The Twisted Ones

By: T. Kingfisher

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

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 comes across 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 gripping, terrifying tale bound to keep you up all night - from both fear and anticipation of what happens next.

©2019 T. Kingfisher (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio

Spooky

This was fantastic! I have to say, the ending left a bit to be desired, but I thought the writing really made this book. It slowly begins to get spooky, and before you know it, it’s terrifying.

Loved this story!

A really charming mix of weird fiction, horror and humor. Loved this story and the characters in it. It teases a rich mythology without getting lost in the weeds. Fun, compelling listen for folk horror fans.

Great performance by Hillary Huber. The narration has a lot of personality without being distracting or irritating, which is a tough line to toe.

Great horror story

I don't know if people who narrate read these reviews, but for a few exceptions, this was an awesome story with exceptional narration.

great beginning snore fest middle

the author set up a great slow burn in the beginning and it was spine tingling. then went on and on describing and explaining the horror. sometimes the best horror is left in a shroud of mystery.

Give it time

The first third of the book was a little tedious for me but I stuck with it because she loved her dog and a I always give dog lovers a break. But once she went back in the story was pretty good and something totally different;;;;; I appreciated that.

A fantastic and spine-tingling read!

This book was breathtaking in its visuals! Highly detailed, with memorable and entirely lovable characters. I can’t say enough good things about this story! Spoilers below!


The way the strange creatures and environments beyond the “regular world” are described is so intriguing, it makes me want to see it made into art or maybe a movie/animation. It’s so eerie and haunting, the way only things we do not understand can be. This took the fae-like creatures to another, terrifying level and the lurking horror was palpable.

The main character was entirely relatable, especially since I also happen to be a 30-something year old woman woman who gets easily caught up in physical memories whilst trying to clean. The characters in this are all very easy to like, including the minor and dead ones. I found myself angry every time I was interrupted while trying to finish this book, because it was so enthralling!

Please give this a try. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it really is worth checking out.

Ugh

The performance was terrific, but the writing and pacing were terrible. The MC wasn’t believable, so her actions felt very trite. The first 3rd of the book could have just been deleted and it would have been much better. And the “horror” is Lovecraft-lite, and she takes all the mystery from it anyways.

Dunno. Wish I had kept this on the DNF pile, but I used my credit for it.

Good Story

My wife and I enjoyed the story. It gets a little hard to follow at the end but still is a good story.

The author uses a lot of profanity so be aware of that when purchasing. I don't recommend this for younger people.

Parts of this story is loosely reminiscent of Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising. Very loosely mind you. If you like that kind of story you'd like this one.

Promising first 4-5 hours

I chose this book because it appeared on several lists of the ‘scariest horror ever’ type.

I felt like the first half was pretty spooky, but then it sort of dropped the plot partway through; I found the resolution disappointing, though I know others seemed to find it quite satisfying.

My biggest critique is that it felt like it turned from a horror book to a grand adventure LOTR type-book partway through — to the point it started to feel like kind of a corny caricature of itself, and the reveals left me finishing the book mostly in hopes that the end might recapture some of the creepiness of the first part. For me it didn’t, but I’d totally give the author another shot based on the parts I did enjoy.

Major pro was the character development and personality of Foxy, a side-character that was just super enjoyable. Her dialogue made me laugh out loud at several points. The narration was also phenomenal.

Very enjoyable

Good atmospheric horror with a touch of Lovecraftian dread. Narrator want as bad as some say, just dragged a bit. Bump the speed up to 1.1 or 1.15 and it flows much better.