This Is Horror

Look Out For … The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton

“With her latest, Moulton tackles a family’s terrifying legacy, exploring how the nightmares of the past continue to haunt us no matter how hard we try to escape them.”

Summer 1989: Sisters Beatrice and Henrietta Volt are growing up on Fowler Island. These two sisters are thicker than thieves, spending their time on the wild playgrounds of the island plotting their future together, completely unaware their parents are separating … and that the ultimate plan is to separate them.

Ten years later, Henrie receives a desperate call from her sister. It seems their father has died, and now B.B. wants Henrie to return to the island to attend his funeral. But Henrie doesn’t want to go home. She’s still trying to put her memories of the island behind her. And those rumors about missing women? She finds it strange she remembers nothing about the night she left. And just thinking about the quarry behind their old house fills her with dread.

Why we’re excited about this book:

Rachel Eve Moulton is quite new to horror and weird fiction, but is quickly staking out her own territory. The author of the novel Tinfoil Butterfly, Moulton’s short fiction has been featured in such publications as Bellowing Ark, Cream City Review, Narrative, the Chicago Quarterly Review, and New Ohio Review, among others. With her latest, Moulton tackles a family’s terrifying legacy, exploring how the nightmares of the past continue to haunt us no matter how hard we try to escape them. Gus Moreno (This Thing Between Us) says: “On Fowler Island, time moves like water—memories crash into the present, secrets float to the surface, and lurking in its depths is a creature that feeds on more than just flesh. The Insatiable Volt Sisters is a deeply emotional novel about how the past is never through with us, delivering its horror in such a casual way that I could never brace myself before it was too late. And I will never forgive Moulton for the scene in the father’s study. Pure nightmare fuel.”, Rachel Harrison (Such Sharp Teeth) calls the book: “A wistful, viscerally eerie modern fable about sisterhood, family secrets, and the horrors we inherit. Every page drips with beauty and dread. Masterfully written and absolutely mesmerizing.”, and Scott Thomas (Violet) says: “Shirley Jackson meets H.P. Lovecraft in this deliciously dark gothic, a chilling blend of family drama, murder mystery and all-out horror that somehow keeps its feet firmly on the ground while reaching for dimensions unknown.”

Forthcoming 4 April 2023 from MCD x FSG Originals, The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton is available for pre-order now.

BOB PASTORELLA