QUICK TAKE: huge fan of Ben Winters, but this one disappointed. Read more as a short story than an actual novel, and the subject matter (supernatural bed bugs) gave me the heebie jeebies, but didn't keep me invested in characters or plot. Ending is bonkers, but not sure it felt earned.

A gripping thriller with a twist. Winters is a master of suspense. Loved it!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was an absolute joy to read! In saying that, it's also so riddled with tension and anxiety but in the best possible way

I dont know what I was expecting when I started this but it definitely wasn't what I ended up getting. In some ways it's a psychological thriller, in others a horror vibe. It veers from a nice wee domestic noir to a slow descent into madness and the reader having no clue what's real and what's not.

The characters are well written. I loved the relationships and the dynamics between the characters. They're well written and realistic and so so compelling.

The story is quite a simple one but it's so vividly told and the writing style really does make the reader get swept up in what's going on. There are a few twists and turns and the ending is quite the shocker.

I absolutely loved it!

When Alex and Susan visit the apartment on Cranberry Street, Susan immediately knows they need to live here. It’s less than $4000 a month which is a steal for Brooklyn, has more room for their daughter and has the bonus room which she finally turn into an art studio of her own. It might be a bit old, and they might not be allowed in the basement but it’s perfect.

It’s a dream come true - until the nightmare starts. Strange noises in the air, the sensation of crawling on her skin, strange dots of a blood-like substance on her pillow, the shadow something scuttling in the corner of her eye. But the landlady swears it’s fine, and the exterminator agrees — so if it’s not a bug infestation, what is it?

“She had a powerful memory, of walking through the living room in the silence and darkness, of being watched. She almost said it, almost said ‘I felt them watching me’, but then didn’t."

TBR is a subtle, sinister little story — one that doesn’t rely on blood and shocks to frighten, but instead engages all the senses and invokes a deep sense of dread that you just can’t figure out and leaves you will a chill in your spine.

The setting is dark, visceral and evocative, creating a strange balance of realism and horror in seemingly normal places. Everything has a malicious aura, which makes it difficult to work out where or who this evil energy is coming from. A shadow is cast over everybody and everything, and as we slowly learn about the lives of our characters it doesn’t make it any clearer — they are so very human and could either be villains or victims, everyone capable or great good or terrible evil.

As our main narrator, watching Susan’s anxiety turn into almost a silent descent into feverish paranoia and chaos was morbidly compelling — I felt her isolation, her fear, her anger that she was the only one worried about his unholy infestation. It was compulsive, obsessive and utterly maddening.

For all fellow horror lovers, TBR is one that needs to be on your TBR lists - but don’t read it before bed.

There's something particularly illimitable about Urban Horror, specifically here New York City, although this category has been successfully applied to Paris and Tokyo too, London, Edinburgh...

From almost the beginning, THE BONUS ROOM [formerly BEDBUGS, 2011] has a gentle and subtle frisson of ROSEMARY'S BABY. I guess that in a city of millions in population, statistically there are bound to be some weirdos; and not unlikely that some of those are in a sufficient economic status to be homeowners and landlords. THE BONUS ROOM doesn't so much riff ROSEMARY'S BABY as it just offers a subtle scent of it, like a memory at the corner of the eye.

This is my first novel by Ben H. Winters. I found it very well done, a seriously subtle approach of Horror, a Horror that emphasizes many different aspects of the senses: vision, audition, olfactory, tactility. The secondary characters "could be" victims of psychological divergence [diverging from human normality], or they could be actually evil. Then there's the character mutation of the husband (another factor of ROSEMARY'S BABY), subtly creeping on little kitty feet (allegorical) while the wife has reason to believe she may be losing contact with consensus reality too. All in all, a high price to pay, solely to live in the apartment of one's dreams!

For me at least, there is a creeping sense of dread [decades of Horror have rendered this reviewer incapable of hope for a happy ending once we see what's behind the curtain]. As with the protagonist, Susan, we feel the anxiety, the dread; we just can't pinpoint exactly WHY.