“My life was a series of disasters, and the aftermaths only attracted scavengers who’d pick the rubble for parts they could use for their own means.”

This Thing Between Us is a story about grief above all, particularly the grief felt after a sudden, and politicized death.

There are various factors that make me struggle to review this book. First of all, it was my first audiobook, because that was all that was available at my library. It’s certainly a different experience than sitting down to read something, and while not unpleasant, I found myself distracted a little more easily, which makes me hesitate to be critical given I might’ve missed a few important details. Second of all, this novel is… strange to say the least. The premise is very interesting, a mix of the despair of grief, a bizarre mystery, and a sort of gory, cosmic horror. Generally, I enjoyed the writing and narration, and many passages left a mark on me:

“No journey. No thing to endure. It feels like a corruption of genes, a double helix scrambled in a petri dish, a puppet forced to work on crossed strings, this trees that manage to grow around power lines and stay mangled forever.”

I think my favorite scene was the one with the cook, though I really don’t understand where this went, or what this character ultimately meant. In general, that’s how I feel about this story: so many interesting, well executed elements that fell flat for me in the end, and also felt quite jumbled and confusing. Sometimes the tone of the writing shifted dramatically too, and it was jarring. Usually my reviews or more structured, but really, I don’t have too much left to say. I think that grief-horror is just not my genre, either. I went in blind and came out happy I read it, but a bit let down overall.

Also, if you read this, don’t rely on the blurb about this plot: to be honest, it feels very out of touch with what the book actually is. Go in blind or expecting anything. 

Honestly, my real review is this: “too many cooks! too many cooks… too many cooks! TO MANY COOOOOKKKKS”