A review by howlinglibraries
Them by Mique Watson

dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

 
There's no such thing as monsters, right? Right?
There are.
And they look like you and I.

I've been terrified of the idea of doppelgangers and body-snatchers since I was a little kid. I remember waking up in the mornings and being afraid to get out of bed and say hello to my parents because I was convinced that I would wake up one day and they would have been replaced with something else. I had nightmares about it for years! Needless to say, doppelganger horror hits me in a sweet spot and Them tackled the trope pretty well. I wish there had been more emphasis on the fear of not knowing if someone is really who they say they are or a mimic, but there is one scene (I won't tell you where) that hit the nail on the head and gave me full-blown goosebumps!

I can't review this without talking about the violence and gore, because wow, this book is depraved lol. I read a decent amount of extreme horror, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm hard to please because gratuitous violence rarely affects me, but this book had a couple of scenes that left me feeling sick to my stomach for a few hours afterward. DEFINITELY check my trigger warnings below if you think you'll need them! A lot of the novella's strengths lay in the fact that Mique Watson did a great job of making me care about the characters before harm came to them, which made it hit home a lot harder.

As far as downsides go, the writing could have used a little more editing, mostly in terms of continuity and dialogue (there are a few scenes with back-and-forth dialogue with nothing to break it up and no "she said", "so-and-so said", etc.; hard to explain in a review, but it made it tough to follow). I also wish there had been more of an explanation as to what was going on and how this all began. Honestly, Them could have been fleshed out into a full-length novel, no problem! All of that said, I had a really good time reading this (even if I spent a good bit of that time wrinkling my nose in disgust or cringing in sympathy) and I'm excited to read more of this author's work soon. 
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