ITCH! by Gemma Amor
I would like to thank Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Hodder & Stoughton
Published – Out Now
Price – £16.99 hardback £4.99 ebook
Josie is at rock bottom, living a haunted existence after returning to her isolated hometown on the edge of the Forest of Dean. When she stumbles across a decaying, ant-infested body in the woods, Josie plummets into a downward spiral, facing uncomfortable truths about the victim and her own past - all whilst battling a growing infestation of her mind . . . and her flesh.
Desperate to solve the case, Josie scratches the surface of an age-old mystery - a masked predator stalks the forest around Ellwood, a place deeply gripped by folklore. As the village prepares for its annual festival, Josie gets closer and closer to unveiling a monster, and begins to ask herself:
Are these dark crawling insects leading her to uncover the truth? Or is she their next victim?
We are all in many ways creatures of our past. It shapes us and influences our decisions in life sometimes we are even unaware of what led us here. When we finally realise a pattern, we are setting for ourselves or how we have been shaped can be scary or liberating. In Gemma Amor’s excellent horror novel ITCH! we meet a woman who lives in a strange dying town fixated on its traditions and ignoring the many more recent horrors happening in plain sight; she though is no longer able not to see what is happening around them.
Josie has lived in the small village of Ellwood in the Forest of dean most of her life. A village uniquely known for its annual Devil March where villagers go on a lengthy parade with a straw maiden who is thrown off the valley cliffs to ward off the devil. Otherwise, Ellwood is slowly dying on its feet as the population dwindles. Josie has come back after an abusive relationship where her girlfriend plunged her into a coma. Now back working behind the village pub bar and living at a property her dad owns she is trying to get by. But all that changes when she finds a badly decayed body of a woman as she goes to work. An understandably shocking experience it triggers in Josie the belief that all the insects she saw devouring corpse have transferred to herself. Every part of her body feels infected. While she undergoes this transformation, she finds out this is not the first strange death to be recorded in Ellwood, and she finds she is now being compelled to discover more of this village’s secrets.
ITCH is a tour de force of a read. Amor grabs our attention immediately by taking us to 2001 when Josie is a small child. We soon understand her family is fractured due to the death of her mother and her father is very obviously to us not comfortable being parental. We watch him cut food and listen to loud music that Josie call ‘Violent concertos’ and the whole scene of a child asking for a story feels menacing. A storm that could very quickly erupt as this man’s very visible thin patience is wearing out and yet we also see strangely images of ants becoming a theme in Josie’s life. Amor then skips to 2025 and Josie’s alarming discovery. Amor does not hold back in the way a woman’s corpse has been left. This graphic description of decay as well as the insects within the body is very powerful and this story continues a theme of body horror. However, Amor is not gratuitous; this is an author reminding the read that murder is a life being taken not entertainment and here is the result. At the same time as witness Josie’s shock and horror at the scene we find the story then brings in a potential supernatural element as Josie collapses in shock and we are told the ants move from the corpse to Josie’s body.
Josie is very much our central character, and we follow the aftermath of this discovery and in the process explore Josie’s own life. Josie is very introverted. Uncomfortable with conflict and being haunted by the recent abuse she has had with her ex-partner Lena. Lena was very glamourous and generous but only on her own terms and we see the points control turn into various kinds of abuse. There is a running theme of women being controlled and Amor explores that domestic abuse is much more common than we’d like it to be and very importantly how it sets patterns for future relationships. We unpick the Lena’s impact on Josie and how this echoes her relationship with her father. When the two appear to be working together the story takes a fascinating powerful turn and really put pressure on Josie, we ask can she ever decide for herself what she wants?
This personal story the gets intertwined with the wider deaths and strange customs of Ellwood. Here Amo fuses the tale’s body horror with touches of folk horror. A sinister village, pagan traditions and a fine small cast of strange villagers all could very easily fall into pastiche, but Amor makes this work by allowing characters to breathe, show many sides too their story and keeps it all very grounded. All the scenes in Ellwood feel gritty rather than over the top gothic and that helps us remember the deaths we are finding out about are tragic not puzzles. That some victims we find can never be named is a reminder death takes away a person’s future and identity
But a standout part of the book for the horror is the visceral way ITCH! that gives the story its momentum. As Josie moves through the story, we get to experience her feeling her body infested with ants, worms and more within her body, wanting to erupt out of her and it creates an equally physical reaction within the reader, but Amor also weaves in ambiguity. Is this a psychosomatic reaction to the stresses Josie is under? Or is something more supernatural at work as it seems to be guiding Josie’s actions and emotions. Neatly the body horror and folk horror of Ellwood start to cross over into one another, and a really compelling mystery is found and explained.
ITCH! is a mesmerising read and one you will not forget about in a hurry. It’s a story of horror, powerful subjects being discussed and yet handled sensitively and thoughtfully. It’s a tale of empowerment and justice for victims known or unknown and cements. A reading highlight of my year and strongly recommended!
