This Thing Between Us: A Novel

Written by Gus Moreno

Narrated by Robb Moreira

"A surreal excursion into heartache and horror narrated by a man undone by grief . . . Along with allusions to Rod Serling and The Exorcist, there are shades of H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, zombie literature and, at least once, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy . . . You don't want to read this book right before bed." —Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Book Review

“This intense cosmic horror with a touch of Mexican American folklore is incredibly creepy and moving.” —Margaret Kingsbury, BuzzFeed

A widower battles his grief, rage, and the mysterious evil inhabiting his home smart speaker, in this mesmerizing horror thriller from Gus Moreno.

It was Vera’s idea to buy the Itza. The “world’s most advanced smart speaker!” didn’t interest Thiago, but Vera thought it would be a bit of fun for them amidst all the strange occurrences happening in the condo. It made things worse. The cold spots and scratching in the walls were weird enough, but peculiar packages started showing up at the house—who ordered industrial lye? Then there was the eerie music at odd hours, Thiago waking up to Itza projecting light shows in an empty room.

It was funny and strange right up until Vera was killed, and Thiago’s world became unbearable. Pundits and politicians all looking to turn his wife’s death into a symbol for their own agendas. A barrage of texts from her well-meaning friends about letting go and moving on. Waking to the sound of Itza talking softly to someone in the living room . . .

The only thing left to do was get far away from Chicago. Away from everything and everyone. A secluded cabin in Colorado seemed like the perfect place to hole up with his crushing grief. But soon Thiago realizes there is no escape—not from his guilt, not from his simmering rage, and not from the evil hunting him, feeding on his grief, determined to make its way into this world.

A bold, original horror novel about grief, loneliness and the oppressive intimacy of technology, This Thing Between Us marks the arrival of a spectacular new talent.

A Macmillan Audio production from MCD x FSG Originals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250825209

Gus Moreno

Gus Moreno is the author of This Thing Between Us. His stories have appeared in Aurealis, Pseudopod, Bluestem Magazine, and the Burnt Tongues anthology. He lives in the suburbs with his wife and dogs, but never think that he's not from Chicago for one second.

[Shawn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely amazing! This is one of the first times that I have been thoroughly entertained, grief stricken and terrified all at the same time. It was a wonderful ride!

[Mindy Lowers · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First, I think he’s an excellent author. His descriptions are really great. I liked the idea here but several times I wondered if it was an abridged version. If I had to describe it - watch/read the top recommended horror (a lot of echoes of King here), eat an edible, then tell me about them.

[Dominique · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very creepy and disturbing. Unique story that I was not expecting.

[Rachel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What an amazing horror debut. Like wowowow. This book deals with grief in such a way that makes the readers feel everything but also distance themselves from it. Such an amazing book

[d-fbuser-384038300 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Haunting and terrifying.

A story about grief and death and that thing between you and your loved ones.

But it is also about race and Latinx community and family and love.

A phantasmagorical experience.

[Sam S. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm not really sure I understood the ending but that's okay. The book was everything I had hoped for.

[Nina Quartuccio · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hmmm... interesting, it pulls you in. Teetering on madness or entity, you are not sure what the truth is. The narrator was awesome, and the premise was gripping. Very vivid depictions with horror developing after the second half. Alot of build in the first half, which was done well, playing on the power of grief. Good stuff.

[Phineas Elliott · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I loved the beginning and middle but-

((SPOILER))

Everything after Diane died was hard to understand. The ending was even more hard to understand.

But I'm willing to accept maybe this book isn't meant to be understood or I'm just looking through the wrong lense. I REALLY enjoyed the first part and then MC's interactions with Diane were super entertaining :)

[RachelKaplus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hoooo boy ok
So I’ll preface this by saying horror is pretty much all I consume, so the fact that this gave me literal chills, like fingers on the back of my neck, TWICE is really saying something.

At turns funny, gruesome, mournful, and overall chilling with an escalating sense of unease made worse by the periods of reprieve.

Good stuff. Good good stuff.

[Jon Lunn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The first two thirds of this book were really good and entertaining, and then the wheels just fell off.

[Leia Brown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It started out strong but ultimately kinda fizzed out. It felt as if the second Half of the book was written by a different person. Compared to the clean structure of the the first half, the rest felt like aimless wandering.
Narration was 4 out of 5
But, I Can’t say I recommend this one.

[Duncan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don’t think I liked it. I’m not sure what the story was. It wasn’t overly interesting and considering it supposed to be a A horror novel it wasn’t an awful lot of horror. Lots of stuff about grief, and the void, resentment, But I’m unclear on what the author has to say about any of it. Wasn’t a terribly difficult lesson but it wasn’t very interesting.

[riley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

first half of this book was awesome, second half was disappointing. i wanted so much more for this story

[Kimha Nguyen · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was hard to get into. Description was great but I couldn’t really follow the story. The grief was- exhausting. Every time I dozed for a second, I woke up and it was another delusion or dimension. Again, I didn’t capture the story. I wanted to like it. Probably would have enjoyed it better as a movie.

[John Frost · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Maybe it’s just because it’s in audio book format but I struggled to enjoy it. Though the author has the ability to write great descriptive sections the story felt jumbled. It didn’t really pull me in.

[Beth Bower · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was okay. Started off all right, it was good. Not great, not terrible, it was decent

[Nana · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Was it scary? Yes, very
But I didn't vibe with it at all, didn't want to pick it up at times, don't know why