A review by sierracreads
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

5.0

Spoiler

from the author’s note: “it’s not malicious; it has no way of knowing that humans really, really hate it when you make dead things walk around”

my half theory was right, but Sally Field's voice still echoed in my head at the twist


at the end I was still a little jarred on 'how?' it happened or even more so 'what was driving it?' but I think those are just the right lingering questions for a horror book to leave me with. Similar to Hill House, it seemed like maybe the environment itself was just inexplicably bad but wouldn't stand to go uninhabited.

Kingfisher did a great job of clarifying what it was in the author's note and that we would not learn the answers from the narrator because of the science available in 1890whatever. That said, I'm choosing to believe there's a supernatural element to it. Maybe that makes it scarier for me in the moment, maybe that just makes it seem less tangible the longer I dwell on it. Maybe both. Either way, I'll be keeping my distance from lakes for a little bit.