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The Twisted Ones
by
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.
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 wo ...more
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 wo ...more
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Hardcover, 381 pages
Published
October 1st 2019
by Gallery / Saga Press
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Andrea
Nope. One of my favorite things about this book so far is that the author manages to confirm w/in the 1st 10 pages that yes, the dog will be fine <3
Community Reviews
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Start your review of The Twisted Ones
oooh, goodreads choice awards semifinalist for BEST HORROR 2019! what will happen?
i don’t usually dig folk horror—i find it too understated; too quaint and stylized to be entertaining, let alone scary, but this book is refreshingly modern and legit creepy. i wasn’t scared-scared, since whatever part of a person that regulates the ability to be scared by books/movies seems to be broken in me, but i can wholly appreciate effective horror atmosphere, and this is FULL of skin-crawlingly memorable im ...more
i don’t usually dig folk horror—i find it too understated; too quaint and stylized to be entertaining, let alone scary, but this book is refreshingly modern and legit creepy. i wasn’t scared-scared, since whatever part of a person that regulates the ability to be scared by books/movies seems to be broken in me, but i can wholly appreciate effective horror atmosphere, and this is FULL of skin-crawlingly memorable im ...more
**4.5-stars rounded up**
When Mouse's Father enlists her help cleaning out her recently deceased Grandma's house, she happily agrees.
Her Dad has had some recent health troubles and wouldn't be able to do it himself. Mouse figures she'll feel good about helping and how bad can it be?
As it turns out, pretty bad.
Her Grandmother was a hoarder, never throwing anything out, including an entire room of creepy old dolls.
These really have no bearing on the story, I just get freaked out by dolls.
While th ...more
When Mouse's Father enlists her help cleaning out her recently deceased Grandma's house, she happily agrees.
Her Dad has had some recent health troubles and wouldn't be able to do it himself. Mouse figures she'll feel good about helping and how bad can it be?
As it turns out, pretty bad.
Her Grandmother was a hoarder, never throwing anything out, including an entire room of creepy old dolls.
These really have no bearing on the story, I just get freaked out by dolls.
While th ...more
I made the grave mistake of reading this in the dark. At about 40% in, I randomly hear tapping on my window. I look out and no one is there. The hair on the back of my head was standing up. Then there was a loud bang on my door. Y'all I screamed and went running to the bathroom. My cellphone starts ringing. My neighbor was knocking on my door to return some containers she had borrowed. I almost died in a Tupperware return. So yeah, this book will scare the crap out of you and make you question e
...more
Heads up for a giveaway of this book on FanLit! http://www.fantasyliterature.com/give...
The Twisted Ones is a modern twist on an old horror classic, and it exceeds the original in my opinion. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
The Twisted Ones begins with mild consternation: Melissa, who goes by “Mouse,” has the thankless task of taking a trip to backwoods North Carolina, with her loyal redbone coonhound Bongo for company, to clean out her late grandmother’s home. “It’ll be a mess,” her ...more
The Twisted Ones is a modern twist on an old horror classic, and it exceeds the original in my opinion. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
The Twisted Ones begins with mild consternation: Melissa, who goes by “Mouse,” has the thankless task of taking a trip to backwoods North Carolina, with her loyal redbone coonhound Bongo for company, to clean out her late grandmother’s home. “It’ll be a mess,” her ...more
I'm all riled up so though I should be sleeping, here is instead a review. This book is like being handed the script for "I Am Legend" and turning it into "Zombieland." It is based on horror, but it's not horror. It's at best Buffy the Musical.
CONTENT WARNING: (usually I say "just a list of topics, no actual spoilers," but these are weird content warnings. They are in and of themselves somewhat spoilers, but it is just a list.) (view spoiler) ...more
CONTENT WARNING: (usually I say "just a list of topics, no actual spoilers," but these are weird content warnings. They are in and of themselves somewhat spoilers, but it is just a list.) (view spoiler) ...more
Dec 05, 2019
Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
horror-gothic-etc,
library-book
Oh I loved this book!! I was lucky enough to get it from our tiny library but I’m going to get myself a physical copy!! Thanks to my horror group or I might have missed it!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more
What a massive read! Melissa, nicknamed Mouse, is to clear out her grandmother's house. There she comes across the mentioning of a hidden (by her evil grandmother) book , The 'Green Book', owned by her step gradfather Cotgrave. While clearing the house strange things happen. Behind the house she finds a hill with uncanny carved stone and in the manuscript found white people are mentioned. Who are those 'Hollering People' and what is Melissa's role? The story is written as first person narration.
...more
First off, thanks to Marie-Therese for buddy-reading this one with me!
I loved The Hollow Places. It was honestly one of my favorite horror releases in some time, thus of course I had to pick up the author's first attempt at horror as well. Like the Hollow Places, this is a spin on a classic horror story as well, this time Arthur Machen's The White People.
The plot per the publisher: "When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be ...more
I loved The Hollow Places. It was honestly one of my favorite horror releases in some time, thus of course I had to pick up the author's first attempt at horror as well. Like the Hollow Places, this is a spin on a classic horror story as well, this time Arthur Machen's The White People.
The plot per the publisher: "When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be ...more
In the backwoods of North Carolina stood the house of Melissa's estranged dead grandmother. Melissa aka Mouse, with her Redbone Coonhound "Bongo" in tow, arrived in her pick-up truck to clean out the house as per her father's request. Grandma,"a nasty piece of work" who was "mean as a snake" was a hoarder. The house was a virtual firetrap; storage bins piled "knee high", newspapers "piled in neatly tied stacks", and "a room of dolls, dead dolls with hyper-realistic faces peeking out from behind
...more
In my mind I roughly categorize supernatural horror into two main groups: Babadook-style horror and Cabin in the Woods-style horror.
Babadook-style horror is the kind that starts out right off the bat with a low-grade, unceasing tension, and it usually follows one or more Very Unhappy People. You see the characters and think- do they really need to go through even more shit? Their lives already kind of suck. But the story often relies at least to some extent on the narrative mystery of "is this s ...more
Babadook-style horror is the kind that starts out right off the bat with a low-grade, unceasing tension, and it usually follows one or more Very Unhappy People. You see the characters and think- do they really need to go through even more shit? Their lives already kind of suck. But the story often relies at least to some extent on the narrative mystery of "is this s ...more
i think i was right to dnf this the first time, pushing through was not worth it unfortunately
3.5/5* (Rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.)
THE TWISTED ONES was a nice take on folklore and an homage, (or is it a sequel?) to Arthur Machen's THE WHITE PEOPLE.
I loved the narrators of the story, (both the protagonist and the narrator of the audiobook), which went a long way towards my enjoyment. I think if I had read this, instead of listening, the repetition of certain phrases and certain behaviors regarding the protagonist and her dog would have gotten on my nerves a lot more.
I enjoyed THE TWIS ...more
THE TWISTED ONES was a nice take on folklore and an homage, (or is it a sequel?) to Arthur Machen's THE WHITE PEOPLE.
I loved the narrators of the story, (both the protagonist and the narrator of the audiobook), which went a long way towards my enjoyment. I think if I had read this, instead of listening, the repetition of certain phrases and certain behaviors regarding the protagonist and her dog would have gotten on my nerves a lot more.
I enjoyed THE TWIS ...more
![destiny ♡⚔♡ [howling libraries]](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1627172939p2/15335689.jpg)
I didn't realize how much I needed more folk horror in my life until reading this, but wow. This was so enjoyable, though the ending did go off the rails for me a bit; that said, I still loved this immensely and recommend it so highly, especially if you can grab the audiobook. Mouse and Bongo were so precious and I felt fiercely protective of them both because I just couldn't help but adore them.
(By the way, and this is a non-spoiler, as the narrator informs you right off the bat: the dog lives ...more
(By the way, and this is a non-spoiler, as the narrator informs you right off the bat: the dog lives ...more
A modern take on the Arthur Machen 'weird things in hills' story. It's exceedingly creepy and vividly weird, but since this is T Kingfisher there is also a streak of stubborn humour and a sense of human kindness and decency to balance the evils of which people (human and non) are capable. A horror novel I could cope with emotionally, which is not to be sneezed at in these trying times. And of course lovely writing and beautifully constructed.
...more
I made faces like the faces on the rocks, and I twisted myself about like the twisted ones, and I lay down flat on the ground like the dead ones
The Twisted Ones started out as a folklore type horror. Animal monsters creeped in the woods behind Mouse's grandmother's house. The writing was slow but full of sinister atmosphere. And as the tale moved along those ghoulish monsters closed in tighter, setting up several jump scares and fun frights.
But the end lost me.
The story had so much potential t ...more
The Twisted Ones started out as a folklore type horror. Animal monsters creeped in the woods behind Mouse's grandmother's house. The writing was slow but full of sinister atmosphere. And as the tale moved along those ghoulish monsters closed in tighter, setting up several jump scares and fun frights.
But the end lost me.
The story had so much potential t ...more
4.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2019/10/15/...
The Twisted Ones was a fun novel featuring the perfect blend of humor and horror, with the first element provided mainly in the form of the main character’s incredibly infectious voice, while the second came via the setting’s creeptastic atmosphere. You’ve got an old house in the middle of the woods, filled with decaying trash and other ghastly things like scary baby dolls. Meanwhile, the locals also know better than to ...more
The Twisted Ones was a fun novel featuring the perfect blend of humor and horror, with the first element provided mainly in the form of the main character’s incredibly infectious voice, while the second came via the setting’s creeptastic atmosphere. You’ve got an old house in the middle of the woods, filled with decaying trash and other ghastly things like scary baby dolls. Meanwhile, the locals also know better than to ...more
if it isn’t just fucking bold to have your main character be a freelance editor who constantly drags other people for bad writing, considering how bad the writing in this book is. it’s literally laughable. were they out of editors when t. kingfisher was writing this, then? or what? because this has one of the cringiest, if not THE cringiest writing in any adult horror novel i’ve ever read.
the main character is a gullible idiot who thinks she’s witty and self-aware while having the IQ of, like, a ...more
the main character is a gullible idiot who thinks she’s witty and self-aware while having the IQ of, like, a ...more
This was scary and funny and if I hear something tapping on my window at night I will freak out.
He glanced upward over the roof, and then said, "Hey, be careful, yeah?"
"Careful?" I said, a bit more sharply that I intended.
"Ah, you know. Things in the woods around here."
There are some creepy times in store for Mouse, a young woman who volunteers to clean out her dead grandmother's rural house. Turns out, Granny was a hoarder . . .
Christ. The doll room. I'd forgotten all about that.
But, that quickly becomes the least of her problems. There are indeed things in the woods, and she's looki ...more
"Careful?" I said, a bit more sharply that I intended.
"Ah, you know. Things in the woods around here."
There are some creepy times in store for Mouse, a young woman who volunteers to clean out her dead grandmother's rural house. Turns out, Granny was a hoarder . . .
Christ. The doll room. I'd forgotten all about that.
But, that quickly becomes the least of her problems. There are indeed things in the woods, and she's looki ...more
I knew I was going to read this book someday so I avoided all of my friends reviews and went into it blind. I was expecting it to be good but I wasn’t expecting it to be such a perfect book for me! One of the main characters is a redbone coonhound which is same breed as my pup, the plot is genuinely unnerving and some scenes are chill-you-to-the-bone and seep-into-your-soul scary but the best surprise was the humor. I was not expecting humor and I appreciated the humor so much. So many books I r
...more
Mar 10, 2020
Dannii Elle
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
horror-hazes,
adult-books-read
Mouse returns to her grandparent's rural home, after the death of both, to find a horde of possessions spilling from the house's seams. In amongst the chaos she finds a diary which details the ramblings of one old man's demented mind. Or does it? The nonsense he focuses on starts to infiltrate Mouse's days, but her nights are kept for horrors more vivid than could be conjured from one overworked imagination.
I adored this cast of characters. Mouse was interesting but her four-legged companion sto ...more
I adored this cast of characters. Mouse was interesting but her four-legged companion sto ...more
Release Date: October 1, 2019
Genre: Horror/Fantasy
Unfortunately, this book just didn't do it for me. I love the MC because she had a great personality and a snarky attitude but I didn't care how the book felt more fantasy than horror. Sure there were a few moments that gave me the chills (especially at the beginning)
but those chills didn ...more
Genre: Horror/Fantasy
Unfortunately, this book just didn't do it for me. I love the MC because she had a great personality and a snarky attitude but I didn't care how the book felt more fantasy than horror. Sure there were a few moments that gave me the chills (especially at the beginning)
Then I made faces like the faces on the rocks, and I twisted myself about like the twisted ones, and I lay down flat on the ground like the dead ones...
but those chills didn ...more
3.5 Stars
This was an entertaining horror fantasy novel filled with a lot of humour. All the jokes lead to a lighter tone so I personally did not find this one particularly scary. Normally I prefer a more serious tone in my horror books, but I still ended up enjoying this lighter read.
This was an entertaining horror fantasy novel filled with a lot of humour. All the jokes lead to a lighter tone so I personally did not find this one particularly scary. Normally I prefer a more serious tone in my horror books, but I still ended up enjoying this lighter read.
OK, I'm calling it. DNF'd at 32%.
What a disappointment.
I had put this and a few other horror novels on my shelf last month in the spirit of Halloween, and then waited until I was really in the mood for them. The mood struck, and this was the one I grabbed.
I wish I could remember where I saw a recommendation for this one so I can discount that source going forward.
The Twisted Ones reads like it was written by a high school student. The writing is terribly juvenile, especially where the cutesy pa ...more
What a disappointment.
I had put this and a few other horror novels on my shelf last month in the spirit of Halloween, and then waited until I was really in the mood for them. The mood struck, and this was the one I grabbed.
I wish I could remember where I saw a recommendation for this one so I can discount that source going forward.
The Twisted Ones reads like it was written by a high school student. The writing is terribly juvenile, especially where the cutesy pa ...more
This is a contemporary horror novel inspired by Arthur Machen's The White People. To me, it was considerably scarier* than the source material, although I seem to have been alone in not finding that especially creepy.
This isn't the most horrifying horror ever, but if your familiarity with the author comes from her short stories or Summer in Orcus or The Seventh Bride, just be prepared for less fantasy and more scares.
Moral take-away: Don't be so helpful.
*I was just reading a review of Machen's ...more
This isn't the most horrifying horror ever, but if your familiarity with the author comes from her short stories or Summer in Orcus or The Seventh Bride, just be prepared for less fantasy and more scares.
Moral take-away: Don't be so helpful.
*I was just reading a review of Machen's ...more
i added this to my TBR is June of 2019 and went on about my business. when it won a group read in November, i saw that i had marked it as to read and now was the time to read it. i didn't really remember what it was about but that's ok. OMG guys, this book!! I love Mouse and Bongo! i love how she talks to him and how much she cares about that old hound dog. I love Foxy, she's great and i could picture her exactly. The characters in this book were so realistic and easy to care about.
The set ...more
What a way to kick off Spooky Month - The Twisted Ones had me watching over my shoulder when I was reading it at home alone, and I loved every minute.
T. Kingfisher - or Ursula Vernon, if that's how you know her - is probably best known for her fairytale retellings or interpretations. This is my first full-length novel of hers, and what an absolute stunner. Folklore being largely an oral tradition has lent the author an incredibly readable "voice" in her writing; and she's not afraid to use that ...more
T. Kingfisher - or Ursula Vernon, if that's how you know her - is probably best known for her fairytale retellings or interpretations. This is my first full-length novel of hers, and what an absolute stunner. Folklore being largely an oral tradition has lent the author an incredibly readable "voice" in her writing; and she's not afraid to use that ...more
I made faces like the faces on the rocks, and I twisted myself about like the twisted ones, and I lay down flat on the ground like the dead ones.I’ve been trying to get my hands on this book for ten months and I couldn’t wait to enjoy the creepy. Unfortunately the gap between my expectation and reality turned into a chasm and I still don’t entirely know what went wrong.
Melissa (but you can call her Mouse) is about to undertake the potentially icky and smelly task of clearing out her grand ...more
***2021 Dog Days of Summer***
This is the last book of my summer reading project featuring canine companions. I’m so glad that I overcame my usual reluctance to read anything tending towards the horror genre. Kingfisher (actually Ursula Vernon) writes humorous horror that doesn't scare me completely out of my socks and she obviously knows and loves dogs. I also appreciate that I understand her sense of humour, as that's not always a given for me.
Bongo (named after the antelope, not the drum) ...more
This is the last book of my summer reading project featuring canine companions. I’m so glad that I overcame my usual reluctance to read anything tending towards the horror genre. Kingfisher (actually Ursula Vernon) writes humorous horror that doesn't scare me completely out of my socks and she obviously knows and loves dogs. I also appreciate that I understand her sense of humour, as that's not always a given for me.
Bongo (named after the antelope, not the drum) ...more
I know I’m dnf-ing books left and right, but I’m on page 80 and the only thing that happened so far is that the MC is cleaning out her grandmother’s house.. 80 pages of that.. so scary.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Literary Horror: (Yet Another) Buddy Read for February 2021 | 11 | 18 | Mar 05, 2021 12:52PM | |
| Horror Aficionados : November 2019 Group Read #2: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher | 59 | 251 | Jul 02, 2020 07:15PM | |
| Ladies of Horror ...: THE TWISTED ONES by T. Kingfisher: Pre-chat Discussion | 22 | 65 | Jan 05, 2020 06:51PM |
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T. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen-name of Ursula Vernon. In another life, she writes children's books and weird comics, and has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, and Ursa Major awards, as well as a half-dozen Junior Library Guild selections.
This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups.
When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies ...more
This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups.
When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies ...more
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“Bongo is an excellent watchdog, by which I mean that he will watch very alertly as the serial killer breaks into the house and skins me.”
—
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“If dogs had religion, Satan would be the UPS guy.”
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