The Twisted Ones

By: T. Kingfisher

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Winner of the RUSA Award for Best Horror

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 in this chilling novel that reads like The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show.

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.

From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, The Twisted Ones is a terrifying tale inspired by Arthur Machen's classic horror short story The White People that's bound to keep you up all night—from both fear and anticipation of what happens next.

Not Spooky

So I guess it’s just a matter of taste and interest, I did not find stones, ancient tall people or the effigies scary, spooky, interesting or dreadful. For me there was no suspense, dread or anything really interesting about this story. It had many characters and opportunities and an old house in the woods that could have been frightening but instead were not really explored and fell flat. The pace for me was slow, I did however, enjoy the narrator. Hope this is helpful, I’d read the book before spending money on this one.

Not remotely scary

There was nothing really scary about this. I struggled to finish it, and only did because I enjoyed the narrator, especially her rendition of Foxy. it's an okay story, just wasn't at all what I was looking for.

This was the best read book!

I loved listening to the gal reading this book. She was fantastic! Story was great!

As good as a horror novel without LGBTQ can get

Short pitch: Weird Horror where the imagination and atmosphere of H. P. Lovecraft is married with the grounded, down-to-earth relatable characters of M. R. James.

First-person horror is a challenge, but this author knocks the narrative Voice out of the park and the reader absolutely has the chops to match. It's got heavy atmosphere and a good, slow build. All of the eerie foreshadowing has good payoffs. The unanswered questions are left open for good reasons, and you will NOT feel cheated by any of them at the end of this novel.

The setup is a great one. Cleaning out a hoarder house as a favor to a relative so it can be sold is a great backdrop for supernatural horror, and the author takes full advantage of that, everywhere from mysterious old manuscripts to rooms full of dolls. Every single character in this book is somebody you could meet where you work.

The monsters are suitably grotesque and creative, and they are only part of the horror of a world beyond our knowledge and understanding. The author does a great job of just hinting at a world of terror and wonder beyond the bounds of this story, something larger and stranger that we will never comprehend.

If you want plausible, character-driven writing, this is your book. If you want slow building atmospheric horror and engaging plots, this is your book. If you want a well-realized setting, this is your book. If you are a horror fan of any kind, please read this.

This is going to be one of my re-listening staples, right up there with A Shadow On the Wall and Salem's Lot.

Superb!

The narrator is so fantastic and the book was incredibly entertaining. I don’t want to give away the plot, but if you enjoy folklore, rituals, snarky humor (love dogs) and spooky stories, I highly recommend. This author’s works are now an auto-buy for me and I’m now checking out other works Hillary Huber has narrated.