What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher

I recently read Nettle & Bone and loved it because Kingfisher writes quirky. Then I read Jackalope Wives, which is absolutely fantastic. So a Poe retelling by this author is a must-read.

Alex Easton has received a letter. Years previously, she served with Roderick Usher and befriended his sister Madeline. The letter states Madeline is dying, and could Alex please come to the Usher house? But when she gets to the house, it’s worse than she fears. Both Roderick and Madeline aren’t looking well at all, though admittedly, Madeline is much worse. So what is causing them to be emaciated and terribly sick?

This is an atmospheric and creepy novella. I loved how Alex often broke the 4th wall to talk to the reader. It takes a very short story and twists it on its head. Kingfisher keeps the reader rapt as I furiously flipped pages, engrossed in the horror. I only wish this were a full-length book as I wasn’t ready to close it. Thank you, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, for sending this along!

Book Links (releasing July 12th)

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About the Book

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

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Read this review on Goodreads and Bookbub.