Book Review: "The Twisted Ones" By Ursula Vernon

Melissa, known to her family as Mouse, is asked to clean out her dead grandmother's house in the North Carolina countryside. She doesn't know what she's getting into. When she arrives, she finds that this job is going to take a long time because her grandmother was a hoarder, but the real trouble starts when she finds a strange diary left by her step-grandfather.

Welcome to the folk horror world of Ursula Vernon, writing under the pen name T. Kingfisher.

The Twisted Ones is clearly influenced by authors such as Arthur Machen and H. P. Lovecraft, but Vernon gives the protagonist such a distinctive voice that it adds a welcome shimmer of comedy to a chilling and suspenseful narrative. Mouse, accompanied by her companion Bongo the Redbone Coonhound, tackles the cleaning job energetically enough, but her grandfather's journal troubles her...and us. It speaks of strange beings who inhabit the woods and transcribes creepy incantations: "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."

It isn't long before Mouse keeps replaying this like an earworm in her own mind. She starts to hear unsettling taps and knocks on the windows and catches fleeting glimpses of apparitions on the lawn. She explores the woods and comes across a horrific effigy made of deer bones. She's tempted (as most of us would be) to pack up and leave, but when her beloved dog goes missing, she heads into the forest to find him and confront whatever things have been going bump in the night. 

This is an excellent read for anyone who prefers "slow burn" psychological horror without too much blood. Mouse is a loveable narrator with a very humorous way of expressing herself:

Bongo sat up and came over to the window. He licked the screen and seemed puzzled that it tasted like wire. 

"You're not smart," I told him. He wagged his tail and licked the screen again, on the off chance that it had become tasty. 

Or there's the way she sums up Bongo's mental capacity—anyone who's had a scent hound in the family can relate:

Bongo's nose is far more intelligent than the rest of him, and I believe it uses his brain primarily as a counterweight.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that because of the laughs, the book isn't scary. Vernon actually manages to write a jump scare in one scene and you'll know it when you see it. In the face of the horror that gradually emerges, Mouse is a refreshingly competent and courageous heroine; though she is terrified, she really commits to saving her dog, no matter what they may require. So, if you're up for a dose of horror with some unexpected chuckles thrown in, try The Twisted Ones. 

More by Ursula Vernon as T. Kingfisher:

• The Hollow Places: A Novel

• What Moves the Dead

• A House with Good Bones (coming out this month)

By Mary Anne Ellis | Librarian Ⅰ, Southern History Department, Central Library