What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Reviewed By: Julie Nutt, Communications Specialist
Genre: Gothic horror
Suggested Age: Adults, Teens
What is This Book About? In a reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, a retired soldier is summoned to the home of their childhood friends, Roderick and Madeline Usher, as Madeline is dying from a mysterious, undefined malady. Upon arrival at the looming, decaying house of Usher and its frightening landscape, it becomes clear to the retired soldier that both of their friends are afflicted with some sort of dark, physically and mentally-consuming possession. Could it be the very land and water around them that is about to swallow every resident of the Usher house?
My Review: This truly is a retelling of Poe’s Usher, almost to a T, but with more physiological causes behind the Usher madness, and the clever addition of an LGBTQ (nonbinary) narrator. The narrator’s gender identity in What Moves could parallel the fact that the narrator in Poe’s Usher is never identified.
The scientific aspects of What Moves are fascinating: the prospect that naturally occurring parasite might take over a living being and cause terrifying, terminal results. Another interesting parallel is that the novel was published in 2022, meaning it was probably written during the COVD pandemic, and published just as the pandemic wound down.
I will admit, the grotesque cover art is what caught my eye initially, but as soon as I began reading, I knew I had correctly judged the book. What Moves the Dead is a quick, but definitely not light, read. I can’t wait to read the sequel, What Feasts at Night, as well as Kingfisher’s novels The Hollow Places and The Twisted Ones. If What Moves the Dead were made into a movie or limited series, I would definitely watch just to see it play out on screen.
Three words that describe this book: dark, disturbing, suspenseful
Read this if you like… Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, Stephen Graham Jones
Rating: 5/5
