Synopsis:
I saw the devil in these woods.”
Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator—but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father’s reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects, or hope.
So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use.
Once there though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light, like what happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”
With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road. His ground-breaking discoveries come with a cost—one that Halder is paying with human flesh.
If Sonia can’t find a way to stop the monstrosity, she may be next under the knife.
Review:
T. Kingfisher books tend to exist somehwere between horror and fantasy, often blurring the lines between the two genres. Sometimes the books lean more heavily one way than than the other. Sometimes, as with her House With Good Bones, they are more or less straight horror. That said, none of her previous works prepared me for the chilling horror and absolute gut-churning insect-driven body horror delivered up in Wolf Worm.
That said, there’s plenty that fans of Kingfisher will recognize. Our protagonist, Sonia Wilson, has all the hallmarks of a Kingfisher character. She’s smart, anxious, interior, and funny in a delightfully arch and self-deprecating way.
Sonia, the daughter of a nineteenth century naturalist, is a gifted illustrator. Fallen on hard times, she’s been working at a girls’ school, but when an illustrating job becomes available, she jumps at the chance and heads off to North Carolina, to the house of the entomologist Dr. Halder’s home, where she is tasked with illustrating insects for his magnum opus.
Halder is a strange figure. Secretive and prone to flashes of anger, he keeps Sonia continually off balance. Add in local spook stories about devils in the woods and “blood thiefs,” and we’re set for some real supernatural horrors.
But they’re not quite what we expect. The horrors in Wolf Worm come in all manner of shapes and sizes.
There’s the mystery of what happened to the previous illustrator, the hyper-religious Mr. Phelps who pops up with alarming regularity, and there’s the odd behavior of the animals in the surrounding woods. There’s casual racism. There’s the constant threat of being a woman alone in a hostile environment. And then there’s the bugs. Specifically, the botflies take center stage. A horror all on their own, the insects around the Halder house might not be quite what they appear either. And how do they connect with all of the other strange goings on?
When these various elements do finally converge, the story takes a real turn into some of the goopiest body horror this side of Nick Cutter, with descriptions so detailed and gut-wrenching that this reader found himself squirming as he read.
If this sounds like a lot of balls to have in the air at once, it is, but Kingfisher’s writing is so tight and assured that it always feels of a piece. Add in a colorful cast of supporting characters and an evocative setting, and Wolf Worm sings.
A delightfully cringe-inducing bit of historical horror, Wolf Worm is a startlingly effective novel with a memorable protagonist and an atmospheric gothic mystery structure.
Wolf Worm drops in March of 2026. Pre-order it now.
Leave a Reply