Books
‘The Fox and the Devil’ Review – Kiersten White Reinvents the Van Helsing Legacy with Page-Turner
One of the enduring appeals of Bram Stoker’s Dracula comes not in the primary narrative, but in the sense that we’ve sunk hip deep into one corner of some kind of dark sandbox. There is a sense, looming over the whole novel, that Stoker’s dreaded vampire and his fearless vampire hunters are only a small part of a grander tapestry of the weird, which has, of course, fueled countless offshoots of the tale over more than a century.
The Fox and the Devil is Kiersten White‘s second go ’round with a Dracula riff (her novel Lucy Undying was the first), and while she’s clearly thought quite thoroughly and carefully about where the story could go next, this book is anything but a straightforward sequel to Stoker’s narrative. Instead, White looks closely at all those grains of sand in that vast, folkloric sandbox, picks out the shiniest one she can find, and weaves a story of her very own, a tale of the Van Helsing family that reaches far beyond Dracula and into a dark detective story with serious bite.
In the closing years of the 19th century, Abraham Van Helsing’s daughter Anneke finds a clue that could finally solve her father’s brutal death, a sign of the mysterious and beautiful woman she saw the night the elder Van Helsing died. By day, Anneke works as a consulting detective in Amsterdam, and by night she both cares for her agoraphobic mother and stews over her quest for vengeance. So when the mysterious woman resurfaces, she sets off on a journey across the European continent, eager to finally get closure for her entire family. What she finds instead is a dark web of secrets so thick that even Abraham Van Helsing might not have fully grasped it.
The winning twist here is that, despite knowing the strange circumstances of her father’s death, Anneke does not believe in the supernatural. Like her father was as a younger man, she is a scientist, a seeker of truth that she can observe and note and study. In her eyes, her father didn’t discover vampires in his later years, but spiralled into madness, keeping journals full of mythical creatures that do not, and never did, exist. Anneke’s journey, then, parallels her father’s own discovery that the world is darker, stranger, and more frightening than he could have imagined.
That might be enough for an interesting, if smaller, version of this story, but White does not stop there. The Fox and the Devil is an epic in every sense, an expansive historical mystery that’s also a twisted supernatural romance. Several times, the narrative reaches a place that might feel like a natural conclusion point for any other story, and White pushes further, giving Anneke new wrinkles to the mystery, new feelings with which to contend. It’s a novel that never lets go of its constantly expanding ambition, and while that does produce the occasional exposition-filled passage that threatens the pace a bit, White never loses her grip on the story.
White also never loses her grip on Anneke Van Helsing, a remarkable and engaging character who could easily carry several more paranormal mysteries on the strength of her voice, her wit, and her sense of adventure. Anneke’s relationship with her family, and her famous/infamous father, is complex and often surprising, but it’s her relationship with the phantom woman tied to Abraham’s death that drives the story. Their shared game is one of pursuit, but not entirely in service of violence or vengeance. There’s a romance budding somewhere in the depths of this story, and White’s ability to delicately dance through the conflicting emotions this brings out in her protagonist is one of the book’s great strengths.
What starts with a compelling first-person voice soon becomes a peek into a fully formed, often deeply conflicted yet endlessly brave new character. If Anneke returns in a future book, I will be thrilled. For now, though, if you love historical horror or you want a book that reinvents and expands the Van Helsing legacy like never before, The Fox and the Devil is a must read.
The Fox and the Devil is available now wherever you get your books.
Books
Urban Legends, Serial Killers, and Space Epics: 10 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read This June
We have entered summer reading season.
Schools are emptying, beaches are filling, and it’s a great time to pack a tote full of brand-new books and get some reading done in the shade. But even if the sun is bright, your fiction can still be dark, because June is absolutely packed with great new horror releases from rising stars and genre icons.
From a Psycho retelling to a dark twist on Peter Pan lore to a new book from a Pulitzer Prize winner, these are the horror titles we can’t wait to crack open this June.
The Children by Melissa Albert – June 2
A blend of dark fantasy, Gothic family saga, and horror novel that’s received rave reviews from Stephen King and more, The Children follows the adult children of a legendary fantasy author who died when a fire consumed their home. Now, living their own creative lives, Guinevere and Ennis must revisit the secrets from the night of the fire, the darkness surrounding Ennis’s new art installation, and the truth of their family legacy in both fact and fiction. It sounds like a wonderful twisted nest of secrets and magic, and I’m eager to dive in.
Marion by Leah Rowan – June 2
Just when you thought we’d run out of interesting ways to riff on Robert Bloch and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Leah Rowan comes along with Marion. As the title suggests, it’s the story of the Bates Motel’s most famous victim, but this time, she doesn’t die in the shower. She takes control of the knife and the narrative in this daring retelling of a proto-slasher classic. The story we know is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to find out the end.
Headlights by CJ Leede – June 9
Through her first two novels, Maeve Fly and American Rapture, CJ Leede emerged as one of the most exciting new horror voices of the 2020s, and she’s just getting warmed up. Leede’s third novel follows an FBI agent on the brink of retirement, running from his past and from the unsolved case that haunts him most, as he’s slowly pulled back into a gruesome serial killer narrative. Victims start turning up again, wearing someone else’s skin like a cape, with no memory of how they got that way, or how they got a lone strand of unidentified hair tied around their tongue. Both a riff on The Shining and a journey into the dark Colorado night, Headlights is one of the year’s most exciting horror lit events.
It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo – June 9
Cynthia Pelayo‘s novels have always felt like dark fairy tales, and with her latest, she’s taking things into the realm of one of the most famous children’s stories ever. It Came From Neverland follows a version of Wendy Darling who, while working as a schoolteacher and as an aid to rehabilitate World War I soldiers, finds old fears returning when a student goes missing. It seems that an entity Wendy knows only as “Peter Pan” is back on the prowl, and unlocking her memories might be the only way to stop it. That’s right, it’s a dark Peter Pan retelling as only Pelayo can do it, and you know you want a piece of that.
The Other by Annie Neugebauer – June 9
Annie Neugebauer’s The Extra ranks as one of the most clever and frightening horror novellas in recent memory, but that was only the beginning. This June, Neugebauer returns with the next book in what’s been dubbed “The Outsiders Sequence.” This time, Neugebauer’s strange world of doppelgangers and mimics turns to a couple on a hike who run into their exact duplicates, setting off a chain of events that will test their understanding of each other in terrifying ways. Neugebauer’s one of horror’s finest rising stars right now, so if you haven’t jumped on board The Outsiders Sequence yet, pick up The Extra and get ready for The Other.
Marla by Jonathan Janz – August 18 (Editor’s update: Release has now shifted from initial June 23 publication date)
Speaking of rising stars in the horror world, we’ve got Jonathan Janz, whose work has hit another level in recent years thanks to work like Children of the Dark and Veil. Now he’s back with Marla, the story of a local woman surrounded by urban legend, and her possible connection to a string of crimes in the community of King’s Branch. Is Marla a witch, a killer, a victim, a helpless child? We’ll have to read and find out in what feels like a perfect jumping-on point for new Janz readers.
The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus – June 23
Daniel Kraus has long been a favorite among genre readers, but thanks to his recent Pulitzer Prize win for his brilliant novel Angel Down, he’s more visible than ever, and all that visibility comes as he’s about to unleash a space epic with all the hallmarks of epic sci-fi and horror alike. The Sixth Nik promises everything from a sentient spaceship to a rogue planet full of plague to a nine-year-old “cultist” with an enhanced brain. This is Kraus playing in a brand-new sandbox, and genre readers everywhere won’t want to miss that.
Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen – June 23
E.L. Chen‘s latest novel is described as a love letter to ’80s slasher films, and anyone who’s taken a dive into the meta-horror of Scream or My Heart is a Chainsaw will want to sit up and take notice. The book follows a group of friends who grew up in a town famous as the location of a slasher movie, where they frequently played the characters during midnight shows. As adults, they return to their hometown, and to the location of the slasher movie, only to find that someone’s out to get them, someone wearing a very familiar mask. This sounds like a blast, and the latest in an ever-growing strand of slasher novels reinventing the genre on the page.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay – June 30
Modern horror master Paul Tremblay‘s latest novel sounds like his most ambitious yet, and that’s really saying something. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep follows Julia, a former pro gamer who gets an offer she can’t refuse: For a hefty payday, she must pilot a man named “Bernie” across the country for her mother’s tech company. The catch? Bernie’s in a vegetative state, and his mobility comes from the AI chip in his head. As Julia moves Bernie’s body, Bernie’s mind moves through an unfathomable nightmare world, but where are they heading, and what’s Bernie really meant to find? Every new Paul Tremblay book is an event, and this one feels particularly special.
Red X by David Demchuk – June 30
This one’s technically a reprint, but David Demchuk’s Red X is so revered among the horror community, and particularly other horror authors, that it feels worth highlighting, especially during Pride Month. Complex and metatextual, Red X is about a series of disappearances and a demonic entity plaguing the gay community of Toronto, but it’s also an autobiographical sketch of an author navigating death, survival, queer culture, horror as a means of expression, and more. In short, it’s an essential, and this new edition, complete with fresh writing by Gretchen Felker-Martin and Anthony Oliveira, is a must-have.
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