What a unique horror story. That exactly how I felt after the final moments of Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker. A quasi time travel, ghost story, haunted house, and family drama story wrapped up in beautifully crafted prose. This is one of those stories you need to sit with for a bit after reading.
October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn’t always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.
October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.
One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie. Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.
Would I have been happy with a time travel horror, or just a haunted house story by Baker, yes. However, what the author created with Japanese Gothic is one of those stories that is hard to pin down exactly what it is. Baker starts us in 2026, then brings us back to 1877 but in a way I hadn’t expected. What starts off fairly slow, turns into a book I could not put down.
A true horror story, but one that has so much more to it. A family story, both current and past, where the kids will never live up to what the parents expect from them, all while fighting something. What surprised me the most is how much I learned about samurai, Japanese culture, and more from this story. Love a good book that teaches me as well.
The slow start may turn off some readers, but as with some amazing books you just have to stick with it to get a satisfying conclusion. Well-written characters, wonderful settings, and truly terrifying moments made for an excellent reading experience.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker is uniquely crafted with beautiful prose that had me gripped. While there was a slow start, the rest of the story was worth the wait. Baker is a true star in the genre and will be on my reading list in the future.
Japanese Gothic hits bookstores everywhere on April 14, 2026 from Hanover Square Press. The audiobook, narrated by Natalie Naudus, is available via Libro.fm!
