I enjoyed this book. It is definitely more of a slow burn with a lot of creepy ambiance. Personally, I was also hoping for a bit more romance. What it had was in line with the book - sort of a distorted, dark view of romantic instances. The historical timeline felt accurate and I loved the focus on all the female relationships. I would recommend this if you’re looking for a slow burn, creepy, lgbt+ friendly book and don’t mind it not having a pronounced relationship in the telling.

I’ve been consuming Ada’s diary for months now, on and off, and yet all of its flavour arrived in the final mouthful.
Grey Dog is a rather pedestrian disciple of the movement of religiously traumatised, cannibalistic, ‘feral’ women storming through literature and film today. Its bulk is made up of chapters and chapters of the usual period genre, repressed lesbian touchstones of almost intimacies, chalkboard scribbling, and meat and potato supper descriptions. These deeply ‘grey’ bricks of story are interspersed with tantalising, disturbing recollections, and happenings, spurred on by preternatural forces. This gets rather repetitive, and left me waiting for answers for far too long.
However, its final passage, post-conversion, is rich with the blood of generations of unruly women. With a refreshingly immoral and muddy twist, the good woman becomes bad, and in the process makes love to the natural world. Ada is granted the succulent feast that is rewarded to the possessed, emboldened, and broken. Lesbian undertones become overtones, disturbing occurrences become a lifestyle.
Overall, if you can sift through the inane and useless normality of Grey Dog’s many entries, like Ada, you will be rewarded by a freak literature lover’s idea of total gluttony.

From the moment I read the description and saw the cover I was sold ( what beautiful illustration!!) an absolutely breathtaking novel I couldn’t put it down once I started it! I will definitely be buying a physical copy once it’s released!!!!

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for giving me access to the digital ARC, especially since my NetGalley score is... not great. This does not affect my review.

This book was not for me. I won't say it was bad because someone will enjoy it.

I had a few issues going into it such as my dislike of first person narration but it lends itself to the diary/journal concept that the book is written in so managed to get used to it. The language is 'dated' to match the time period but that didn't bother me that much. The beginning of this book was pretty engaging but as it went on its pacing left something to be desired. By the end the diary format struggled to match the story as the final part was told away from normal life (?).

I don't know if being an avid fan of the horror genre made this underwhelming or if it just isn't meant to be scary but rather a sense of discomfort. In my opinion, the scariest thing in this book are the descriptions of sex- they feel primal and horrible. Again this could be purposeful, but I feel let down when general horror is replaced by overly sexual narratives.

Finally, I didn't like the any characters in this book. I struggled to sympathise with Ada and often found her selfish and quite a horrible person.

I don't know what to say about this, other than this book was definitely not for me and that's okay by me. I'm glad that the author was able to publish their debut work and hope there are people out there who can enjoy this book where I couldn't.

reading this book is me supporting women’s wrongs as much as i support women’s rights.

a slow-burn, old-timey horror book where nothing happens for the longest time then shit becomes feral right towards the end. will say i wish there was more given regarding the titular figure of the story, felt like i was fed strands and tendrils, which for me wasn’t enough.

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for supplying me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Debut author literary fiction. Well written historical novel with some edges of fantasy twists and turns. Enjoyed the way it was written however the historical fiction didn’t quite grab me.. maybe an urban fantasy might be in the pipeline?.

This book was beautiful, I am in love with it. Thank you so much to Elliot Gish and NetGalley to allow me to read this ARC. The book comes out on April 9th, 2024.

Set in 1901, and told only in journal entries we are told the story of a 29 year old woman named Ada Byrd. Ada enters Lowry Bridge after being offered a second chance at teaching after an unfortunate incident at her last post. Lowry Bridge is a quaint farming town with nice church people. She's being put up by Mr. and Mrs. Grier, a nice older couple with no children. Slowly throughout this book things change for Ada after meeting Muriel a strange girl who wanders the woods, and the towns widow Norah Kinsley.

This novel is a slow descent into madness. Politeness fading to rage fed by societies rules and learning to break them. It is creepy in the way you never see the god of the outside, the thing she believes is following her and watching her. Grey Dog is gothic horror the way Midsommar is. It's queer in a subtle beautifully explained way with looks and feelings and memories. The entire story is so beautifully written, I hope to read every book by Gish after this.

I have gathered a few trigger warnings from my read if I have missed any, I apologize: child abuse, domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, infertility, and miscarriage

Thanks to ECW Press and NetGalley for this ARC of Grey Dog by Elliott Gish.

What a delightfully written, chilling read.

The pace is slow and delicious as we witness spinster teacher Ada Byrd arrive in Lowry Bridge in the early 1900s in the shadow of some, at first, unspecified disgrace and still under the control of her uncaring and hostile father. It starts in 1901 but, so strict are societal norms and demands, it could be 1601.

At the same time we see her settle into life in this small, provincial hamlet - making friends, some wholesome, some not - practicing her art, attending church and dances, and becoming a pillar of the community we also find out, very gradually, how she ended up there and about her tragic and traumatic past.

She begins to see and hear things in the woods and around the schoolhouse and discovers she's not the first.

What follows is a slow but increasingly dramatic and deranged descent into either madness or devotion, we're never sure.

This can be read as a straightforward gothic/cosmic horror tale but there are so many subthemes here presented in that guise - sexual abuse, homophobia, rage, shame, misogyny, and the resulting deep-seated trauma.

This is a really, really deep and good book.

This is a spell-binding debut novel that had me by the throat right from the beginning. It is a delicious exploration of power, longing, and respectability-politics, a rage at the failures of society that is constantly simmering just beneath the surface.

I really did enjoy this novel, but there are a few things that feel important to know going in. Firstly, this is listed as both “literary fiction” and as “horror,” and by the end that certainly makes sense, but it takes a long time for the horror elements to kick in. There is the ever-oppressive reality of being a single woman in the early 20th century, and that is horrific, I suppose. But what would be considered the more conventional horror elements don’t really start appearing until 2/3 of the way into the novel. There is a very small sprinkle at just after the 1/3 mark, and another at the halfway mark, which all does a good job of ratcheting up the tension as you get deeper and deeper into the story. But up until the final act, even those early horrific elements could be hand-waved away, if you really wanted to. I thought the final act was really tense and breath-taking and I loved it, but I would have liked some more horror elements sprinkled in a little earlier, so it felt like more than just an exploration of the pastoral turn of the century. If you go in expecting horror from the beginning, which is kind of what is sold in the blurb, you might be disappointed. If you don’t cling to that expectation, though, then the ride is a lot of fun.

Secondly, the entire story is told through journal entries. I always struggle with this as a narrative device, because the device itself tells you something about the ending, and the narrative constantly needs to find reasons to have the protagonist accurately writing these thoughts down. I think if the epistolary nature was dropped entirely the story would be just as compelling, if not more so, because it leaves more space for the ending to leave you twisted and taken by surprise. However, using this technique did allow the author to make some time jumps that could have felt awkward in a more conventional narrative. It also allowed for a few wonderfully poignant chapters, such as one that just contained a single sentence but said a whole lot more. Lastly it did allow a style of writing that would be befitting a school mistress living in the early 1900s, so the vocabulary and the aesthetic all made sense, it didn’t feel forced. It isn’t my favorite literary technique but is was used well here, and Gish exploited some of the things it allows for without falling into the trap of really stretching credulity about how/when/why this would all be written in a journal.

So, this novel did two things I generally don’t prefer, which is to say saving almost all its horror elements for the final act and using a journal-entry narrative device. On top of that, historical fiction isn’t one of my go-to genres, either. And yet, still, I really, really enjoyed this book. That is saying something. The characters were all compelling and felt real and exciting. The setting/world felt genuine. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking, what I would expect from a small out-of-the-way village in the early 20th century, but it didn’t feel like a contrivance, but instead felt really lived in. Maybe most importantly, the story flowed really well--I didn’t want to put it down once I started. It really did grab me right away, and I felt genuine discomfort and concern at the many traumas injustices our protagonist experienced, which made the journey all the more wild and emotionally resonant. I definitely recommend this novel, especially for anyone who see the sharp fangs hiding just under the skin of societal expectations and anxiously awaits for them to snap shut.

I want to thank the author, the publisher ECW Press, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this mashup of Bronte and Angela Carter! The setting of the school house and the atmosphere of the woods was thoroughly uncanny, you constantly had the sense of being teased with memories and half truths. This is such a great Gothic novel to settle down with in the autumn and winter whilst it is cold outside! I found it to be such a page turner, and the queer/witchy stuff was right up my street. Really recommend this one!

"𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓖𝓸𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓸𝓾𝓽𝓼𝓲𝓭𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓲𝓽𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾."
Ada Byrd has been forced to leave her past behind. To become the new school teacher for a small town. But something is lurking. In the woods, in the air, and in her mind. Will she continue to fear it, or learn to embrace it?

3.5/5⭐️
This book has a good mystery/spooky feeling to it. I enjoyed the characters, and liked it was written as if you were reading Ada's diary. It is a slow paced book, which isn't usually my style, but I did still enjoy reading it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.
3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved the plot of this and the idea of this, but I couldn't get into it. The writing was alright and the plot was interesting, but I couldn't get into it. I was hoping for more. I think this may be partly taste as others seem to have loved it. Perhaps I'll attempt a re-read later to see.

I absolutely adored this. It was like if Plath, Poe, Sarah Waters and Shirley Jackson had a little gothic hybrid baby. Despite this being historical it managed to feel contemporary and relevant without losing the firm setting. The body horror and gore were sprinkled in subtle amounts but still evocative when present, and there was a constant shadow of the fault in humanity and horrors of performative womanhood/femininity.

Thank you ECW and NetGalley for the ARC.

“Grey Dog” by Elliot Gish chronicles the adventures of new school teacher Ada Byrd in a small early 20th century town. She finds a place of being within the connections she makes: such as Agatha, the reverend’s wife, and Muriel, a kid she teaches which seems disconnected socially and emotionally from the others. As she slowly learns more about those around her, strange and grotesque things seem to happen around her. Strange noises and disfigured corpses point towards the woods, as something lays there which threatens the course of Ada’s normal life. This story builds on the vastly underrated method of horror writing: taking the proper time to build character, setting, and theme. This story has a very slow pace, but it is rewarding for the patient reader in Gish’s effective prose and characterization. The horror is deeply tied into the strong feminist theming of the story, which is built up carefully through time-sensitive writing. Ideas of femininity, patriarchy, and queerness are inserted with a smart balance of 21st century concepts with 20th century actualization. It adds to the incredibly strong setting work done by Gish and creates multifaceted characters dealing with complex ideas in this space. Ada’s character stands out amongst this cast, as anything from small details like collecting skulls and bones to large details relating to her past make her an incredibly fleshed out and subversive protagonist who goes through a very interesting development. The horror in this novel is probably going to disappoint readers expecting traditional genre fiction. This piece is unapologetically invested in being a character study and historical fiction, and that energy comes at the cost of standard horror pacing. Tension comes in short bursts, only really ramping up in the last quarter. The horror serves the theme, not the other way around. Thankfully, this leads to a very interesting ending which has some incredibly strong emotional payoffs. It does go a little bit fast in making up for the slow start, but sticking through it will leave the reader with a lot of interesting themes to dig into.

Grey Dog
Elliot Gish
Pub: ECW Press
Pub. date: April 9, 2024
Format: E-book (@netgalley)
5/5

A huge, huge thank you to ECW Press, Elliot Gish, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this life-altering ARC.

There are some books that exist, where the moment we are done reading them, we know they will forever be with us. Grey Dog is one of those books. Gish incorporated so many facets of horror and the art of creating horror, that I am not sure calling this book “Gothic horror” is enough. Set up as the book equivalent of The Blair Witch Project, it is clear from the beginning that we were dealing with an unreliable narrator. Full advantage was taken with this format, and I highly recommend reading rather than listening to fully experience the spiral we go down as MC and reader. This is also a perfect example of Woman vs. The Void™, arguably my all time favorite horror trope. We also experience a mix of Woman vs. Society and Woman vs. Nature, creating one of the most unique- and at times visceral- experiences I have had with a book in a while.
Grey Dog is the journal of Ada Byrd- a school mistress who found herself the victim of circumstances that led her to a new position at Lowry Bridge in 1901. It is immediately apparent that Byrd’s main struggle was going to be the suffocating society of the late 19th century, especially as we come to know of Ada’s attraction to the same sex. It is this difficulty of fitting in that likely leads Ada down the hole we end the book on. Ada is at times so relatable and endearing, and at other times repulsive and aggravating. It is even more fascinating since all her actions are told to us by her, giving us her thought process- or lack thereof- creating a bond between her, and us as the reader.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough if you are a fan of feminist psychological horror (think The Yellow Wallpaper). I genuinely think this book is in my top ten of the year. I’m bummed that it isn’t coming out for a few more months and I need to sit down with everyone to talk about it!

Grey Dog by Elliott Gish is an artfully and precisely written exploration of an expelling from your past and loved ones, and in favor, exploring the ways in which you will find acceptance of yourself in unexpected places, and ominous empty spaces.

The year is 1901. The setting is a wild and secluded Lowry Bridge, the perfect place to leave your past behind and start anew.

Ada Byrd is a spinster, naturalist, and teacher who has accepted a position in this isolated region. Seeing it as a chance to escape from her past and start a new life, Ada begins to envision a new world opening up to her and, with that, a glimmer of hope.

With new friendships blossoming, Ada begins to experience terrifying things. Things that no one else can see yet haunt her daily. These visions of horrifying scenes and strange occurrences begin to threaten her future and her well-being. With each event, she becomes more unhinged and erratic in her behavior.
What is causing these phenomena, and how does she settle into her new surroundings peacefully? Is it something from her past re-emerging, or is something more sinister growing in Lowry Bridge?

This novel had just the right amount of creepiness lingering in the background. I never fully settled into Lowry Bridge as I was always waiting for something horrific to occur. It's such an enticing novel. I didn’t want to put it down.
Overall an excellent read!! I highly recommend it!


The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley for the arc of this novel. I was entranced with this cover from the jump. However, I was left feeling underwhelmed. It was good, but not great.

I have not gotten to this book so I don't feel good leaving a review! Will hopefully re-approach later on .

Captivating, emotional, and thoughtful are the top 3 words I would us to describe this book.

As a period story, it was easy to relate to this main character, Ada. Despite her difficult circumstances, she bloomed like a hot house orchid by the end of the book.

The author takes their time drawing out the suspense of the novel, but it was well worth it by the time you got to the end. The story was atmospheric and relatable, with most women being able to resonate with the difficulties young women have with aging and society’s view on their purpose.

However, as far as horror novels go, I would rate the story 3 1/2 stars. Although I love the main character, the author could have done more to build up feelings of dread and, all while, clarifying the premise of the outside god of the woods. I felt there was something lacking in this regard that the author could have definitely flesh out more.

However, as a period piece, I love the attention to historical details and difficulties women experienced in society at the time. So for that alone, I would rate it 4 stars.