Teeth In The Mist

Written by Dawn Kurtagich

Published by Little Brown, June 11, 2019

My star rating – 5 stars

THE SYNOPSIS:

Before the birth of time, a monk uncovers the Devil’s Tongue and dares to speak it. The repercussions will be felt for generations…

Sixteen-year-old photography enthusiast Zoey has been fascinated by the haunted, burnt-out ruins of Medwyn Mill House for as long as she can remember–so she and her best friend, Poulton, run away from home to explore them. But are they really alone in the house? And who will know if something goes wrong?

In 1851, seventeen-year-old Roan arrives at the Mill House as a ward–one of three, all with something to hide from their new guardian. When Roan learns that she is connected to an ancient secret, she must escape the house before she is trapped forever.

1583. Hermione, a new young bride, accompanies her husband to the wilds of North Wales where he plans to build the largest water mill and mansion in the area. But rumors of unholy rituals lead to a tragic occurrence and she will need all her strength to defeat it.

Three women, centuries apart, drawn together by one Unholy Pact. A pact made by a man who, more than a thousand years later, may still be watching… Find it on Goodreads

MY REVIEW:

When I read the last sentence, I closed the book and stared at it in my lap for a solid minute. All I could think was “What the hell did I just read?”…. but in the best way possible! This book was HIGHLY addicting. Maybe even bordering on obsessive and hypnotic! None of which I was expecting. This book was such a surprise!

Let me first warn you that this book was REALLY hard to get into. I almost DNF’d it within the first 40 pages because I was so dang confused! So I’ll start with explaining the basics in the hopes that it clears things up for you and makes it an easier start. We get 3 “perspectives” that span from the 1500’s until current day. First we have Zoey, who is our present day perspective. She sees dark figures and has abilities to “conjure” along with her father. But their conjuring comes at a price. Her’s is truth and blood. Her fathers was memory. After visiting a place called Mill House he lost all his memories and now lives in assisted care and doesn’t even remember his family. So Zoey sets out to investigate Mill House in the hopes that she can cure her father. Perspective two is Roan in the 1800’s. After her father, who taught her dark magic, dies, she travels to a place called Mill House to be the ward of Dr Maudley. She doesn’t know this man, or even why her father left her in his care. But when strange things happen and people go missing, she wonders if her training as a child has something to do with it. Perspective three is Hermoine, set in the 1500’s. Her perspective comes in the form of diary entries. She and her husband founded and built Mill House. As it turns out, strange happenings have been going on for centuries. All of these women have a connection. Something dark in common. And this book brings the whole thing together.

Let me also warn you – this book is DARK! I mean reallllly dark….. and I loved every minute of it! It’s a retelling of the legend of Faust. A German tale of a man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and a long life. But this book takes it to a level that I could never expect! There was madness, magic, languages, abilities, symbols, missing people, priests, torture, death, and so much more! If this could be made into a movie I still don’t think that it would live up to what I imagined in my head while reading this. It was creepy, dark, and generously twisted…… I’m not kidding! I really wish that I could explain in some detail the things that happened but, I wouldn’t want to spoil a single delicious detail. I know I just finished this, but I almost want to go back and reread a few parts because it was just so creepy!!!

And then there’s the format! I absolutely can’t wait until this is published and I can take a look at the final product! Sprinkled throughout are pictures (that were not included in the ARC version), drawings, and letters. I can only imagine that seeing pictures would increase the creep factor! Fans of Ransom Riggs will LOVE this! And then another interesting format was Zoey’s perspective. For the most part, we learned of her tale through journal entries and transcriptions of the videos she took while at Mill House. This reminded me SO much of The Blair Witch Project movie. The snapshots of what she was seeing, journal entires with what she was feeling, the conflict between friends, the madness and distrust…. Each perspective gave us something totally different and brought so many layers to this story. Between the enormity of the plot itself, the span of time, and the different ways this story was told, this is one of the most layered and complicated books I’ve ever read! And being that these three women were from very different periods of time, the author did a great job with the differences in language, dress, and social interaction.

I really wish I could say more! I could go on forever about this book but I don’t want to ruin the reading experience for anyone! I finished this in less than 48 hours…. I couldn’t stop reading and I NEEDED to know what was happening!

Thank you so much to Little Brown and Hachette Book Group Canada for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and are uninfluenced.

Until next time, happy reading!