MAY 2023 - AudioFile
Sam is summoned home to check on her mother in this Southern Gothic tale, splendidly performed by Mary Robinette Kowal. Sam is surprised at the distinct change in her mother, who is exhibiting weight loss and an unusual manner. Equally surprising is the restoration of the family home to appear as it did when Gran Mae ruled the roost. Using a Southern accent sparingly, Kowal presents Sam as perky and self-assured, though baffled by the mysterious events that are unfolding. When Sam sees a hand poking out of the ground in a photo, Kowal ratchets up the tension, maintaining it through the final showdown between Sam, her mother, and the family's past. S.D.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 12/12/2022
Hugo and Nebula Award winner Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead) goes Southern gothic (Waffle House visits included) in this hilarious and gruesome contemporary horror novel. After archaeoentomologist Sam Montgomery’s dig gets put on hold, she drives to her deceased grandmother’s house in rural North Carolina to spend some time with her mom. The vulture waiting for her on the mailbox doesn’t seem like a good omen, nor does the strange absence of insect life; her mother’s anxious, odd behavior; or Sam’s new, mysterious bouts of sleep paralysis. Sam digs into her family history in the hopes of discovering medical information and scientific explanations for the weirdness—but instead she finds deeply buried horrors that are out to destroy Sam; her mother; her grandmother’s rival, wildlife rehabilitator Gail; and even the local handyman, Phil. Sam makes a charmingly kooky narrator, and Kingfisher remains the best in the business at using horror and fantasy to explore abusive relationships and how to escape them. Horror fans who like a little whimsy on the way to a chilling climax won’t want to miss this. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
T. Kingfisher's A House with Good Bones is (a) funny, (b) scary, and (c) charming. You will gulp this book down like sweet tea on a hot day.”—Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series
"A House With Good Bones grapples with a thorny family legacy with heart, wit, and creeping horror. I was compelled to read the book in one breathless, white-knuckled sitting. Vultures, ladybugs, and underground children, oh my!"—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts
"An eerie Southern gothic that still has Kingfisher's trademark humor."—Buzzfeed
"Impressively weird, nerve-wracking but still laugh-out-loud funny, A House With Good Bones is another horror hit from T. Kingfisher."—BookPage, STARRED review
“Wickedly witty and intensely scary, A House With Good Bones is a thoroughly modern take on the Southern Gothic, about thorny family secrets that refuse to stay buried. You'll be feverishly turning the pages, so engrossed you won't notice the vultures circling overhead. . .”—Rachel Harrison, author of Cackle
"This magical book somehow manages to be laugh-out-loud funny and completely terrifying at the same time—and I could not put it down! It's immersive and entertaining, and the cleverly imaginative storytelling mixed with an oh-so-memorable voice will have you racing through the pages. I absolutely loved this!"—Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of The House Guest
"Kingfisher goes Southern gothic (Waffle House visits included) in this hilarious and gruesome contemporary horror novel. Horror fans who like a little whimsy on the way to a chilling climax won’t want to miss this."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"T. Kingfisher has mastered her own special blend of horror and snarky mundanity, wherein the not-so-dearly departed demand half-frozen ham, terrifying abominations hunger for blood, and the vacuum is full of ladybugs. A creepshow in taupe, with extra vultures. I loved it."—Travis Baldree, New York Times bestselling author of Legends & Lattes
“A House With Good Bones is a dark, eerie fantasy that creeps through your skull and covers your brain like rose vines, tightening with every strange reveal. Despite the looming dread, T. Kingfisher weaves incredible wit and humor through every passage, crafting a tale of mystery and horror well worth sinking into."—Chuck Tingle, author of Camp Damascus
"Highly recommended for lovers of Southern gothics, readers who like their horror to sneak up on them, and anyone who appreciates the voice of Kingfisher, no matter what genre she’s currently writing.”—Library Journal, STARRED review
"A House With Good Bones had me nodding and laughing in recognition at the family dynamics and eccentric Southern neighborhood and then full-out shrieking at the bugs and buried secrets. No one blends humor and creeping dread as satisfyingly as T. Kingfisher."—Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author of Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
“T. Kingfisher continues to establish herself as one of the freshest voices in horror! Samantha grounds this story in a normalcy that is so approachable and understandable that it only heightens the horror. You’ll be reading underneath a blanket with a flashlight!"—Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author
“T. Kingfisher brings her trademark brand of humor and suspense to A House with Good Bones. . . . Quirky side characters, drily humorous narration and a ghoulish, gruesome climax should entertain horror and fantasy fans.”—Shelf Awareness, STARRED review
"For fans of stories that take the haunted-house trope and overlay occult themes with generational trauma, like The Good House, by Tananarive Due and How To Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix.”—Booklist
Library Journal
★ 02/01/2023
Thirtysomething Sam Montgomery is worried about her mother. Living in the family home she inherited, her mom is erasing her own personality in favor of her abusive mother's—who is dead but apparently not gone. Desperate to determine whether her mom is suffering from delayed grief or early-onset Alzheimer's, Sam digs into the family's long-buried history, only to discover that her grandfather was an infamous sorcerer whose "sins of the father" are still being visited upon his descendants. Their house not only has good bones, it has strong teeth that are keeping out the stuff of nightmares. Told in the dry, sarcastic voice of wryly academic Sam, this starts out as a portrait of a dysfunctional family in a rational world. But readers are sucked into Sam's fears as that veneer of normalcy is broken down piece by piece, until the vultures are literally circling the house and the past unburies itself. VERDICT Highly recommended for lovers of Southern gothics, readers who like their horror to sneak up on them, and anyone who appreciates the voice of Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead), no matter what genre she's currently writing.—Marlene Harris
MAY 2023 - AudioFile
Sam is summoned home to check on her mother in this Southern Gothic tale, splendidly performed by Mary Robinette Kowal. Sam is surprised at the distinct change in her mother, who is exhibiting weight loss and an unusual manner. Equally surprising is the restoration of the family home to appear as it did when Gran Mae ruled the roost. Using a Southern accent sparingly, Kowal presents Sam as perky and self-assured, though baffled by the mysterious events that are unfolding. When Sam sees a hand poking out of the ground in a photo, Kowal ratchets up the tension, maintaining it through the final showdown between Sam, her mother, and the family's past. S.D.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
