The Twisted Ones Review

Appalachian and UK fae folklore meets horror in this story where despite promises that the dog lives I was kept on the edge of my seat throughout. I read this book in 24 hours and it gave me a sleepless night where I refused to look out the window.

When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.
When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother’s house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?
Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.
Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

As part of my goal to work through T. Kingfisher’s back list, I read The Twisted Ones. After loving What Moves the Dead and The Hollow Place, I was not disappointed. In fact, I think The Twisted Ones is my favorite of Kingfisher’s horror.
I went into this book blind. All I saw before starting was T. Kingfisher, the title, that it was horror, and the cover looked ambiguous other than a house and some trees. I had no idea what to expect.

Kingfisher is Masterful When it Comes to Characters

One thing I find happening every time I open a Kingfisher book is my ability to deeply relate to the characters. In The Hollow Places, it was the fan-fiction reader and the goth barrista that I could totally jive with. Here in The Twisted Ones, I immediately connected with Mouse about her mean grandmother. In fact, I read some of the descriptions of the grandmother to Damon and he asked if Kingfisher was writing about my mamaw only without the hoarding, thankfully.
Also, I have a stubborn and not-too-bright red dog as well but mine’s not a coonhound with a smart nose. Instead I have an aussie-pit mutt who won’t let anything go…he’s like me that way and for that, we would probably die in the same situation that Mouse and Bongo are in.

The side characters always feel uncannily real to me and I often wonder if Kingfisher bases them on people in her real life. In this instance, Foxy and the guys across the street, Enid the Goth barrista, and Officer Bob the none-too-helpful and somewhat pitying cop. Foxy in a lot of ways reminds me of a few women in my life only way more over the top in dress. I am blessed with knowing a few ladies who can shoot, who’ve had guy problems enough to know, who have seen a few things and know a few things, and can shoot off at the mouth with all kinds of sarcasm when things get rough. I love them and I love Foxy.

I also love how Kingfisher treats folks in the south and Appalachian region. So often horror writers (read: lazy and unimaginative horror writers) when presented with a settling like this focus on ignorant characters. They depict hill-folk as all ignorant rednecks at best and cannibals and monsters at worst. The trope is tired and makes me sad because its this trope that has often made me and my birthplace and thick accent the butt of many jokes. I love seeing these people and locations treated with respect like it is here.

Is it Folk Horror?

I also connected with the location. I was born in eastern Kentucky and now live in Tennessee. I am well versed in hollers and cricks, folk lore about things in the woods, and stories about poppets and folk magic. (If you want to hear some of these stories, check out my podcast.) As I read, I felt like I’d been down this road, along this path, and through these trees.

Many of you know, Folk Horror is one of my favorite genres. I love me some rural locations, creepy town folk, and witchy vibes in my horror stories.
While The Twisted Ones is rural, has some shit going on with nature, and the towns folk know way more than they often let on – I only tentatively say that this fits in a folk horror genre. The thing is, the people of the town are not the problem here as is traditionally the case in Folk Horror.
Its more an inter-dimensional and fairy tale horror.

This Book Scared Me

Its been a long time since a book made me scared. The Twisted Ones did it. Not only did it scare me but it made me hug my dog a lot. The book might open up after everything is over so that the reader is assured nothing happens to Mouse and Bongo, but I was still anxious for this poor chick and her sweet dog.

Spoiler alert
The part that scared me was the first time seeing the effigy moving and looking in on Mouse and Bongo through the bedroom window. I was in bed reading with my dog asleep by the bedroom door. I found myself glancing at the curtained window now and again. The thing is, I lay my tablet, phone, and glasses just within the curtain on the windowsill when I’m done and ready to sleep. That night…not going to happen. I wasn’t going to risk pushing that curtain back and seeing that some poppet had wandered out from the woods that make up the back of my property. I just knew if I looked I’d be face to face with a deer-bone effigy going tap-taptap-tap as it stared blankly in at me.
End spoiler

I recommend The Twisted Ones to Kingfisher fans of course. If you were creeped out by The Hollow Places, you will love The Twisted Ones. I also recommend it to anyone who enjoys Appalachian settings in their horror and fans of folk lore in their horror. This book has both and does not disappoint.