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A review by burnyayhayley
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is probably the best horror I have ever read.
It is unsettling and gruesome and filled with delicious moments of the uncanny, but without any of it being gratuitous or overdone. I LOVE when the uncanny is portrayed well and correctly and with a light touch so that you really are able to feel in the writing this sense of palpable unease, but it is impossible to place, for you or the character experiencing it.
There is really too much being done in this book to do it any justice here. I felt many texts/films called upon but not directly referenced, which made the text all the more nuanced. Some of the connections I made were The Blair Witch Project, Under the Dome, Haunting of Hill House (The Netflix series), The Only Good Indians and probably several other things I have forgotten.
There are very few books that I finish and want to immediately reread, and even fewer of them are horror novels, but this is one. This is a book that would only improve and deepen through rereading and further analysis. If I was to ever write horror, I would hope it was half as good as this.
It is unsettling and gruesome and filled with delicious moments of the uncanny, but without any of it being gratuitous or overdone. I LOVE when the uncanny is portrayed well and correctly and with a light touch so that you really are able to feel in the writing this sense of palpable unease, but it is impossible to place, for you or the character experiencing it.
There is really too much being done in this book to do it any justice here. I felt many texts/films called upon but not directly referenced, which made the text all the more nuanced. Some of the connections I made were The Blair Witch Project, Under the Dome, Haunting of Hill House (The Netflix series), The Only Good Indians and probably several other things I have forgotten.
There are very few books that I finish and want to immediately reread, and even fewer of them are horror novels, but this is one. This is a book that would only improve and deepen through rereading and further analysis. If I was to ever write horror, I would hope it was half as good as this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Blood and Vomit