Library Journal: In Khaw’s latest novella, gut-wrenching emotion flows off every page, as readers are introduced to Antigone on the day her black dog of death arrives, enters her home, and makes itself comfortable. Antigone’s family members have a history of understanding when their deaths are coming. When Antigone’s mother knew, eight years ago, she decided to die by suicide. Now living in her mother’s former home and still actively navigating her grief, Antigone helps others with their own ghost problems, reminding them that hauntings aren’t only about the dead; the living must choose to let go. After a particularly difficult and angry interaction with a mother haunting her daughter, Antigone begins to plan her own suicide, counting down the days, black dog by her side. With a plot both deceptively simple and extremely deep, language that’s precise and lyrical, and a tone both dreamlike and realistic, Khaw steeps readers in a tale overshadowed by death but bursting with life.
VERDICT: Khaw writes another stunningly evocative and compelling story. Suggest this modern myth to fans of Helen Oyeyemi and readers who enjoyed the equally brilliant Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield or Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram.