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Grey Dog by Elliott Gish

Cover art for Grey Dog by Elliot Gish

Grey Dog by Elliott Gish

ECW Press, 2024

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1770417328

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

In 1901 Canada,  Ada Byrd, fleeing from a sex scandal and escaping from under her father’s thumb, takes up a position as a school teacher in the small town of Lowry Bridge. Things go well at the beginning: she is welcomed by the families, and makes new friends, such as Agatha, the minister’s wife. Ada goes to church, helps organize picnics and plays, and freely dances at one of the town’s festivities. She follows the town’s rules and their suspicions of the wild child, Muriel, and the spinster, Mrs. Kinsley, who the town considers a witch.

 

The civilized life she leads is in contrast to the dark woods surrounding the town. To get from the schoolhouse to the home she shares with her host family, the Griers, she must pass eerie woods that seem to be watching her every move. Time goes on, and the ordered and civilized life she leads starts to fade, as her past life comes back to haunt her and the town starts to reveal its secrets. Ada slowly breaks away from the rigid conventions of the town, and feels drawn to the wildness of the woods. She starts spending more time with town outcasts, Muriel and Mrs. Kinsley, and rejects Agatha and Mrs. Grier, the more accepted members of society.

 

Ada writes in her journal that there are many ways to be a good man, but only one way to be a good woman. The pressure of women being forced into specific gender roles breaks Ada, and you see her slow descent into madness as she breaks the bonds of civility. She’s not just refusing to shave her legs or wearing white after Labor Day. The book is a slow burn but at the end, it revs up like The Shining. It goes from psychological and paranormal horror to a slasher.

 

Even though it has feminist themes, Ada herself is somewhat self-hating of women and seems to take her trauma out on the women in the book rather than the men who hurt her. Grey Dog is well-written, and Ada’s descent is reminiscent of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This novel had so many themes, such as trauma, sapphic love, rape, birth, death, gender roles, and yearning that it is a haunting read that will have you thinking about it and running online to find out what others thought of it. I recommend it, though the ending might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

 

Reviewed by Lucy Nguyen

 

Posted on April 4, 2026 by , Reply

Book Review: Those That Pursue Us Yet by Kyla Lee Ward

Cover art for Those That Pursue Us Yet by Kyla Lee Ward

Those That Pursue Us Yet by Kyla Lee Ward

Independent Legions Publishing, 2023

ISBN: 9791280713797

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com

 

Those That Pursue Us Yet is a pretty well-written but frustrating novella.  The wording is very good, and the descriptions and settings are well-done, but the plot feels like a bit of an afterthought, and the minimal dialogue doesn’t help move it forward.

 

Almost the entire book takes place in dreams, which is both good and bad. The good is that it allows the author to get away with some pretty wild things that aren’t possible in reality, but the bad is that it makes the whole story seem disjointed.  There are a lot of good set pieces, but it starts to seem like the story is done more for that purpose, as opposed to driving a narrative forward.

 

In the story, Wander and Madeline, patient and shrink, are two women caught in a weird kind of dream hell whenever they fall asleep, as they are pursued by an entity, Phobetor,  Unfortunately, there really isn’t any information given to flesh out Phobetor as a character. It’s simply there.  Both Madeline and Wander can manipulate their dreams to some extent, although they aren’t supposed to pass beyond some sort of metaphysical barrier, as that puts them in Phobetor’s range.  They have safe areas, symbols to link to different dreams, and so on. If it sounds kind of confusing, it is. The whole story is focused on brief moments of wakefulness spaced among numerous dream sequences, and it just doesn’t feel cohesive. More dialogue and keeping focused on the plot would have helped.

 

The author has talent: many of the dream sequences are really well written.  The beach scene of skulls was well done, and the sections in the catacombs beneath Paris were also excellent .  The story just needed the same amount of attention paid to the characters and the narrative as to the descriptions and settings.  This might have been something pretty impressive.  As it is, it feels more like an art piece that a select few will get blown away by, and everyone else will just not understand.

 

Bottom line: This will probably find a niche audience that regards it as brilliant, but other readers may want to skip this one.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on April 30, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: The Taxidermist’s Lover by Polly Hall

cover art for The Taxidermist's Lover by Polly Hall

The Taxidermist’s Lover by Polly Hall

Camcat Publishing, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-0744303810

Available: Hardcover, large print paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook (Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com)

 

There are books that just spin into something unique, something that could either crash and burn or catch fire and pull the reader into the pages from the opening chapter. The Taxidermist’s Lover claims to be a modern gothic horror novel, yet it is a bit more than that. Its brave form and writing elevates it from your typical horror yarn.

 

Polly Hall has penned a different sort of novel, with a second person point of view that, while not typical, works well for the story of Scarlett in her love with husband, Henry. Henry has the odd profession of a taxidermist, which obviously seeps into the relationship that undoubtedly turns twisted.

 

The readers follow the strange couple, along with twin sister Rhett and rival Felix, as true love has consequences.

 

Henry has a predilection for creating “special” animals for Scarlett, often mashups of beasts both beautiful and grotesque. She comes to develop a fondness for them, despite their nightmarishness.

 

As Scarlett’s psyche begins to fracture, the story spirals into a hypnotic ellipse that in lesser hands, would fall apart.

 

Hall has created a thing of beauty, with poetic prose that entrances as the sparse story and dialogue swell into a fever dream.

 

Recommended for all gothic horror fans, especially those who enjoy literary fiction.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

Editor’s note: The Taxidermist’s Lover is a nominee on the final ballot of this year’s Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel.

Posted on May 17, 2021 by , Reply
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