If bugs or bodily functions or any combination of the two are even remotely triggering to you I’m going to need you to step away from this book. Right now. You’ll thank me later.

Wolf Worm is an ode to why you shouldn’t trust cantankerous old men with unlimited resources when they have a clinical hyperfixation on a subjectively icky topic and no respect for other human beings. T Kingfisher presents us with another anxious protagonist, Sonia, who is just about ready to find her feet in the world despite her brain undermining her at every opportunity. A talented illustrator with a preference for plants, she accepts the task of illustrating an eccentric entomologist’s life’s work in order to escape the drudge work of teaching art at an austere school. Very quickly, odd things begin to happen and Sonia can’t help herself from turning over stones everyone else is adamant should stay put.

This is one of those books where it’s difficult to tell if the author has found a way to inject their special interest into their novel, or if they’ve managed to do so much research on the topic that it’s hard to believe that it hasn’t been their special interest since age two. Sonia is an illustrator and a painter and Kingfisher captures the small quirks and insider knowledge that only a painter would know (in my amateur opinion), particularly when it comes to the tools needed to paint teeny tiny insects and their teeny tiny parts. I am absolutely not a bug person, but I was fighting the urge to visit the nearest natural history museum and press my face to the glass. Can I humbly request an illustrated special edition?

Kingfisher combines the abject bugginess of this story with threads of North Carolina folklore that live on the cusp of fantasy. The ‘blood thiefs’ are a compelling, confusing, and fairly disgusting element (as if there wasn’t enough of that going on already) and I enjoyed this interpretation immensely. I would like a spin-off, please and thank you.

Character work is nearly always a strength in Kingfisher’s books and this one is no different. Whether you want to wrap them in a hug, give them a smack, or do everything they say, every character evokes a strong reaction from the reader and it’s very hard not to become attached. A painful thing for a standalone novel. 

This is a gentle plod into danger with a comfortingly familiar framework and enough disgusting twists to keep you on your toes. Kingfisher has produced another solid folk horror with a fresh set of themes to attract the morbidly curious and the slightly unhinged. I thoroughly recommend it.

Wolf Worm is due for release 26th March from Tor Nightfire, you can pre-order your copy on Bookshop.org