The Twisted Ones

Written by T. Kingfisher

Narrated by Hillary Huber

Winner of the RUSA Award for Best Horror

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 reads 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781508297475

T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher, also known as Ursula Vernon, is the author and illustrator of many projects, including the webcomic “Digger,” which won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story and the Mythopoeic Award. Her novelette “The Tomato Thief” won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and her short story “Jackalope Wives” won the Nebula Award for Best Story. She is also the author of the bestselling Dragonbreath, and the Hamster Princess series of books for children. Find her online at RedWombatStudio.com.

Reviews for The Twisted Ones

[Elli · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Uniquely spooky! A good story with interesting legends within it, made me want more answers (in a good way).

[Rabab · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book as an Audio read! It promises to creep you out, and it did! (At least for me). A good scary read for the fall season.

[Midnight So Dreary · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book is extremely overrated. It's not the worst book I've ever read, but certainly not the best. It had a few interesting moments, but overall I felt like it was a chore to finish.

[Biblio · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Am I the only one who is stuck near the end of the book, in the middle of a sentence, not capable to continue to read because of a Scribd bug? Scribd is telling me that I have 0% left to read, but this is impossible, this is the middle of a sentence!! End of chapter 23, where the chapters table tells me that this book have 25 chapter. Wtheck? It tells me it's error #205, but other books in the appli all works. This is really pissing me off.

[sashastorylover · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fairly scary, the narrator is a very endearing person, I liked the sense of humor.

[Katrina Dailey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was just ok. I lost interest part way through because the story slowed down.

[slmr4242 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Truly creepy. Loved it!

[Shari Stephens · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good story-A little long winded,vivid imagination thank you ,reader was perfect

[Paula Michelle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took me a minute to get into the voice actor. By the time we met Foxy I was in love. Sorry got a little weird, but it was an easy listen and made my commute enjoyable.

[Brett Britton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked it a lot. It was different and the narration was excellent.

[Dianne Post · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Spooky!! I loved the narrators voice. The story gave me goosebumps. If you too believe in the fae this book is for you. Enjoy xx

[vee palmer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful read. Especially if you’re a dog lover. Hope to find more by this author. The narrator was great too.

[Tali · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“The Twisted Ones”, by T. Kingfisher

#50states50horrorbooks - North Carolina

I read her second horror novel, “Hollow Places”, earlier this year and noticed many similarities between the two novels.

“The Twisted Ones” follows Mouse, a young woman tasked with clearing out her dead estranged grandmother’s house, located in a remote forest in North Carolina. To her horror, she realized her grandmother was a hoarder and the task might be more difficult than she expected.

“The Twisted Ones” is a classic horror story set up with a house in the woods where creepy things happen. A house with spotty internet, a phone that keeps overheating and a floor that cannot be accessed temporarily. Meanwhile, there are noises in the forest. T. Kingfisher really knows how to set the mood for a good horror tale.

Although the audiobook drew me in from the beginning, there was a bit of a lag in the middle of the book that caused me to lose focus.

The thing that really drew me in was the chracters. They seemed so real and the entire story was told from the main characters point of view, became very real to me. The side characters, Foxy, Thomas and sweet Bongo the dog really brought the story to life. Dog lovers should read this story. Mouse’s love for Bongo is unconditional and she will do anything for that dog. One of my favorite things was that Mouse did not encounter horrors on her own. She shared everything with her friends and had their support. From the atmosphere to the characters, I had a great time listening to “The Twisted Ones”.

4 stars

[Kendall Miller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Literally couldn't stop it had to finish it in one sitting. Creepy but not horribly scary and its terrifying in that it will make you think about what's left behind when a person leaves. What becomes of the items and ideas left behind.

[joseph8wood · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Kinda cheesy, not scary or spooky at all. . .

[lance moss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This narrator is absolutely amazing! I chose this book after listening to her read All the Hollow Places and wasn’t disappointed. I will seek her out, along with other great narrators. I never realized how important this skill/talent is until I tried to listen to some of my favorite books that I read myself previously.

[Deborah Page · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story! Perfect combination of creepy "don't listen to this alone at night" and humor. The narration was perfect.

[Mandi Gleason · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book! I can't say enough good things about it!

[Lorli Woitas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narrator had a great reading voice. Very believable style

[Sarah Vossen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wasn’t expecting to be as gripped as I was by this story but it sucks you in and doesn’t let go. I didn’t get scared but it was such a good book it didn’t matter!

[Crazed Apps · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was nice. Really weird. The characters were nice, and it was surprising enough.

[paul · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was great. I love Kingfishers writing voice. It is quirky and fun while still being terrifying.

[Quillian Miller · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hooked me! Not sure if I’d define it as horror, but the characters were vivid and the suspense palatable.

[Tomek Zabczyński · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not really a horror, not scary, no depth. Not recommended

[Seth Guthrie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun read with lots of twists and turns. Good voice actor to listen to.

[Temple Ellis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nicely done. I liked the Hollow Places as well and hopes she will write more books with similar adult female leads characters.

[Jessica Kopchik · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book started a little slow for me but turned out excellent! Especially Foxy!

[Erin Crook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book. Creepy as hell, some real nightmare images. Smart ass characters are a little far-fetched but I enjoyed them. The ending surprised me a little. Recommend

[Skye K. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely fantastic! Dark, otherworldly, and I couldn't put it down!

[mirekluza · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story based as a standalone sequel of a classic English horror story.

Though I could not get into it. Perhaps it was a problem of the main character - the same woman appears just with different name in almost all T.Kingfisher's books - 30+ woman, independent,witty, living alone with experiences of broken relainship, no family/children of her own and generally cold family relations. The character was great in "Hollow places" or "Clockwork boys", but seeing her everywhere is too much (even supposedly seventeen year old girl in "Briony and the roses" is the instance of the same). Time for a change.
Also the relationship to the dog in this book - things like "I cannot break down, because I must save my dog", "if it was not for my dog, I would not make it", "I cannot leave, I have to save my dog" - basically the most important being for the main character is not a human but a dog... And the dog's life is kind of more precious that human life.

In general the book is worth reading, though I had to admit to have to force myself in some places (unlike "Hollow places" or "Clockwork boys" where I could not stop till the end).