Every culture has their ghost stories, and it’s always interesting to see them blended into each other. In her latest novel, Kylie Lee Baker intertwines Japanese mythology with the gothic ghost tale to create something both comfortingly familiar and satisfyingly unique that offers a glimpse into another time amid an eerie, emotional mystery.

Lee Turner has spent his life longing to know what happened to his mother after she vanished during a trip abroad. The scars of that incident, combined with what appears to be some form of neurodivergence, have led to his having difficulty forming relationships with other people and quick to anger. While at college he commits a shocking act of violence, or at least thinks he does, and flees to his father’s new home in Japan. Once there, he finds his dad more aloof than usual and his live-in girlfriend’s behavior equally odd. Curiouser still, some nights he appears to be able to communicate with a sword-bearing woman through his bedroom closet.

In 1877, Sen is a young, female samurai; a rarity due to both her gender and the government’s violent elimination of the order. In hiding with her own father—a cold, often cruel man who has been training her in his ways—along with her mother and younger siblings, she struggles to live up to what is expected of her as her own conscience argues against it. When a Westerner begins to communicate via her bedroom closet, she initially suspects him of being an Imperial spy, but as his true origins become clear, she is forced to question everything she thought she knew.

Lee wants to know what became of his mother and Sen wants to know how to keep her family safe. Each agrees to help the other attempt to find the answers they seek, not knowing how much danger they are putting themselves into to do so.

This isn’t the sort of horror story that will have you sleeping with your light on, but horrific endings do await some of the characters. Despite the fact that each is deeply flawed and potentially unreliable, even to themselves, Baker crafts them with such care and depth, that you can’t help but become concerned for their fates and fully embroiled in the various mysteries. A few moments may lag and one or two choices frustrate, but the eerily beautiful prose and steady drip of information keep the reader hooked.

1800s Japan was not a kind place for women—though nowhere really was at the time—and the strict honor codes of the Samurai easily lend themselves to permitting vicious behavior, both of which are captured well herein. Themes of grief, familial responsibility, and mental health deepen the story’s resonance. Many of the best horror tales have aims beyond shocks and scares, and Japanese Gothic is no exception. What makes it stand out is how well it executes upon them. This is a thrilling blend of genres that continues to haunt the reader well after the final sentence is read. ★★★★½