My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen
In a world where the dead can wake and walk among us, what is truly real?
Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the only good thing in Roos’ life, which is filled with sordid backroom séances organized by her mother. That is, until wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop attends one of these séances and asks Roos to come live with her at the crumbling estate she inherited upon the death of her husband. The manor is unsettling, but the attraction between Roos and Agnes is palpable. So how does someone end up dead?
Roos is caught red-handed, but she claims a spirit is the culprit. Doctor Montague, a psychologist tasked with finding out whether Roos can be considered mentally fit to stand trial, suspects she’s created an elaborate fantasy to protect her from what really happened. But Roos knows spirits are real; she’s loved one of them. She’ll have to prove her innocence and her sanity, or lose everything.
Review:
I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It’s no secret that I love a creepy book, and when I read the synopsis for this one, I was immediately intrigued. Ghostly companions, seances, and murder? Sign me up! Overall, I found this to be a haunting and atmospheric tale that kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime.
The story follows Roos Beckman, a 20-something woman who, for the last several years, has acted as the “spirit conduit” for her “mother’s” seances. These started with Roos being stuffed beneath the floorboards to pull levers and knock on the floor to trick the customers, but one day, when she is particularly distressed, Roos cuts herself and suddenly finds that she has attracted a mysterious spirit companion named Ruth, who changes the trajectory of Mama’s business.
Years later, Roos (with Ruth’s help) pretends to be possessed by the spirits of grieving customers’ dead loved ones. Roos isn’t happy with her life, but she sees no alternative until a beautiful woman named Agatha appears. Agatha offers Mama a hefty sum of money to hire Roos as a companion and whisks her away to a crumbling estate where Agatha resides with her dead husband’s dying sister, Wilemijn. Roos finally begins to thrive now that she is away from Mama’s abuse, but it’s not long before Roos learns the truth about why Agatha brought Roos to the manor, and just as things have started to look up for Roos, a new danger finds its way to her.
From the very first page, van Veen sets the stage with vivid descriptions that transport the reader to the eerie world of Roos. The author’s writing style is both beautiful and chilling, creating a sense of unease that lingers throughout the entire novel. If there’s one thing this book has, it’s a great atmosphere and constant feeling of dread. Ruth is a corpse-like spirit who has been dead for centuries, yet she is the only source of solace in Roos’ tumultuous life. van Veen masterfully explores the dynamics of their relationship, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. I also loved that Ruth was both loving and dangerous. I felt that at any moment, she could have killed Roos just as easily as she loved her if she wanted to.
As the story unfolds, Roos finds herself caught in a web of deceit and betrayal. Why was Agatha drawn to her? Was it to reconnect with her dead husband, or was there something even more dangerous at play in the manor? As we learn at the beginning of the book, at least one person that Roos had contact with is dead, and she is being interrogated in connection with the alleged murder. As the book progresses, the tension mounts as Doctor Montague, a psychologist tasked with evaluating Roos’ mental state, tries to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death. The book alternates between past and present, and as it does, we hear things from Roos’ first-person perspective with Dr. Montague’s transcripts peppered in.
As the novel plays out, Van Veen expertly weaves elements of mystery, romance, and the supernatural to create a captivating and chilling story with an amazing cast of characters, each with their own motivations and secrets. From Roos and her connection with Ruth to the enigmatic Agnes Knoop, the ailing Wilemijn, and Agnes’ dead husband, Thomas, every character feels fully realized and adds depth to the story. The crumbling estate where much of the action takes place is a character in itself, adding to the overall atmosphere of suspense and foreboding.
Throughout the novel, van Veen raises thought-provoking questions about guilt, innocence, and the nature of reality. Is Roos truly communicating with spirits, or is she simply a troubled young woman in need of help? Roos suffered a lot of emotional and sexual abuse as a child, and there were times when I wondered if maybe Ruth was just a coping mechanism for Roos and if the story that she relayed to Dr. Montague was only real to her. The author mostly leaves it up to the reader to decide, adding an extra layer of complexity to an already engrossing story. I think my only complaint with this one was that I wanted a little more tension in the third act. I felt it could have been much creepier, and honestly, I felt it dragged on a little too long.
Minor issues aside, I found this to be a creepy and engrossing read. I would definitely recommend this to fans of gothic fiction and mysteries. Johanna van Veen’s bold and creative storytelling will keep you riveted from beginning to end and leave you thinking long after you’ve turned the final page.
