The Blade Between

By: Sam J. Miller

Synopsis: “From Nebula Award winner Sam J. Miller comes a frightening and uncanny ghost story about a rapidly changing city in upstate New York and the mysterious forces that threaten it.
“Ronan Szepessy promised himself he’d never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City’s distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge. 
“Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom’s wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become—overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbors getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose their true motives. But in doing so, they unleash something far more mysterious and uncontainable. 
“Hudson has a rich, proud history and, it turns out, the real estate developers aren’t the only forces threatening its well-being: the spirits undergirding this once-thriving industrial town are enraged. Ronan’s hijinks have overlapped with a bubbling up of hate and violence among friends and neighbors, and everything is spiraling out of control. Ronan must summon the very best of himself to shed his own demons and save the city he once loathed.”

Genre: Adult Fiction

Content Warnings: Drug Addiction, Drug Overdose, Drug Use, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Homophobic Slurs, Immolation, Major and Minor Character Deaths, Murder, Past Parent Death, Physical Violence, Racism Suicide, Rape, Transphobia

Why You Should Read It: If you asked me to tell you what happened in this book, I’m not sure I could. Part of the reason it has taken me so long to put this review into words is that I am still trying to wrap my head around this complex, but incredibly wonderful, story. I know there is a town called Hudson in New York, and rich NYC folk have chosen it as their newest vacation spot. Rent prices are skyrocketing, local businesses are going under, and at the center of this is a man running for mayor, who runs some kind of online artist commune. I know there is magic in the earth in Hudson, that there are whales in the sky, and ghosts whispering in everyone’s ears. I know that this all culminates in incredible, terrible violence. I know what happens in this book, but I am still struggling with it for some reason. I lie in bed thinking about time like a piece of paper that’s been folded over and over again so that the creases are almost translucent, so that the different parts of it touch each other so close they might as well be the same part. I think about drowning on dry land, the tide that nobody else can see coming right up to your doorstep, minds bent and broken by the weight of centuries of horror.

If you asked me what happened in this book, I’m not sure I could tell you. What I could tell you is that it is a book that everyone needs to read. It is absolutely mind-boggling, and I will be wrestling with it for months to come, I am sure. If you like fantasy horror, and books that just niggle at your for the rest of your life, then you need to read The Blade Between.

My Rating: 4/5 stars