Review: Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker

This Site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. Our affiliates include the following:

Bookshop.org

What's the Vibe?

Soft Horror

Memory Gaps

Haunted House

The Girl in the Well meets We Used to Live Here

Huge thanks to Harlequin Audio for the advanced listener copy of Kylie Lee Baker's Japanese Gothic to review.

Lee Turner flees to his father’s secluded home in Japan after killing his roommate, with no memory of why. But the house isn’t normal. It shifts, distorts, and seems to watch him. At the same time, in 1877, Sen, a samurai in exile, is trapped in a brutal and unraveling reality where loyalty and survival come at a cost. As their stories begin to intertwine, the lines between past and present, truth and memory start to blur, and they must find a way to work together to end their torment.

I have been a little hit or miss with Kylie Lee Baker in the past. The Keeper of Night was alright for me, and I have tried to read Bat Eater so many times but could never fully get into it. After reading Japanese Gothic, though, I am ready to try again.

This book lingers in that deliciously creepy space. It never fully crossed into horror for me, but the atmosphere is unsettling from the start and stays with you. The narrator was the perfect choice for this story. Her tone added so much to the eerie feeling throughout the book, and by the end, I truly felt like the writing and narration were working together in perfect synchronicity. Sometimes it takes a really skilled narrator to help you feel exactly what the author is trying to convey, and this was one of those times.

One of my favorite parts was the relationship between Sen and Lee. Their bond is built through shared pain, even though their experiences are different. I loved the way the story showed that grief, fear, loneliness, and longing can connect people in unexpected ways. Pain is universal, even when the source of it is not.

I also had expectations for where the ending was going, and I was completely wrong. What we got instead was so much better. It was beautiful, haunting, and emotional in a way that genuinely gave me chills while listening.

There was one particular element that made this even creepier for me personally. I lived in the Pacific Northwest when “the” suitcase was found, and it was a major story for quite some time. Because of that, Sen’s incomplete memories, paired with the strange fear and longing surrounding a suitcase of his own, felt extra unsettling.

Japanese Gothic is creepy, atmospheric, emotional, and beautifully narrated. It may not have pushed into full horror for me, but it absolutely left a mark.

This book is perfect for those who enjoyed The Girl in the Well, We Used to Live Here, and Mapping the Interior.