Wolf Worm

By T. Kingfisher

Book Overview

Something darker than the devil stalks the North Carolina woods in Wolf Worm, a new gothic masterpiece from New York Times bestselling author T. Kingfisher

This gorgeous hardcover edition features endpapers illustrated by the author and a foil case stamp.

"I saw the devil in these woods."

Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator--but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father's reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects, or hope.

So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use.

Once there though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light, like what happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about "blood thiefs?"

With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder's entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road. His ground-breaking discoveries come with a cost--one that Halder is paying with human flesh.

If Sonia can't find a way to stop the monstrosity, she may be next under the knife.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250829828
• ISBN13: 9781250829825
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Tor Nightfire
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Another absolute banger!

Another banger from T. Kingfisher! Set in the late 1800s, an illustrator goes to work for an entomologist working on parasitic bugs. New to the area she gets warned by a very religious man about the devils in the woods. A bug infested body horror, be warned if you're squeamish! Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the eARC

Was not a fan of bugs before… now I’m even less a fan of creepy crawlies

This book took me all over the place. At first due to the slow pacing at the beginning, which makes sense for how the story unravels, which is a rare thing. General slow starts are just word salad of either authors, editors or someone else showing off the words they know. Or someone struggling to get to the point or that needs a word limit met. In this case it made sense and truly allows you into out main characters mind and understand how she thinks between her logical and realistic self. We feel and understand her anxiety and how she sees the world, in colors. I truly loved how she breaks down many things, people, animals or whatever, into the colors she would use to paint them in her illustrations. Even to details of mixing and/0r adding water to the watercolors which were her preferred medium. You truly have images form in your mind of whatever she was describing. I truly loved it. And you begin to understand how doing that soothes her when her mind wanders or stress of some sort finds her. The characters are very vivid and familiar even though the time period of the book is over a hundred years ago. We meet many characters where some we like, some we don’t and some are just… wow. We all know every time in our real worlds. As the story unfolds, our FMC Miss Wilson, her first name is so rarely used due to the time period I cannot remember it, we find out she’s an illustrator and will be working on a book of bugs. We learn she’s replacing a previous illustrator that has been gone over a year but we don’t know what happened to them, why they have left, or why it took so long to hire someone new. But our Miss Wilson needs this job so she tries to ignore her curiosity. But as time goes on and she works for her grumpy employer, more questions arise. Then odd lights at night, a weird shed seeming pointless on the wooded area of the land, the strand stories of odd things that have happened a few years ago that may or may not just be tall tales. This is my first time reading this author and the author creates a truly rich world. I understand why so many recommend them as someone to read. I do wish I might have started with a different book as this one helps me to have more knowledge of certain bugs that I don’t know if I will ever be able to forget. I will say if someone has a bug phobia in the slightest, this may not be the book for them as there are some very graphic descriptions of the bugs and their parasitic nature that had me a bit green at times. But I did enjoy the book a good deal and most likely would read another book by T. Kingfisher This was an audiobook. I enjoyed the narration a great deal. I don’t listen to audiobooks very much as I rarely care for how the books are read. Most feel like they are either trying too hard, don’t enjoy the story, or if they do different voices.. they all blend together and I cannot tell who is who and takes me out of the story. This narrator I enjoyed, which I have yet to really like a female narrator in the different audiobooks I’ve listens to. This narrator seemed to enjoy the story and read it like someone telling me a story personally versus someone just reading a book to anyone, as if she was enjoying sharing this tale with me. This was an arc read

So much good nightmare material

Do not read if you have any phobias of parasites!!!!! Boy is this a dark and creepy scary book that I absolutely loved and also read with shivers going down my back. I was totally hooked the whole time cause I just had to find out if Sonia would find the truth behind the mask of Dr. Halder and his research, hopefully before she became a participant. I for one, applaud Sonia for being so brave in living in Dr. Halder's house where it is hard to find clean water without a bug or two floating in it though I really liked the Kents and Sally who welcomed her right in. I am sure I would not have been able to stick it out and do a excellent job in drawing so many insects. It is plenty of creepy horror with just the bugs and parasites (which are all true and made me so squeamish when I learned about the botflies and their warblers!) but you know a Kingfisher horror book is never complete without a dash of the supernatural. And since the setting is in North Carolina in 1899, there are plenty of folktales to pass around and this one starts with tales of blood thieves in the forest and goes from there in a wildly disturbing way. I am such a big fan of T. Kingfisher from her fantasy with a lovely creepy tinge, to the straight up horror and everything in between and it is fun to have not quite so long books that I can just gobble up and still get an immersive experience that makes it all feel so real. I am so glad I got the chance to read this awesome book! Many many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this, even if I will have nightmares about those botflies for a good while to come.