Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
I would like to thank Hodder & Stoughton for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Hodder & Stoughton
Published – Out now
Price – £22 hardback £0.99 ebook
2026
Lee can't remember exactly where he hid the body, but he can remember the blood. Hiding out at his father's centuries-old home in Japan, Lee knows something is wrong with him, and he knows it has something to do with his mother's disappearance almost a decade ago.
1877
A female samurai, Sen, stalks the borders of her home to protect her family from slaughter after the abolition of the samurai class. She's not sure how they'll ever survive, not without her father, who has returned from war with a different soul behind his eyes.
When Lee and Sen find one another through a door between their worlds, they're both looking for answers. But what they find in the creaking old house they share is beyond what either of them could imagine...
At this time of tear we settle into stories of hauntings. The tales of the old houses with strange presneces, ghostly figures on the road and we ponder what do they mean Timeslips, uneasy spirits or our overactive imaginations. What we rarely do is expecta hautnign from the future and on Kylie Lee Baker’s atmospheric novel Japanese Gothic we meet two people from the modern age and the past who appear to be haunting each others lives leading to a powerful decision on their futures.
In 2026 Lee has gone to his father’s house in Japan to clear his head after he think he killed his college roommate – but he has no memory as to why or where the body went. The old house though has a strange atmosphere and Lee increasingly feels a presence nearby. In 1877 Sem is the daughter of a samurai just after the Emperor quashed violently a rebellion. Her father survived but they now hide from their enemies and her father is pushing her to extremes in their training. Sen is startled to suddenly see a westerner who calls himself Lee and says he is from the future. Both of them will find their paths entwined and lead to family secrets being exposed that threaten great violence.
This is a fascinating intricate piece of storytelling I felt was quite compelling. Lee Baker fuses the two different storylines together well creating a sense of a looming tragedy that it is unclear if our main characters can escape their futures. In Lee’s modern-day storyline, we have a psychological tale of memory. Lee is a troubled young man constantly dulling his mind with drugs and we find forever haunted by his mother disappearing in him as a young child. Lee Baker creates a psychological mystery where we must try to unpick the truth out of a sea of strange events. The games Lee remembers playing with his mother with a sense of pleasure may to our adult eyes be far more concerning. Lee Baker has made him a compelling character who is potentially dangerous yet sympathetic as we feel he has been shaped by events outside his control that have clearly affected his mental health. With a distant father who seems to not understand his son or occasionally seems wary of him he is very much a lost soul.
In contrast Sen’s story is more a family drama. Unlike Lee she knows who and what she is - a samurai who wishes to honour her father. She trains daily and ignores the mocking of her younger brothers. The situation she is in though is also disturbing. This is the period where the samurai lose their place in society and her father unexpectedly returned from a battle most of the others died in. He is a malevolent character in the story – no warmth, driven to suspicion and wants control over his household. Sen’s unquestioning loyalty means she seems to ignore what he is capable of and in a series of events we see how she is being formed in his image. To what purpose though is unclear. Lee Baker seeds the period’s history and culture into this well and for me is the stronger of the two storylines as like with Lee in 2026 we have a character not sure what comes next. If Lee’s story is the modern psychological gothic tale, then Sen’s oppressive household feels the more traditional take on the story
In a strange and pleasingly unexplained way the two time periods cross over allow these two to meet and interact. Both think the other is ghost or spirit which is something you don’t tend to see in a ghost story and Lee Baker slowly gets the two to understand each other. How do they react to seeing the future and the past and indeed can start to meet others in the past? Ultimately the two have connections in common – unsure of their futures, complex relationships with the fathers but very different temperaments – Lee who cannot act while Sen is very very loyal. The finale shows that they each learn something from the other and in some stories that would be empowering and heartwarming, but this Gentle Reader is a horror tale and so a happy ending here gets a different interpretation!
I do have a few reservations. The story feels a little truncated. Lee’s father has a girlfriend who seems far more wary of Sen in the future that suggests we are going to get some revelations, but that storyline then seems to peter out with no real resolution. The finale ultimately feels a little more rushed and sudden which while can be seen in gothic tale,s here, I felt didn’t quite land the story as well as I was hoping for.
Japanese Gothic is an unusual take on the ghost story fusing two stories into one generally very well and I was really engaged with the very personal dual mystery and troubled by the two character’s situations and indeed their mindsets. Ultimately more haunted by their situations than each other. Despite some reservations I think this was a powerful read that should work well for an autumnal chiller as you are alone in the house.
