There is a very good reason why so many reviews for Gus Moreno’s This Thing Between Us mention the word “unsettling.” This horror-thriller is indeed unsettling, from the first page to the last, and that feeling will likely remain with the reader long after they have finished this frightening story of grief and evil.
Thiago is a widower whose wife is very recently deceased, and This Thing Between Us is written as Thiago telling his wife about events occurring after her death. As the reader we do not know at first whether this is meant to help him cope with grief, shed some guilt, or to try and make sense out of a world he can no longer bear to be in without his beloved Vera. The anger and grief Thiago is trying to deal with absolutely leap off the page as Moreno tugs on the reader’s heart over and over again.
The circumstances of Vera’s death, however, begin to take the story in a different direction, and it is easy to feel that Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, and Stephen King must have all been influences on Moreno at some point. Elements of movies as varied as Hereditary and 2001: A Space Odyssey can also be found within this gripping tale. The creepy feelings, worry, and dread don’t stop as Thiago continues to tell Vera the direction his life took following her death.
Most certainly not for squeamish types, unexplainable phenomena take the story down extraordinarily dark paths. The already fine lines between man and machine, between grief and rage, between fear and paranoia are blurred even further as Moreno drags readers through every dark emotion.
This Thing Between Us is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
