The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
No one likes to admit their grandmother is a horrible person.
But even if it is true, family is family, and when they die, you have to deal with their stuff.
This is why Mouse and her elderly coonhound Bongo find themselves in rural North Carolina, left with the seemingly impossible task of cleaning out the mounds of junk overflowing from every room.
Unfortunately for Mouse, dealing with the former hoarder’s house turns out to be the least of her problems.
In her step-grandfather’s old room, the only space that is remotely clear, she comes across his journal.
Initially believing the entries were the writing of a man suffering from dementia and abuse, the words start to have an eerie truthfulness to them.
On a walk, she and Bongo stumble into an area of the woods where Mouse has never been before, despite having lived here as a child.
There they find dozens of enormous white rocks carved with twisted, distorted faces.
Some of the locals admit there is something strange in the woods but no one has any answers about the grotesque sculptures.
Only when Mouse receives a note asking for help from what she believes is her step-grandfather does she decide that she must find out who the “twisted ones” are and what it is they want.
T. Kingfisher’s The Twisted Ones is a fast paced folklore horror novel that manages to be both creepy and funny.
By the end, one might take away that it is generally best to avoid actively seeking out monsters in the woods.
