Gus Moreno's Unsettling "Thing Between Us"

In the best tales of horror and the supernatural, the most frightening demons are the ones that manifest inside ourselves. In Gus Moreno’s offbeat debut novel This Thing Between Us, the nightmare begins when Thiago and Vera, a married couple in Chicago, move into a new condo. They hear odd noises at night, which could be caused by their inconsiderate neighbors, but they also experience a number of other strange occurrences. Sometimes, the couple hears scratching in the walls. They believe they might have rats, but an exterminator doesn’t find anything. At first, these disturbances seem fairly innocuous. Then, their Alexa-like smart speaker, Itza,  starts talking to someone who isn’t there, ordering things they never bought from online retailers, and playing music at all hours of the night. When the couple looks into the history of their home, they discover that the previous tenant was a mysterious old woman, who just might have performed occult rituals there.

Tragedy strikes when Vera dies after being knocked down some stairs by a thief fleeing a crime scene at a subway station. A grief-stricken Thiago decides to leave Chicago and move into a remote cabin in Colorado. As you might imagine, this turns out to be a very bad decision. The supernatural forces which have taken hold of Thiago aren’t ready to let go, and his sanity begins to crack. His downward spiral continues, and the deep sense of loss he feels allows whatever entity is haunting him to gain a deeper hold. As things escalate, and darker and bloodier events occur, Thiago wonders if his own actions are the real cause of all the tragedy that he’s experienced. What is real, and what is imagined? Will he become a prisoner of the darkness inside his own mind? Will the cost be his soul, as well as his sanity?

This Thing Between Us is an eerie and unsettling tale, told by Thiago as he relates the story of the harrowing events that befell Vera and himself. It’s a powerful portrait of a marriage shattered by tragedy, and how loss can fracture our sense of self. Moreno also brings a cultural dimension to the story, as the criminal that causes Vera’s death is an illegal immigrant, and Thiago’s own family history has ties to the experience of being a stranger from across the border. The novel also raises the issue of just how intimately entwined we are with technology and social media these days, and how being so connected  to it can be both a blessing and a curse. There are some truly terrifying sequences in the Colorado portion of the story. Fans of Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft and Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey will notice some very clever homages to their work. The dark terrors experienced by Thiago have a deeply Lovecraftian element.

Moreno’s fine writing deftly escalates the sense psychological unease and impending doom felt by Thiago. While he’s the most well drawn figure in the book, it’s interesting to note how he relates to (and views) the other characters, especially Vera, and his mother in law, who becomes important  in the second half of the story. Is what we experience of the other characters less trustworthy because we view them through Thiago’s eyes? As a reader, you do feel a deep sense of sympathy for, and empathy with, Thiago. But could he be an unreliable narrator? Is the darkness calling to him, or was it within him all along? Once you finish this intense, disturbing and emotionally shattering novel, you’ll have to make up your own mind. One thing is for certain. Once you finish this chilling tale, you’ll never look at your Alexa the same way again.