Nothing But Blackened Teeth

 

Today's post is on Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw. It is 124 pages long and is published by TOR. The cover is a woman in white with no eyes but a very red mouth. The intended reader is someone who is interested in Asian flavored horror. There is foul language, sex, and some violence in this novel. The story is told from first person perspective of the main character, Cat. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.
It's the perfect venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends brought back together to celebrate a wedding.
A night of food, drinking, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets get dragged out and relationships are tested.
But the house has secrets too. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.
And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

Review- A very atmospheric horror story with strong roots in classic Japanese horror. Cat and her friends going to have one heck of a wedding party before the bride and groom are married. But this group of friends have old baggage that calls to the house and the monsters that live in it. This is a short read so Khaw gets started with the creepy right away and she never stops. Cat has been studying Japan and Japanese folklore as a way to get in touch with her roots, so when she start seeing things like demons on the wallpaper, she wonders if it just her mind. The rest of the group doesn't want to really engage with what is going on around them but the bride will not be denied. I would like to see more of this world and for Khaw to have more pages to explore it in but this is a strong novel that shows Khaw's promise as a writer. 

I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.