Review by acogna - Blood on Her Tongue

acogna 's review for:

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen

4.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

This surprisingly contemporary novel respects the tradition of its Gothic horror giants and had been written by someone who clearly has read and knows the anatomy of the genre, down to the archetypal Gothic mystery that must be (or may not be) unravelled, the unexplained supernatural phenomenon, the concept of literally haunting (a body no less), and even that same horrific catharsis from a twist or suddenly story-altering revelation.

It could be sometimes a tad too overt with its message on misogyny

(like, it's extremely obvious that the guy who is patriarchal is just a bad dude when he says absolutely heinous shit, we know),

but it at least knows what function it serves in the narrative, and how it bolsters the rest of its structure. And what a narrative, I couldn't get enough! I had to see it through to the end. I knew this would be something truly special when

Sarah died and I realised we were only a quarter of the way through the book,

that was just diabolical! Just absolutely feral problematic women doing whatever the hell they want, and we need more of this in our current cultural zeitgeist.

Content Warnings