Synopsis
The year is 1899 and Sonia Wilson is a scientific illustrator without work, prospects or hope. 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.
But soon enough she finds that there are darker things at work in the Carolina woods.
What happened to her predecessor, Halder’s wife?
Why are animals acting so strangely?
And what is behind the peculiar local whispers about ‘blood thieves’?
With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a dark road full of parasitic maggots that burrow into human flesh – and that his monstrous experiments may grow to encompass his newest illustrator . . .
Review
The next time I see a big fly or a raccoon, I will scream.
Sonia is a thirty year old scientific illustrator who gets a job with a grumpy, reclusive naturalist. She spends her days painting bugs in an immense house that is only staffed by three and has only two residents. There are rumours about the devil living in the woods.
Sonia is anxious and tends to catastrophise.
This entire book is you questioning Sonia’s questioning as reader and heroine loses grip on reality. I promise you that sentence makes sense.
Some thoughts burrow into your mind as thoroughly as a wasp larva burrows into an unsuspecting caterpillar. The trick, which I am still learning, is how to live without being devoured by them.
Like all of her books, T Kingfisher excels at creating a small, supportive community where the heroine can find solace.
There’s a cat and lots of yucky, creepy bugs.
This is probably the most body horror I have read from her, specifically in the last 35%. It is gross and I could hear the scenes.
I appreciated the vivid descriptions of water colours, even if sometimes it felt like an artistic exercise of Kingfisher as an ex-children’s illustrator.
The plot felt meandering and the horror felt quite contained. Whilst predictable, T Kingfisher had my attention with her writing.
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