation from a charismatic artist to a monster she no longer recognized. Jake is convinced that the woman who seduced Mariko's brother is the same woman who destroyed his best friend. After this, most of the text is composed of "testimonies" Jake gathers from other victims' survivors and scenes from the perspective of the woman he's hunting, and it's a mess. However, horror fiction can survive--and even benefit from--mess.Dracula is a mess, but it's a fascinating mess that moves at a fevered pace. Jake's testimonies are repetitive and do nothing to advance the narrative, and the shifts in perspective seldom tell us anything new. The worldbuilding is rickety and kind of cringe. It turns out that the more you explain a terrible entity beyond human comprehension, the less terrible it gets. Similarly, the villain's backstory makes her less, rather than more, frightening. An ungainly novel that undermines the promise of its premise. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
