The Grimmer is an eerie & earnest supernatural book for young readers, filled to the brim with coming-of-age strength & grappling with challenging family and friends & body horror.

Teenage Vish has just returned to his hometown after two years away, thanks to a betrayal from his closest friends and his dad’s addiction treatment. Everyone in his small town seems to know everything - and it doesn’t help that he’s one of the only brown kids around, either. 

When Vish stumbles into a strange altercation in his favorite bookstore, he dives head first into a world of magic and terror. He has to work with the grouchy bookstore owner Agastya and his clever & witchy fellow employee Gisela to stop an interdimensional invasion from a powerful evil spirit. 

This book feels like it was written with so much care - for Vish especially. There’s such a love for whimsy and cats that are your family and all the beings in your life that protect you. And while these characters struggle with grief and racism and addiction, the writing has a hopeful tone. That things can get better - or that you’ll find a community that will help you survive them. 

This isn’t an action-packed read, but it does move fast and there are some good scares. I really enjoyed the bits of terror; the body horror was so shiver-inducing, and I think this would be a great introduction to the horror genre for younger readers.

I liked the mathematical magic, but I needed way more exposition for it all. It was frustrating that so much lore and world-building were skipped over (and never returned to) because “we don’t have time to explain it to you, Vish”. It felt like a shortcut, and because of these half-explanations some things were resolved way too quickly or felt unearned (the history of the villain, of the lake, Isla, the final confrontation, etc.).

But overall - I really enjoyed this story, I want to meet all these cats, and I’d love to check out more from Ruthnum. 

CW: drug use & addiction, grief, alcoholism, death, body horror, medical content, racism, eating disorder, car accident, vomit

Follow me on TikTok for book recommendations!

(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)