Japanese Gothic - by Kylie Lee Baker (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

USA TODAY Bestseller
New York Times Most Anticipated Book for 2026
USA TODAY Most Anticipated Books of 2026
Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Books of 2026
Book Riot "Our Most Anticipated Books of 2026"

From the critically acclaimed, USA TODAY bestselling, New York Times Top 100, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng and Hell to Pay, a lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, following two people living centuries apart who discover a door between their worlds.

October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn't remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge--his father's new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn't always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.

October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father's face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.

One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.

Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.

For readers who love:

• Grady Hendrix and Stephen King
• Japanese mythology
• Friendship and family themes
• Terrifying, gory stories
• Horror with heart
• A new take on the classic haunted house trope

Review Quotes

"An eerie and unrelenting tale of two lives, two time periods, and one singular horror soaked in blood and sorrow."
--Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of The Staircase in the Woods

"At its heart, Japanese Gothic is a triumph, deftly constructed and frequently hair-raising."
--BookPage, starred review

"A breathless collision of timelines, cultures, and destinies in this impressive horror outing.... In wrenching prose, Baker renders her characters both deeply flawed and profoundly human.... It's as gruesome as it is un-put-downable."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A spectacular, thought-provoking, and chilling story about how the past ties itself to the present in ways humans cannot comprehend or explain.... Readers will savor every minute."
--Library Journal, starred review

"Japanese Gothic is many things: a haunting. A mystery. A ghost story. A fairy tale. A love story. Above all, it's a compelling and heartbreaking piece of art about how parental expectations can damage us, and how love can, if not quite heal us, at least set us free."
--Johanna van Veen, author of Blood on Her Tongue

"A mesmerizing, beautifully crafted story that breathes new life into the haunted house genre. Ghosts dwell between every page."
--Marcus Kliewer, author of We Used to Live Here

"Kylie Lee Baker has done it again with this tense and bloody follow-up to her incredible adult debut. Japanese Gothic is brilliantly inventive, sending a prickle down your spine as you struggle to distinguish between reality and delusion. A must-read--I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!"
--Monika Kim, internationally bestselling author of The Eyes Are the Best Part

"Japanese Gothic is a heady puzzle box of story--the ones we are told and the ones we tell ourselves to survive. Intricate, sensuous, and haunting, the strange truth at the center of two shared mysteries unfurls in fragile, mesmerizing layers. Utterly sublime."
--Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Girl Dinner

"An astounding tapestry of blood, time, history, and guilt: Japanese Gothic is bold and ambitious and executed with a master's touch. Pick this up."
--Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of You Weren't Meant to Be Human

"Japanese Gothic is a rare gem of a time-slip novel, in which an NYU student hiding a terrible secret from his father crosses paths with an 1870s female samurai--raised by her own father's inflexible code--in a deliciously appealing and ancient house. Kylie Lee Baker effortlessly takes in Japanese mythology, puts her own spin on history, and weaves it all together into an incredibly tense, bloody finale. Following on from the enormous success of Bat Eater, this is, once again, an absolutely marvellous and inventive book."
--Ally Wilkes, author of Where the Dead Wait

"An utterly gorgeous tale of lost souls and bad fathers, Japanese Gothic is brilliant and haunting. Baker controls even her most ethereal threads with the confidence of an orchestra conductor, making every note ring true. I loved it!"
--Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and Carry Me to My Grave

"So deliciously written, you'll be immediately engrossed."
--Reactor

"Atmospheric and disorienting, Baker's ambitious follow-up to Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng blends historical horror with Japanese folklore, incorporating elements from the legend of Urashima Tarō to deliver a violent and thought-provoking tale of grief, generational trauma, and colonialism. Fans of Alma Katsu's The Fervor will want to pick this up."
--Booklist

"Perhaps surprisingly, given the rest of the book's contents, it's the moments of tenderness between characters that have the biggest impact. Such moments are warm and generous, brighter for the horrors elsewhere, and they keep Japanese Gothic from ever feeling bleak, despite its characters' bleak circumstances. If violence sours the soul, these moments seem to suggest that kindness can preserve it."
--ArtsATL

"A lush, unsettling triumph, one that understands horror as something felt as much as seen.... There's a steady escalation to the stakes, emotional and supernatural, as the storylines begin to converge. By the end, Japanese Gothic delivers a haunting, cohesive tale."
--Seattle Times

"Baker has not only created two vivid and unusual protagonists, but also a mood of unease and mystery that puts both her characters and her reader on edge throughout Japanese Gothic."
--Morgan Leigh Davies, CrimeReads

"Baker has shown herself to be an author with the confidence and dexterity to carry a variety of story lines and ideas without stumbling; Japanese Gothic displays an elegant layering of character motivations, psychologies and motifs.... As strange similarities echo across Sen and Lee's timelines, the truth emerges, jagged and harsh, yet cathartic. What connects these two characters is something deeper than romance and more tragic than death."
--Emily C. Hughes, New York Times Book Review

"Baker's excellent character development will have readers invested early and grounds the constantly twisting plot. Japanese Gothic is a ghostly, gory ride."
--Shelf Awareness