My Darling Dreadful Thing

I just finished My Darling Dreadful thing by Johanna Van Veen and here are my thoughts.
Roos Beckman has a gift. Her mama uses her to make people believe they are being contacted by their deceased loved ones... In reality Roos has a spirit companion only she can see, the spirit she calls Ruth.... One that takes over her body during these seances to fool the people that come.


When Agnes Knoop, a beautiful young and wealthy widow attends one of the seances, she does something Roos never expected... She looks right at Ruth. No one has ever noticed Ruth before. When Agnes offers Roos mother a handsome sum of money to take Roo away with her, her mother agrees. The estate is falling apart and the real reason Agnes brings her to the place has become apparent. With Agne's sister in law sick and ailing, the house smells like death but the relationship between Roo and Agnes grows closer.
Something happens at the estate that leaves someone dead and Roos is on trial for the murder. The story she has to tell not only sheds light on what happened that night but also on her sanity.
This was a really dark book. We get the story in 2 ways. The flashbacks to the past starting with Roos and being exploited and starved by her mother and then in the form of her interview with a specialist to see if she was crazy during her murder trial. I wasn't a fan of the short hand in the interviews. Miss K, W -. It got confusing trying to decipher who they were talking about. Why didn't the author just write the name or short hand it to one type instead of Miss K sometimes and then W. Plus having a Mrs K and a Miss K... UGHHHHHHH.
That was probably my only real issue with the book. I didn't want to have to think that hard ya know. The book really builds slowly but the whole time it is eerie and you can really feel the atmosphere building.. Gets the heart racing just a little bit at a time. ‘
There is a lot to unpack in this book. Mental health, abuse, family drama, incest, a lot of religious zealotism with the chapel and the statues... Enough to set my teeth on edge! Loved the classic creepy house gothic vibes and it was really well written. Has some Sapphic romance in there too which I actually quite enjoyed. You can see how these two young women with a lot in common could end up feeling a certain way about each other and it was tastefully done.
Definitely an unusual read but I enjoyed the heck out of it and for a debut... WOWWWWW
4.5 stars


Thank you @poisonpenpress and @netgalley for my gifted copy. Released yesterday so grab a copy now.