This novel explores themes of generational trauma, family, and an immense amount of grotesque horror through the tale of three cousins. As Cindy goes to visit her late grandmother’s home for summer, her two cousins who love there year-round, notice she is different this year. Cindy has lost all memory of who she is and who her family is and has gained an awful nighttime habit of waking up with small objects placed in her mouth. As a vampire-demon with no family line or ancestry haunts the three girls, they have to come to terms with their own traumas and fight through a world of nightmares to get their families back. Through blood and determination, these girls hunt down a man at the demand of the demon Needlemouth to restore their home.
Needlemouth by K-Ming Chang, (List Price: $28, Simon & Schuster, 9781668089514, October 2026)
Reviewed by Ashton, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC