I really love it when I read a book that has very little fanfare, and it blows me away. This was definitely the case with Michelle Tang’s debut novel, She Waits Where Shadows Gather.
Avery and Carlos’s marriage is on the rocks. Avery badly wants a child, whereas narcissistic Carlos cannot deal with having to share his wife’s affections with anyone else. The couple moves to Carlos’s childhood home in the Philippines. Carlos, a TV paranormal investigator, has some dark secrets he wants to investigate in his family home.
Understandably, Avery isn’t too keen on the house. The house staff won’t go there alone, and several mirrors are dramatically covered. But things get infinitely worse when Carlos is involved in a life-changing accident.
One of my favorite tropes is “paranormal investigator gets more than they bargained for”, and this book checked that box. But that was just a minor part of my enjoyment of this novel. Avery is an incredibly relatable character; desperate for happiness, incredibly isolated, but strong. On the opposite side, Carlos is so repulsive, he is strangely engaging.
There are some genuinely scary moments in this novel. The house at the center of the novel has shadows lurking in every corner, but when Avery ventures up to the attic, I had to switch a few lights on. I also enjoyed learning a little about Philippine mythology and folklore.
A great combo of a compelling human narrative and supernatural tension.
California Reading 