Filaments
Horror for the Female Gaze
Filaments is an evocative feminist horror novel about family secrets and coming into one’s own despite prejudice.
In KZK’s engrossing horror novel Filaments, a woman returns to her hometown to help her sick mother and uncovers a sinister mystery.
Thea left Sellers, Minnesota, to pursue her career as a college professor, leaving behind her mother, Helen. To battle a genetic autoimmune disease, both Thea and Helen ingest spores from mushrooms growing in a bog close to their home, much to the dismay of the local townspeople. When Thea is summoned back to Sellers to help Helen, she discovers that two prominent Sellers men are missing. Further, Thea faces down her old friend, Lina. After Helen disappears, Thea battles the lies of men, a deadly fungal virus, and ethereal women who present her with an impossible choice.
Richly detailed horror scenes evoke visceral responses. As Thea explores the bog in search of Helen, she comes across a wolf that succumbed to a fungal disease: “Its eye sockets were woven with the same lattice as the bird’s, except instead of the white threads, only dark mycelia were present, drilling into the brain.” The grotesque descriptions continue as Thea searches for other missing people, creating a terrifying atmosphere throughout the story.
Beyond the lush descriptions are frequent instances of extensive paragraphs without breaks, though. For instance, in a flashback where Lina and Thea explore the bog together, two long paragraphs are interrupted by only one sentence wherein Thea remarks that she has found something. Later on, Thea searches for a vial of spores to soothe her withdrawal; the scene is pressed into a single paragraph, removing some of the tension. The long sentences sometimes diminish the complexity of the scenes, as when Thea addresses the women and the action is spread out over a slow-moving paragraph.
However, Thea’s characterization is dynamic and complex. When she returns to Sellers, Thea is forced to address Helen’s troubling past addiction. In flashbacks set when she was a child, her hurt and fear are evident, as when she gets into a heated argument with her boyfriend and Lina. Thea seems ashamed of her mother and all the gossip she generates in Seller, prompting her to run. Later, when Thea returns home as a successful adult, all the issues of the past resurface. In her search for Helen, Thea confronts the prejudices Seller holds toward her family and stands tall, refusing to let her toxic neighbors bring her back to shame and guilt. As she addresses her past and explores the bog, she unveils secrets that propel her to grow into a powerful, compelling woman.
The suspense and fear built throughout the novel are maintained until the very end, when Thea faces the ultimate decision, helping make Filaments a transfixing horror novel wherein mycelium and small-town secrets intersect in a search for the truth.
Reviewed by
Jennifer Maveety
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
