A Tour of “The Twisted Ones” by T. Kingfisher
When I picked up a copy of The Twisted Ones, I had never heard of the book or Ms Kingfisher. (Turns out that’s because she’s actually Hugo-award winning author Ursula Vernon under a pen name.) I also had not heard any whispers of how good (or bad) the book might be. To be honest, I bought it because I was pretty sure the title and the story on the back were direct allusions to a classic of pre-Lovecraft weird fiction, The White Ones by Arthur Machen. That alone was enough to separate me from my money. I am a man of simple, but odd tastes. Dangle a bit of Arthur Machen (or something Machen-adjacent) in front of me and money begins flying out of my pocket. (I know. Insert “nerd alert” gif here.)
Kingfisher’s story is a pretty excellent exercise in folk horror, which has been experiencing something of a renaissance lately thanks to movies like Midsommar and The VVitch. It blends rural life in the American South with old Welsh folk tales into a creepy and unnerving concoction which is nevertheless delicious.
Our protagonist is a 30-something freelance editor named Melissa (called Mouse). One day, she gets a phone call from her father. He asks her if she would be willing to help clean out the North Carolina house that belonged to her dead grandmother. Mouse’s dad is too old to do it himself and he tells the cash-strapped Mouse she can keep the profit from whatever she salvages and sells, including from the sale of the house itself. She agrees. What ensues is a 381 page first person account by a woman cleaning out the home of her deceased ornery grandmother, who - among other things - was a hoarder. Let’s be honest: that sounds like it should be an utterly terrible read; “Diary of a Lady Cleaning a House”. But the book is not terrible. It’s actually great.
The creep factor of this novel is high, drawing on the best elements of classical weird fiction. In fact, the novel is a sort of unofficial sequel to Arthur Machen’s 1904 horror classic The White People. Machen’s tale involves the discovery of a young girl’s diary, called “the green book”, which relates strange events happening in the Welsh countryside. Cleaning out her grandmother’s house, Mouse finds her step-grandfather’s journal. It recounts how he found the green book as a young man in Wales and how those same odd happenings are now occurring once again in the woods of North Carolina. At first it is unclear how much of the journal is accurate and how much of it is her grandfather slowly going insane on paper. (Of course, horror fans know that these things are usually more accurate than they seem.) He writes in his journal again and again, “I made faces like the faces on the rocks, and I twisted myself about like the twisted ones, and I lay down flat on the ground like the dead ones.” As the story moves on, Mouse herself gets this refrain stuck in her head, repeating on a constant loop in her inner monologue.
Horror fans don’t need me to tell you that “the twisted ones” turns out to be all too real, though not necessarily the way you expect. You know, because Ms. Kingfisher is a good writer and knows how to keep you engaged. I ploughed right through this 381 page book in no time. I couldn’t put it down. The tension ramps up at a slow but steady rate, building a reservoir of dread which delivers satisfactorily in the end. Like me, you’re sure to be left deeply unnerved by this book.
One more thing really needs to be mentioned about this book- the character work. Possibly the one part of this book that’s actually better than the creepy story is the protagonist and narrator. Mouse is sarcastic, irreverent, down to earth, and has a great dry wit. Within fifteen pages, I wanted her hanging with beers at my home. I connected with her right away. (Mouse might even be my spirit animal, but I’m still working through that bit with my shaman. But I digress.) Having the story framed by her voice allows the tale to be told with humorous asides that perfectly break tension when it matters most.
Each supporting character is three dimensional, fully alive, and adds great flavor and nuance to the story. Whether it’s the barista who makes just a few appearances, the salty ex-hippie across the street who always has the right advice for the right time, or her old hound dog Bongo who is her ever faithful and constant sidekick - the relatively spartan setting of this novel teems with colorful personalities.
If you’re a fan of southern Gothic, folk horror, or early 20th century weird fiction you’ll love The Twisted Ones. Heck, if you’re any kind of horror nerd, you’ll probably enjoy this book. It’s worth your time.
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