Book Review – Blood on Her Tongue By Johanna Van Veen

1887, the Netherlands, Lucy receives word that her twin sister Sarah is ill. In the process of excavating the bog surrounding their isolated mansion, Sarah and her husband have discovered a body. A bog Body. a perfectly preserved body of a woman, in fact, and Sarah has developed an obsession with it, an increasingly irrational one. Lucy worried that Sarah’s husband would have her committed to an insane asylum, goes to visit her sister, intending to care for her and to investigate the cause of this sudden illness. It’s clear that Sarah is hiding something, but then again, so is Lucy. When Sarah’s condition takes a turn for the worse, her behaviour becomes strange and unusual; she becomes angry, and worst of all, she becomes hungry. Sarah is changing right before Lucy’s eyes, and soon she’s going to have to come to terms with the monstrous truth or risk losing her sister forever.

This is Gothic horror at its absolute best. Johanna Van Veen is one of those authors whose work drips with atmosphere and tension, but they also deliver on the thrills and chills. The bond between the two sisters is depicted so beautifully, especially as you are watching Sarah deteriorate into madness and Lucy come to grips with the idea that she might be left alone to face the world without her sister. There’s so much going on between the two of them, and their complex yet unbreakable bond is beautifully depicted.

I really enjoyed how the vampire part of the story unfolded over the course of the novel and the spin on the lore that was added was a fabulous addition, but I especially appreciated that the real horror in the novel isn’t just the vampire; it’s that Sarah and Lucy are enduring a life of helplessness and desperation, living at the mercy of the men in their lives, trying to find their own agency and weirdly enough Sarah’s illness provides an avenue for both of them to do just that.

This whole story blurs the lines between mystery and madness and has you questioning everyone’s motives and everyone’s thoughts, and everything they say on each page. At each turn of the page, you are left questioning if Sarah’s illness is really just that or if actually a manifestation of the supernatural. The historical elements of what would have actually happened to a woman experiencing madness are discussed, and we can see why Lucy is so determined to protect her sister from that fate.

This is a slow burn novel full of gothic dread and simmering desire, and I loved it. Well worth the read, as is Johanna Van Veen’s first novel, My Darling Dreadful Thing. I can not wait to read her new one coming this year, Bone of My Bone. She’s giving us religious horror and a quest, Nuns, Saints and Sinners, curses and magic, umm, yes, please sign me up immediately. Johanna Van Venn is fast becoming one of my must read authors what she does in the gothic horror genre is not to be missed.