Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher: A gothic horror that burrows under your skin

In Wolf Worm, T. Kingfisher delivers a slow-burning gothic nightmare set in the woods of North Carolina, where scientific curiosity collides with something far older and far more feral. Releasing March 24, 2026, the novel follows Sonia Wilson, a scientific illustrator in 1899 who has been surviving on the borrowed credibility of her late father’s reputation. When she accepts a position with the reclusive Dr. Halder to illustrate his insect collection, she believes she’s securing stability. Instead, she steps into a story that opens with a chilling admission: “I saw the devil in these woods.”

Kingfisher’s prose reflects Sonia’s artistic eye. Descriptions feel layered, as if applied with a brush—yellow ochre laid in for a dog’s fur and then lifted back out again along the face. The natural world is rendered with precision and technique, which makes the corruption creeping through it feel even more invasive. As animals begin behaving strangely and local whispers about “blood thieves” grow louder, the beauty of the environment becomes inseparable from the horror beneath it. This is a novel saturated with insects—some of them of the burrowing-into-flesh variety—and Kingfisher does not shy away from the visceral implications.

Sonia herself is both frustrating and compelling. Like many women of her era, she has limited formal agency. Yet without a husband or father to shield her, she has carved out a precarious independence. She worries about being dismissed, about overstepping, about jeopardizing her livelihood. And yet she cannot resist sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. I’m a curious person myself, but I suspect I would not feel obligated to investigate what my employer is doing in the woods at night on his own property. In fact, I probably wouldn’t want to know. Once a couple of chickens go missing, however, Sonia seems to feel it’s her responsibility to uncover the truth, even when that truth may destroy her security.

There’s a constant tension in her choices. If she uncovers something monstrous, she will be forced to act. If she looks away, she might remain safe—at least temporarily. The novel raises uncomfortable questions: When you suspect something isn’t right and choose not to look closer, are you complicit? What is the cost of preserving your own comfort? And where do you draw the line between what is your responsibility and what is none of your business? Sonia repeatedly stands at that edge, torn between curiosity and self-preservation.

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Readers who are deeply unsettled by insects may find this novel significantly more horrifying than I did. Insects don’t particularly bother me, so while the body horror is vivid, it wasn’t unbearable. That’s part of what makes horror such a personal genre: it finds the cracks unique to each reader. What burrows under one person’s skin might not faze another.

If you’re drawn to gothic settings, creeping dread, and moral questions embedded in lush, painterly prose, Wolf Worm is one to pick up when it releases March 24, 2026. What would you do in Sonia’s place—mind your own business, or look closer? Let me know in the comments.

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• Q&A: T. Kingfisher, author of Snake-Eater (The Nerd Daily)
• Thorns & Fairy Tales: T. Kingfisher on writing Thornhedge (Tor/Forge Blog)
• Author guest of Honor T. Kingfisher on blending fantasy, romance, and horror (Daily Dragon Online)
• T. Kingfisher, author of Snake-Eater – Interview (Armed with a Book)

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