Gothictown

Readers of Southern gothic horror and mystery novels are in for a treat when they read Gothictown by Emily Carpenter. Near the beginning of the pandemic Billie Hope decided to close her successful restaurant in New York City. Post-pandemic, she gets an email that seems too good to be true.

She and husband Peter can buy a home in Juliana, Georgia for one hundred dollars. On top of that, she can get a business grant to open a new restaurant in the riverside community in Bartow County.

With several phone calls and one quick visit, Billie, Peter, and their daughter Meredith move as part of the Juliana Initiative to revitalize the town. She opens a new restaurant, meets members of the community, and Peter works mainly remotely as a psychologist while Meredith makes a new friend. Things should be wonderful, but the misgivings start to grow along with the sleeplessness and nightmares.

Billie makes decisions with her gut. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. She wants to make her mother proud of her, but feels abandoned by her. Despite being surrounded by people, she’s somewhat lonely and makes some bad decisions. Peter tends to weigh pros and cons of any situation and makes fully-informed decisions. He’s normally a communicator, but has some secrets.

The book starts with a chilling prologue set in Juliana in 1864 and has some occasional flashbacks to times between then and now. These flashbacks let the readers know what is happening in the town before Billie and Peter do. However, that doesn’t deter from the suspense and horror of the situation that gradually builds.

As the situation became clear to this reader, I was cheering for Billie, Peter, and Meredith. Both adults make mistakes, making them both more realistic and more aggravating. Unfortunately, Billie’s broken relationship with her mother was discussed more than once in the book. I felt this subplot could have been omitted to make the story more cohesive. Despite this, the shocking and horrifying beginning stays with you and the tension builds throughout the book. The author did a great job of creating atmosphere and transporting readers to the community of Juliana.

The novel has a Southern Gothic feel with flawed, disturbing, and eccentric characters, alarming events, a somewhat isolated location, and a bit of the paranormal. There’s a focus on both its history and the current situation of the town. Is this truly an idyllic southern town or have Billie, Peter, and Meredith stepped into something dark and hidden? Various themes run through the novel including secrets, lack of communication, death, trust, family, belonging, and much more.

Overall, this is a dark, disturbing, compelling, and thought-provoking story, full of tension and with characters that came to life and were often unique. The author’s note and the discussion questions at the end are worth reading as well. I’m looking forward to reading more books by this author. Readers who like dark southern gothic mysteries will likely enjoy this novel.

Kensington Publishing and Emily Carpenter provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for March 25, 2025.