I Found Puppets Living in My Apartment Walls
Ben Farthing (August 1, 2023)
Reviewed by Carson Buckingham
Though the title may lead you to believe that this book is an airy, Muppet-like romp, it is as far from The Muppet Show as it is possible to get.
This is a scary book.
I blew through it twice and it was just as good the second time through. Farthing has taken a children’s Sesame Street-like television show and twisted it so far into darkness that it is reminiscent of Mark Z. Danielewski’s masterpiece, House of Leaves.
The author admits to being a puppet phobic, which gives his fear-infused writing that much more authenticity. The reader feels his claustrophobic panic as he pursues these horrific creatures through the walls of the house in search of his beloved grandfather, who disappeared a year prior. What makes the book so unsettling is that Farthing takes something usually regarded as safe and happy and morphs it into something appalling and repulsive. It throws the reader off balance to continually try to reconcile cute furry kiddie show puppets with hateful behavior and gruesome acts.
I Found Puppets Living in my Apartment Walls is a disturbingly wrought tome of surrealistic horror, grief, and obsession.
Oh, and don’t forget to read the Author’s Note at the end.
This book is the first of an anticipated series of I Found…novels. The second one is I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House. That is next on my list.
You’ll want to give this a read.
5 enthusiastic stars
