#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #51: This Thing Between Us [Debut]

After a week off for my vacation, the giveaway is back and this time it is an exciting debut which I am featuring in the August issue of Booklist. More on that below, but first here is a rules reminder:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that  week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #50. Our winner was Ivette from the Crawfordsville District Public Library Library [IN].

Now on to This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno which is this week's giveaway. I have a full review in the August issue of Booklist which is also the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror spotlight issue. I will be posting that draft review with more bonus info on the regular blog soon, but in the meantime here is the plot summary: 

A widower battles his grief, rage, and the mysterious evil inhabiting his home smart speaker, in this mesmerizing horror thriller from Gus Moreno.

It was Vera's idea to buy the Itza. The "world's most advanced smart speaker!" didn't interest Thiago, but Vera thought it would be a bit of fun for them amidst all the strange occurrences happening in the condo. It made things worse. The cold spots and scratching in the walls were weird enough, but peculiar packages started showing up at the house--who ordered industrial lye? Then there was the eerie music at odd hours, Thiago waking up to Itza projecting light shows in an empty room.

It was funny and strange right up until Vera was killed, and Thiago's world became unbearable. Pundits and politicians all looking to turn his wife's death into a symbol for their own agendas. A barrage of texts from her well-meaning friends about letting go and moving on. Waking to the sound of Itza talking softly to someone in the living room . . .

The only thing left to do was get far away from Chicago. Away from everything and everyone. A secluded cabin in Colorado seemed like the perfect place to hole up with his crushing grief. But soon Thiago realizes there is no escape--not from his guilt, not from his simmering rage, and not from the evil hunting him, feeding on his grief, determined to make its way into this world.

A bold, original horror novel about grief, loneliness and the oppressive intimacy of technology, This Thing Between Us marks the arrival of a spectacular new talent

I really enjoyed this debut. The only reason I did not give it a star is because the ending fizzled out a bit, but that is common with debuts. I do need to note that there is a death of a dog in this story; I found a way to note that in the review. Here are a few of my notes since the review is not up yet though.

Three Words That Describe This Book: original, Cosmic Horror, escalating terror

From the last line of my raft review:

Moreno has melded a thought-provoking novel about mourning that is unapologetically Horror much like the very best of 21st Cosmic Horror such as THE FISHERMAN by Langan or THE HOLLOW PLACES by Kingfisher.

What is fascinating here is that it is both a novel about mourning and a nefarious presence at the same time. It also reminded me of the way Stephen Graham Jones writes where every detail matters. As I read I made this note: "SGJ in training" and then I saw Moreno thank him in the acknowledgements.

This novel comes out in October. It is a can't miss debut. I am very excited to see what he writes next, but in the meantime, you should put this in your carts to add to your collections right now.