From Powells.com
Discover the books that made our 2022 list.
The Best Books of 2022 (So Far)
Staff Pick
Deliciously sinister and wistfully written in the crispiest, crunchiest sentences, Moreno kicked this possession tale out of the park. After his wife passes with shocking suddenness under disturbing circumstances, Thiago, numb with grief, finds himself reaching into the dark to look for her... Recommended By SitaraG, Powells.com
This book. Oh god. This clever, creepy, devastating little book full of stark insights and aching loss and deep love and strange happenings and gross monsters and writing so profoundly good it floored me. This book, it's heartbreaking and funny and scary and will rip out your heart and present it back to you beating and raw. Recommended By Heather A., Powells.com
This Thing Between Us is a horror novel with a bleeding heart. Simultaneously eerie and affecting, it warns how grief can corrupt and let evil into our lives, despite our best intentions. I was struck by how timely and urgent this book was, too: Moreno manages to blend his supernatural scares with the horrors of our contemporary lives. The result becomes something unsettling and deeply honest. Recommended By Nicole S, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
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
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.
Review
"The worst kind of grief, technology that activates all your paranoia, and a line between madness and sanity that's so blurry as to not even matter...Hold on, this isn't a ride, it's a slide, and it doesn't care whether you're ready or not." — Stephen Graham Jones, bestselling author of The Only Good Indians
Review
“In graceful prose peppered with terrifyingly vivid descriptions, Moreno gives a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey to explore the perils of technology while probing the all-too-human complexities of grief…Moreno [is] a horror writer to watch.” — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
“Bone-chilling...Moreno makes clever use of structure to maximize dread…Harrowing existential horror that lingers like a nightmare.” — Kirkus (Starred Review)
About the Author
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.