It broke into their home and set up residence in their minds.

When the . . . thing first insinuated itself into the Lund family household, they were bemused. Vaguely human-shaped, its constantly-changing cravings seemed disturbing, at first, but time and pressure have a way of normalizing the extreme. Wasn’t it always part of their lives?

As the family make more and greater sacrifices in service to the beast, the thrall that binds them begins to break down. Choices must be made. Prices must be paid. And the Lunds must pit their wits against a creature determined to never let them go.

It’s psychological warfare. Sanity is optional. 

Well, this was certainly a very fucked up little book. 

To start with, that cover is straight nightmare fuel. And I love it. And it also perfectly captures the feel of the story within.

Bedfellow begins when some dude wearing a Space Jam shirt crawls through a window into the home of the Lund family. And from there, things get even weirder. Soon after this mysterious character, Marvin, enters the home, the Lunds remember that he (Marvin) just saved the life of their son, Tomas, in a restaurant. Tomas was choking, and Marvin performed the Heimlich maneuver on him. So of course, they invited him back to their home.

Where he spends the night. 

As we move forward, we realize Marvin is actually a family friend. An uncle of sorts to the two Lund children, Tomas & Kennedy. And soon after, it’s apparent that Marvin is actually the twin brother of the father in the story, Hendrick. But what Marvin really is is this super fucked up entity that has infiltrated this family in the most insidious way possible…inserting himself into their lives, and their memories. It’s incredibly creepy.

This is a fucking weird book. Unquestionably a horror story, it really toes the line between absurdism & family drama & occasionally veers off into some gnarly body horror. But where Jeremy C. Shipp really hooked me was with the characters in this book. I just loved the family in Bedfellow. I mean, Hendrick is a little bit of a dick. Actually, he’s kind of a huge dick. But his wife, Imani, and the two children, Tomas & Kennedy, were the just-right amount of quirky & eccentric, and their interactions were pretty fucking delightful. And each family member has their own POV. I was a big fan of Imani speaking largely in puns (and I hate puns), with Kennedy’s constant reaction being “Mom, no.”

There’s a dreamlike quality to Bedfellow. This family is living through a nightmare that they don’t even know they are living through. Marvin just sets up shop in their lives, with his weird obsessions about the Howard the Duck & Garbage Pail Kids movies, Gatorade, and doll clothes. It’s the bond between the members of the Lund family that keep this story from going off the rails, and as always, I find horror stories way more engaging when I care about the characters. Jeremy C. Shipp is definitely an author I’ll be reading more of! 

Bedfellow releases 11.13.18!! Thank you to TOR.COM Publishing for sending me a copy!!!