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brothena 's review for:
This Thing Between Us
by Gus Moreno
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Coming out of a reading slump, I'm kind of reading whatever I want as opposed to alternating new to/ old to TBR. I heard of this recently from the "Book Talk, etc." podcast, had been a book one of the hosts had heard of on TikTok and enjoyed, was described as a cosmic horror that deals with grief. I consumed this on kindle.
This was not the thriller-fast read I thought it was going to be. I think the closest comparison is The Babadook-- on its surface a haunting and very scary story, but at its heart is a meditation on grief. This book was certainly unsettling, but I'm walking away from this thinking more about the emptiness and madness a significant loss can set off. Mixed with a touch of "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" vibes here as well here with the recurring haunting characters/ are they in a dream/ are they coming out of the dream.
Overall, I really enjoyed this but might be one of those books that really needs to find the RIGHT audience-- could see this disappointing people looking for straight horror. I did also think with all the early focus on the Itza that this was going to be a Black Mirror-esque technological horror, and it's not that at ALL either (that piece did feel a little unfinished to me)
"What dead person didn't have a great smile? A great laugh? No one was calling you these things when you were alive. Alive, you got to be just you."
"I had no story to follow. My favorite character was gone."
"You enjoyed people, and I knew spending my life with you would mean parties, get-togethers, couples dates, but that was all gone now. When you died I mourned you, but also the version of myself I was with you. So there were two deaths."
This was not the thriller-fast read I thought it was going to be. I think the closest comparison is The Babadook-- on its surface a haunting and very scary story, but at its heart is a meditation on grief. This book was certainly unsettling, but I'm walking away from this thinking more about the emptiness and madness a significant loss can set off. Mixed with a touch of "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" vibes here as well here with the recurring haunting characters/ are they in a dream/ are they coming out of the dream.
Overall, I really enjoyed this but might be one of those books that really needs to find the RIGHT audience-- could see this disappointing people looking for straight horror. I did also think with all the early focus on the Itza that this was going to be a Black Mirror-esque technological horror, and it's not that at ALL either (that piece did feel a little unfinished to me)
"What dead person didn't have a great smile? A great laugh? No one was calling you these things when you were alive. Alive, you got to be just you."
"I had no story to follow. My favorite character was gone."
"You enjoyed people, and I knew spending my life with you would mean parties, get-togethers, couples dates, but that was all gone now. When you died I mourned you, but also the version of myself I was with you. So there were two deaths."