Alex Easton, a retired soldier from the nation of Galicia, arrives at the home of their childhood friends Madeline and Roderick Usher, after they had received a letter from Madeline asking for help. Upon their arrival, Alex notices just how dire the situation is for the Usher family. And what’s up with the rabbits on the property?

WHAT MOVES THE DEAD is a reimagining or re-telling of Edgar Allan Poe’s THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER. Having not read the original story nor having seen the recent Netflix adaptation may have played a part in just how much I enjoyed this story as I didn’t have Poe’s story to compare it to.

In the afterword, author T. Kingfisher writes about how she wanted to dive deeper into what caused Madeline’s sickness in the original story and in doing so, produced a thorough deep dive into mushrooms and fungal infections. I found this endlessly fascinating. Kingfisher’s unsettling descriptions of Madeline’s transformation as well as the atmosphere of a property literally crumbling down around its inhabitants made this story damn near unputdownable. As far as the aforementioned rabbits go, there is just something decidedly disconcerting about naturally skittish animals that remain still and do not move in the face of danger.

Knowing it was a horror novel, one thing I was not expecting was just how funny this ended up being. As I said to my wife as I was reading the story, while the novel’s comedic moments are few and far between, when they’re used, they’re used to great effect. I was laughing out loud at Alex’s dry and razor-sharp wit. Their batman, Angus, was also a great character who helped ground the story when the seemingly supernatural events began to take Alex’s sanity off the rails.

It’s been about a week since I finished the book and I’m still thinking about it. It will most certainly be in my Top 10 come December, and as of now, it’s most likely the best thing I’ve read this year.