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The Blooming
Not yet published
Expected 23 Feb 27
In order to save her child, herself and the world as we know it, a single mother must battle a sentient fungal entity that has come to possess the body and mind of her six-year-old daughter in this chilling and unforgettable new novel from the acclaimed author of Girl in Ice and Into the Jungle.
Rain falls constantly in the northeastern suburbs of Boston. Seasons blur into each other. Sweltering temperatures and withering humidity linger, even in late fall. Every living creature suffers except Kingdom Fungi. Mushrooms bloom they cover lawns, strangle trees, break through sidewalks, reveling in the heat and wet.
Single mother and mycologist Dani Walters takes note of this, and it makes her uneasy. But it’s her six-year-old daughter Piper’s behavior after eating some wild mushrooms that really frightens her. The girl now claims she has an imaginary friend who tells her to do terrible things.
Dani struggles to fathom this new development in Piper, and takes her to therapy to get to the bottom of it. Everything from multiple personality disorder to early schizophrenia is on the table—after all, Dani’s mother suffers from the disease, unable to control the voices she hears in her own head.
But these are all false leads. Piper’s new friend is no ordinary childhood fabrication. Dani must determine what is possessing her daughter, and how to rid her of it.
Young Piper’s life—and humanity’s continued existence—hang in the balance.
Rain falls constantly in the northeastern suburbs of Boston. Seasons blur into each other. Sweltering temperatures and withering humidity linger, even in late fall. Every living creature suffers except Kingdom Fungi. Mushrooms bloom they cover lawns, strangle trees, break through sidewalks, reveling in the heat and wet.
Single mother and mycologist Dani Walters takes note of this, and it makes her uneasy. But it’s her six-year-old daughter Piper’s behavior after eating some wild mushrooms that really frightens her. The girl now claims she has an imaginary friend who tells her to do terrible things.
Dani struggles to fathom this new development in Piper, and takes her to therapy to get to the bottom of it. Everything from multiple personality disorder to early schizophrenia is on the table—after all, Dani’s mother suffers from the disease, unable to control the voices she hears in her own head.
But these are all false leads. Piper’s new friend is no ordinary childhood fabrication. Dani must determine what is possessing her daughter, and how to rid her of it.
Young Piper’s life—and humanity’s continued existence—hang in the balance.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 23, 2027
About the author
Erica Ferencik
8 books988 followersOprah chose Erica Ferencik’s debut novel, The River at Night as a #1 Pick, calling the book “the page-turning novel you’ve been waiting for, a heart-pounding debut.” Entertainment Weekly named it a “Must Read,” and calls the novel “harrowing…a visceral, white knuckle rush.” Miramax has recently optioned the novel for a film.
Her new novel, Into the Jungle, one woman's terrifying journey of survival in the Bolivian Amazon, will be released on May 28, 2019. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, calling it: “[A] ferocious fever dream of a thriller…Ferencik delivers an alternately terrifying and exhilarating tale.” Her work has appeared in Salon and The Boston Globe, as well as on National Public Radio.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I had such mixed feelings about this one. The premise immediately grabbed me: fungi causing altered behavior and a mother trying to understand what is happening to her daughter. There was so much potential here, and whenever the fungal horror was at the forefront, I was genuinely intrigued. Ferencik's descriptions of fungi could be wonderfully strange, grotesque, and unsettling. Those were easily my favorite moments of the book.
But I found the execution inconsistent. The writing was accessible and easy to move through, but I wasn't consistently drawn into the prose. During the fungal sequences, it became much more sensory and vivid, and I felt much more immersed. Outside of those moments, it was fairly straightforward, and I often felt like I was moving through the story rather than being pulled into it.
I also found myself increasingly frustrated by where the story placed its focus. Dani's experience as a single mother trying to balance pursuing her doctorate, completing and defending her dissertation, maintaining her career, and raising her daughter is a significant thread, as are the questions surrounding motherhood, guilt, faith, and possession. I could see what the book was exploring through these elements, but they often felt like they were competing with, and at times overtaking, the fungal horror that initially drew me in.
And that's ultimately what I wanted more of: the fungus. The idea of fungi potentially altering human behavior felt much more distinctive to me than the increasingly spiritual, demonic, and clinical direction of the story. There were moments when I genuinely wondered if I had accidentally wandered into a possession story with mushrooms attached. 😂 Whenever the book returned to the fungal implications, I was immediately more interested.
I also had mixed feelings about the short chapters. I could see the cinematic intention behind them, almost like quick cuts that pan in and out of different moments of suspense, but many felt like they could have been scene breaks within longer chapters. For me, the constant stopping and restarting sometimes interrupted the momentum rather than building it.
Ultimately, I kept feeling like there were the bones of a really great book here. The premise was fascinating, the fungal horror could be genuinely disturbing, and there were several ideas I wanted the story to explore much more deeply. I just don't think all of those pieces came together as cohesively as I wanted them to. I wasn't bored, but I also wasn't consistently pulled in. I kept reading because I wanted to see where the fungal premise would go, while simultaneously wishing the story would lean harder into the very thing that made me want to read it in the first place.
I think this would work well for readers who enjoy atmospheric, unsettling horror with psychological and supernatural elements, particularly stories that blur the line between what's explainable and what isn't. I'd go in knowing that the fungal horror shares the spotlight with themes of motherhood, faith, and possession, though, so readers looking for a more focused, science-driven fungal horror may find themselves wanting more from that aspect.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books | Gallery/Scout Press for the advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
But I found the execution inconsistent. The writing was accessible and easy to move through, but I wasn't consistently drawn into the prose. During the fungal sequences, it became much more sensory and vivid, and I felt much more immersed. Outside of those moments, it was fairly straightforward, and I often felt like I was moving through the story rather than being pulled into it.
I also found myself increasingly frustrated by where the story placed its focus. Dani's experience as a single mother trying to balance pursuing her doctorate, completing and defending her dissertation, maintaining her career, and raising her daughter is a significant thread, as are the questions surrounding motherhood, guilt, faith, and possession. I could see what the book was exploring through these elements, but they often felt like they were competing with, and at times overtaking, the fungal horror that initially drew me in.
And that's ultimately what I wanted more of: the fungus. The idea of fungi potentially altering human behavior felt much more distinctive to me than the increasingly spiritual, demonic, and clinical direction of the story. There were moments when I genuinely wondered if I had accidentally wandered into a possession story with mushrooms attached. 😂 Whenever the book returned to the fungal implications, I was immediately more interested.
I also had mixed feelings about the short chapters. I could see the cinematic intention behind them, almost like quick cuts that pan in and out of different moments of suspense, but many felt like they could have been scene breaks within longer chapters. For me, the constant stopping and restarting sometimes interrupted the momentum rather than building it.
Ultimately, I kept feeling like there were the bones of a really great book here. The premise was fascinating, the fungal horror could be genuinely disturbing, and there were several ideas I wanted the story to explore much more deeply. I just don't think all of those pieces came together as cohesively as I wanted them to. I wasn't bored, but I also wasn't consistently pulled in. I kept reading because I wanted to see where the fungal premise would go, while simultaneously wishing the story would lean harder into the very thing that made me want to read it in the first place.
I think this would work well for readers who enjoy atmospheric, unsettling horror with psychological and supernatural elements, particularly stories that blur the line between what's explainable and what isn't. I'd go in knowing that the fungal horror shares the spotlight with themes of motherhood, faith, and possession, though, so readers looking for a more focused, science-driven fungal horror may find themselves wanting more from that aspect.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books | Gallery/Scout Press for the advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Erica Ferencik's previous three novels are among my favorite books of all time. Her prose is flowing and authentic, her observations insightful and her writing of the natural world revelatory. The stories in those three books are wholly original and incomparably engaging.
The Blooming is a departure from her recent work in that it's really not a suspense thriller, it's a horror novel. Specifically, it's a haunted house, sort of neo-gothic story. It's also eco-horror, centering around a natural phenomenon much as earlier Ferencik novels have.
While Into the Jungle dabbled in the supernatural, similar to the series Frontera Verde, this one repeatedly, clumsily insists on a premise that's harder to swallow than a greasy bluish mushroom cap from a squashed sandwich bag. The spoiler-heavy description of the book really ruins any chance the reader has of enjoying the wild speculation of the early chapters. Still on shaky ground in terms of character development, the second act plunges straight into outrageous Exorcist/Omen territory, barely distinguishing itself through its own mythology in between spells of cliched haunted-house amnesia.
If this book were a meditation on a deeper theme like permissive parenting or the stigma of single-parent families, that would be something. It's definitely not that. It's an episode of Tales from the Crypt--the setups are painfully predictable and the cliffhanger chapter endings frustrate the (viewer) reader because we're just waiting for the inevitable resolution. Seemingly significant characters drop out of the story, careers and areas of specialized knowledge are rendered irrelevant or nonexistent.
So many borrowed riffs and unresolved branches of the lore. At one point, the book took a distinctly Nostromo-Ridley-Scott turn, but then, that mycelial thread just dried up and disappeared. Is it like the movie Shrooms? Yes, kinda. It's also a little like Midsommar, if Midsommar were totally stupid. But it also resembles a whole fleet of Stephen King/Richard Bachman stories so closely that it's hard to give Ferencik any credit for the plot.
The setup is The Shining, pretty clearly, the main section of the story is The Mist. The ending is a sort of mashup of M. Night Shamaylan's The Happening and Bachman's Thinner.
These are admirable tomes to borrow from, timeless classics, arguably. But The Blooming is far from it. David Koepp, Taylor Zajonc, Jeff VanderMeer and others have written compelling, scary fiction about the cordyceps concept. Zombie fungus. It's a premise from nature that can infinitely be remade into an unlimited number of original, convincing and thrilling stories from the horror genre and others, across a broad range of literature. This isn't one of them.
Pack up your injection-port substrate bag and throw away your nitrile gloves--these mycelial threads don't go anywhere. Choose an earlier Ferencik, if you're just getting acquainted. You'll have a lot more fun.
A chitinous thank you to Edelweiss, to the author and to Gallery/Scout Press for the ARC.
The Blooming is a departure from her recent work in that it's really not a suspense thriller, it's a horror novel. Specifically, it's a haunted house, sort of neo-gothic story. It's also eco-horror, centering around a natural phenomenon much as earlier Ferencik novels have.
While Into the Jungle dabbled in the supernatural, similar to the series Frontera Verde, this one repeatedly, clumsily insists on a premise that's harder to swallow than a greasy bluish mushroom cap from a squashed sandwich bag. The spoiler-heavy description of the book really ruins any chance the reader has of enjoying the wild speculation of the early chapters. Still on shaky ground in terms of character development, the second act plunges straight into outrageous Exorcist/Omen territory, barely distinguishing itself through its own mythology in between spells of cliched haunted-house amnesia.
If this book were a meditation on a deeper theme like permissive parenting or the stigma of single-parent families, that would be something. It's definitely not that. It's an episode of Tales from the Crypt--the setups are painfully predictable and the cliffhanger chapter endings frustrate the (viewer) reader because we're just waiting for the inevitable resolution. Seemingly significant characters drop out of the story, careers and areas of specialized knowledge are rendered irrelevant or nonexistent.
So many borrowed riffs and unresolved branches of the lore. At one point, the book took a distinctly Nostromo-Ridley-Scott turn, but then, that mycelial thread just dried up and disappeared. Is it like the movie Shrooms? Yes, kinda. It's also a little like Midsommar, if Midsommar were totally stupid. But it also resembles a whole fleet of Stephen King/Richard Bachman stories so closely that it's hard to give Ferencik any credit for the plot.
The setup is The Shining, pretty clearly, the main section of the story is The Mist. The ending is a sort of mashup of M. Night Shamaylan's The Happening and Bachman's Thinner.
These are admirable tomes to borrow from, timeless classics, arguably. But The Blooming is far from it. David Koepp, Taylor Zajonc, Jeff VanderMeer and others have written compelling, scary fiction about the cordyceps concept. Zombie fungus. It's a premise from nature that can infinitely be remade into an unlimited number of original, convincing and thrilling stories from the horror genre and others, across a broad range of literature. This isn't one of them.
Pack up your injection-port substrate bag and throw away your nitrile gloves--these mycelial threads don't go anywhere. Choose an earlier Ferencik, if you're just getting acquainted. You'll have a lot more fun.
A chitinous thank you to Edelweiss, to the author and to Gallery/Scout Press for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I’m giving this book 3 stars because, for most of it, I was genuinely engaged. Realistically, though, it’s closer to a 2.5-star read for me because of the ending. I found the premise incredibly intriguing. In fact, I was completely invested for about the first 70% of the book. The fungal antagonist hooked me immediately. I loved the dissertation-thesis thread and the research the main character was doing to figure out what was actually happening with the fungi. That part of the story felt fresh, creepy, and smart.
And then the wheels fell off.
The first major problem for me was the main character’s behavior regarding the basement. Her daughter clearly has mushrooms growing out of her ears, and she fully believes those mushrooms are connected to violent behavior based on her own research. She knows the basement is absolutely teeming with dangerous mushrooms. The growth is so aggressive that it is literally making enough noise to cause thumping from below. Yet when her five-year-old daughter insists that she wants to SLEEP down there, she just... goes along with it? This made absolutely no sense to me.
At this point, the main character is essentially the world’s foremost expert on what these mushrooms might be doing. She is actively researching them. She believes they are dangerous. She believes they may be controlling behavior. And yet she allows a five-year-old to convince her to enter the most heavily contaminated area of the house and expose herself? That felt like a massive plot hole rather than a believable character decision.
Then everything becomes even more confusing.
She is almost immediately infected and begins hearing the voices. But apparently there is only one transferable voice or presence? Because suddenly her daughter no longer seems infected. The main character goes on a brief rampage, calls her best friend to come get her, and then somehow the best friend becomes infected while the main character is inexplicably fine again.
How did the transfer happen? There is a reference to spores being released into the air when the house essentially implodes, but are we supposed to believe those spores somehow infected only the best friend? Is there one malicious fungal consciousness that moves from person to person? Are there multiple infected people? Does infection end when the fungus moves to another host? None of this is explained.
And perhaps most frustratingly, by this point the entire dissertation and research storyline (the part of the book I found most compelling) has basically been abandoned.
The ending felt incredibly rushed, and instead of bringing the mystery together, it introduced even more questions and answered almost none of them. I can absolutely enjoy an ambiguous ending, but there is a difference between intentional ambiguity and simply leaving major pieces of the story unexplained.
I was so hooked by the premise and the first two-thirds of this book that I really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, the ending was a hot mess for me and dragged what could have been a fantastic read down considerably.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for this ARC.
And then the wheels fell off.
The first major problem for me was the main character’s behavior regarding the basement. Her daughter clearly has mushrooms growing out of her ears, and she fully believes those mushrooms are connected to violent behavior based on her own research. She knows the basement is absolutely teeming with dangerous mushrooms. The growth is so aggressive that it is literally making enough noise to cause thumping from below. Yet when her five-year-old daughter insists that she wants to SLEEP down there, she just... goes along with it? This made absolutely no sense to me.
At this point, the main character is essentially the world’s foremost expert on what these mushrooms might be doing. She is actively researching them. She believes they are dangerous. She believes they may be controlling behavior. And yet she allows a five-year-old to convince her to enter the most heavily contaminated area of the house and expose herself? That felt like a massive plot hole rather than a believable character decision.
Then everything becomes even more confusing.
She is almost immediately infected and begins hearing the voices. But apparently there is only one transferable voice or presence? Because suddenly her daughter no longer seems infected. The main character goes on a brief rampage, calls her best friend to come get her, and then somehow the best friend becomes infected while the main character is inexplicably fine again.
How did the transfer happen? There is a reference to spores being released into the air when the house essentially implodes, but are we supposed to believe those spores somehow infected only the best friend? Is there one malicious fungal consciousness that moves from person to person? Are there multiple infected people? Does infection end when the fungus moves to another host? None of this is explained.
And perhaps most frustratingly, by this point the entire dissertation and research storyline (the part of the book I found most compelling) has basically been abandoned.
The ending felt incredibly rushed, and instead of bringing the mystery together, it introduced even more questions and answered almost none of them. I can absolutely enjoy an ambiguous ending, but there is a difference between intentional ambiguity and simply leaving major pieces of the story unexplained.
I was so hooked by the premise and the first two-thirds of this book that I really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, the ending was a hot mess for me and dragged what could have been a fantastic read down considerably.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for this ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Author
A chilling, enviably brilliant reimagining of The Exorcist as fungal horror (a.k.a. "spooror," like Mexican Gothic), about a sentient cordyceptic entity that possesses the seven-year-old daughter of a single mom. Ferencik proved her chops with three first-rate survival thrillers (The River at Night, Into the Jungle, Girl in Ice); in The Blooming, she cranks up the suspense to sweat-sodden-bedsheet levels with a terrifying parental nightmare of pure ecohorror. This is a nail-biting, squirm-inducing, emotionally gripping, ecologically topical tale of terror about a mother, her daughter, and the "demon" we summon with every involuntary breath we draw. The Blooming is not to be missed!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Fungal. Itchy. Surprisingly good.
This was my first taste of Erica Ferencik’s work. I wasn’t fully prepared for the psychedelic trip that kept spewing demonic black smoke at me. Whatever that thing was, it kept me in a tight purgatory chokehold with far more questions than sin. The ambiguousness and boundless paranoia not only lured, seduced, and tortured me, but the audacity of that ending! Brutal.
Now shifting over to the donut scene which caught me off guard in the best possible way. An ominous turning point forever etched on my mind and far more exciting than I had anticipated. It creeped me out SO BAD, it was good!
Think. Night of the living shroom, the increasing overwhelm of motherhood, menacing mycelium eco-horror, faltering female in STEM - all tangled in a dizzying nightmarish apocalyptic network. I wasn’t sure which deemed more disturbing: a mother battling her inner demons or some mind-altering fungi at large. Read it and decide for yourself because THE BLOOMING will not relent nor spare readers of its cunning and madness.
Thank you Gallery/Scout Press for an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
This was my first taste of Erica Ferencik’s work. I wasn’t fully prepared for the psychedelic trip that kept spewing demonic black smoke at me. Whatever that thing was, it kept me in a tight purgatory chokehold with far more questions than sin. The ambiguousness and boundless paranoia not only lured, seduced, and tortured me, but the audacity of that ending! Brutal.
Now shifting over to the donut scene which caught me off guard in the best possible way. An ominous turning point forever etched on my mind and far more exciting than I had anticipated. It creeped me out SO BAD, it was good!
Think. Night of the living shroom, the increasing overwhelm of motherhood, menacing mycelium eco-horror, faltering female in STEM - all tangled in a dizzying nightmarish apocalyptic network. I wasn’t sure which deemed more disturbing: a mother battling her inner demons or some mind-altering fungi at large. Read it and decide for yourself because THE BLOOMING will not relent nor spare readers of its cunning and madness.
Thank you Gallery/Scout Press for an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This novel is truly terrifying, delivering horrors that feel gut-level, literally. The writing encourages readers to sense the willful destructiveness of the sentient fungal entity–with all its blooming, slithering, popping, and spore-puffing extensions–in our viscera.
But the novel also operates on deeper levels, with the entity seeming to arise from humans’ destruction of the planet and leveling vengeance that feels proportional and personal. The novel also offers psychological depth, exploring the responsibilities and guilt trips of single motherhood, the burdens of profound grief and trauma, and the sense of alienation that can arise between parents and children, even under the best of circumstances. The protagonist’s personal journey is also compelling. We see how her scientific insights advance with her understanding of the fungal entity, how she comes to understand the truth about her daughter, and how terrifyingly alone she feels when having to face the full reality of what’s at stake. In short, this novel delivers both thrills and depth.
But the novel also operates on deeper levels, with the entity seeming to arise from humans’ destruction of the planet and leveling vengeance that feels proportional and personal. The novel also offers psychological depth, exploring the responsibilities and guilt trips of single motherhood, the burdens of profound grief and trauma, and the sense of alienation that can arise between parents and children, even under the best of circumstances. The protagonist’s personal journey is also compelling. We see how her scientific insights advance with her understanding of the fungal entity, how she comes to understand the truth about her daughter, and how terrifyingly alone she feels when having to face the full reality of what’s at stake. In short, this novel delivers both thrills and depth.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I just finished this super-suspenseful thriller, curled up with THE BLOOMING on a stormy day—I loved all the truly surprising twists in a climactic mother-daughter showdown for the ages! Loved the fraught and frightening yet believable build-up as life for single-mom Dani unravels when her daughter Piper ingests a mysterious mushroom and appears to become possessed.
Every mother’s nightmare comes to frightening life in these pages. This book reminds me of the powerful recent film IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU-- dramatizing an extreme yet highly believable and relatable vision of Motherhood and the darker emotions all mixed up with the fierce love.
Throughout I enjoyed Erica Ferencik’s vivid visceral writing—such as when the frantic furious Dani backs out the car from her home for the final time with 'three savage arcs.' Great mix all through this book of dire drama plus dark humor, one of my favorite readerly combos! I love this page-turning and emotionally resonant thriller and hope for a sequel from the fabulous Ferencik!
Every mother’s nightmare comes to frightening life in these pages. This book reminds me of the powerful recent film IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU-- dramatizing an extreme yet highly believable and relatable vision of Motherhood and the darker emotions all mixed up with the fierce love.
Throughout I enjoyed Erica Ferencik’s vivid visceral writing—such as when the frantic furious Dani backs out the car from her home for the final time with 'three savage arcs.' Great mix all through this book of dire drama plus dark humor, one of my favorite readerly combos! I love this page-turning and emotionally resonant thriller and hope for a sequel from the fabulous Ferencik!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Wow, what a splendid ride! The Blooming is Erica Ferencik's best book so far. The plot revolves around mycelia--mushrooms to you--which IRL are networked all across the globe, communicating with one another. Ms Ferencik takes this several steps further, creating a terrifying reality for her hero and her heroic daughter. Traps abound and a growing terror that creeps under your skin and stays there for the entire length of the novel. The mother's irrefutable bond with her daughter is portrayed with such immediate force you can feel it in your bones. A past tragedy finally colides with the frightening present in a clash like a clap of thunder. The last fifty pages are so realistically breathless I literally could not put the book down. And then there's the ending you won't see coming that is guaranteed to make you reel. A tour de force, for sure.
Review of advance copy received from Author
What if that which you most loved and that which you most feared coexisted in the same bespectacled 7-year-old girl? What if that girl was your daughter? Erica Ferencik brilliantly realizes this nightmarish scenario in a pulse-revving eco-horror that falls somewhere between The Bad Seed and The Last of Us. Pure, desperate love between mother and child is the only defense against a blooming invasion that’s both insidious and monstrously beautiful. At a time when readers are enthralled with tales of Kingdom Fungi, this story offers fresh terrors animated by sharp, evocative writing.
Thank you to the author and publisher for an advance copy of The Blooming.
Thank you to the author and publisher for an advance copy of The Blooming.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Oh this cover and the story inside, both creeping and haunting in such a beautiful way.
It's raining alot, but that's kind of normal, but Dani feels like it's something more, new things in bloom, fungus, funny mushrooms and it's more then just a slow creep, they are taking over everything.
Then Piper eats some of the mushrooms and shit gets weird, is it some kind of hallucinations from eating the mushrooms or can she see things others can't now.
Does her daughter still exist or is she something new and terrifying now, can this happen to anyone..
I really enjoyed this, new to me author, thank you Gallery!
It's raining alot, but that's kind of normal, but Dani feels like it's something more, new things in bloom, fungus, funny mushrooms and it's more then just a slow creep, they are taking over everything.
Then Piper eats some of the mushrooms and shit gets weird, is it some kind of hallucinations from eating the mushrooms or can she see things others can't now.
Does her daughter still exist or is she something new and terrifying now, can this happen to anyone..
I really enjoyed this, new to me author, thank you Gallery!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced read.
The Blooming by Erica Ferencik held so much promise in the premise, but unfortunately I was left sorely disappointed in this read. The beginning of the book started off good; Piper’s character was giving me Danny from ‘The Shining’ vibes. I got excited and was anticipating some thrills and suspense. However, as the book continued, the plot just seemed to get weirder and weirder, like ‘Monster House’ vibes but haunted by fungus. I was really hoping by the end this book would get better, but sadly it didn’t. I do enjoy sci-fi/thriller/horror/suspense, but, The Blooming just wasn’t my cup of tea.
The Blooming by Erica Ferencik held so much promise in the premise, but unfortunately I was left sorely disappointed in this read. The beginning of the book started off good; Piper’s character was giving me Danny from ‘The Shining’ vibes. I got excited and was anticipating some thrills and suspense. However, as the book continued, the plot just seemed to get weirder and weirder, like ‘Monster House’ vibes but haunted by fungus. I was really hoping by the end this book would get better, but sadly it didn’t. I do enjoy sci-fi/thriller/horror/suspense, but, The Blooming just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Blooming by Erica Ferencik — 4 Stars
Well… this got weird.
I love mushrooms, so unlike apparently everyone else reading this book, The Blooming did NOT convince me to stop eating them.
The story gets creepy fast when strange mushrooms start appearing everywhere and Dani’s daughter Piper decides to eat one.
Piper. Girl. We don’t eat the unidentified forest mushrooms.
From there, things get increasingly unsettling. I loved the concept and the creepy atmosphere, even if it was a little predictable in places.
4/5 stars.
Weird, creepy, completely different, and yes… I still love mushrooms.
Well… this got weird.
I love mushrooms, so unlike apparently everyone else reading this book, The Blooming did NOT convince me to stop eating them.
The story gets creepy fast when strange mushrooms start appearing everywhere and Dani’s daughter Piper decides to eat one.
Piper. Girl. We don’t eat the unidentified forest mushrooms.
From there, things get increasingly unsettling. I loved the concept and the creepy atmosphere, even if it was a little predictable in places.
4/5 stars.
Weird, creepy, completely different, and yes… I still love mushrooms.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Ok, I'm not sure what algorithm I've triggered, but books about fungi are stalking me. Unlike my prior non-fiction read, this is a deeply disturbing speculative (horror-ish) take on the little-known world of mushrooms. Dani, a single mother living in a Boston suburb while she finishes graduate school, is faced with rapid, unexplainable changes to her six-year-old daughter. This is a psychological slow burn with a seriously, seriously disturbing ending.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
August 20, 2026
The anxiety I felt reading this was unreal 😭 I have so much respect for single moms, our FMC, Danny, noticed her 7yr old daughter, Piper, is acting very out of character. Initially, my first thought went to, she’s growing up so it makes sense there are some changes in her personality. But seeing piper talking in the “we want this” or the voice in her head is telling her to do evil things, I was already convinced we are dealing with something different. I love the concept of a fungus that manipulates people into evil. I felt anxiety, fear and doubt through this book. 5/5.
Review of advance copy received from Author
THE BLOOMING is both a suspenseful thriller for our troubled times and an emotionally gripping mother/daughter showdown for the ages. Every Mom’s nightmare comes to frightening life in these pages. As in the film IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU, this book dramatizes an extreme, yet believable vision of Motherhood run amuck, dark impulses mixing with fierce love. Throughout, I savored Erica Ferencik’s vivid visceral writing plus her edgy dark humor, my favorite writerly combo. I love this page-turning and heart-wrenching thriller and hope for a sequel from the fabulous Ferencik!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Holy hell, what a ride! This horror had me on the edge of my seat almost start to finish. A creepy little girl and a single mom trying to balance work, school, and motherhood- an absolute nightmare on its own.
I think anyone that is a fan of The Last of Us has a proper fear, or at the very least hesitant ick when it comes to fungi, and this certainly contributed to those growing feelings. And the twist at the end? Brutal! But totally to be expected with a horror, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself to feel better.
Deeply enjoyed this creepy story, start to finish!
I think anyone that is a fan of The Last of Us has a proper fear, or at the very least hesitant ick when it comes to fungi, and this certainly contributed to those growing feelings. And the twist at the end? Brutal! But totally to be expected with a horror, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself to feel better.
Deeply enjoyed this creepy story, start to finish!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.5 stars rounded up. This horror novel felt to me like a mixture of The Exorcist with a bit of The Shining meets mushrooms. Very creepy. It also felt quite apocalyptic, which added to the overall sense of horror and dread. It probably could have been tightened quite a bit, and the hamster sub-plot was very upsetting to me and really didn’t even need to be in there in my opinion. Overall I am glad I read it and wouldn’t be surprised at all if someone snatched it up and turned it into a miniseries or movie. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A brilliant, twisted nail-biter of a novel about motherhood, guilt, grief, and how far we will go to save someone we love. Ferencik's characters take root and grow in the most disturbingly surreal set of circumstances I've had the pleasure of encountering in fiction. After reading THE BLOOMING, you'll never look at mushrooms the same way. Smart, sharp, emotionally fraught ecohorror that clings to your imagination, and doesn't let go. A darkly entertaining read.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Check Your Sump Pump! Erica Ferencik's The Blooming Is Dark and Creepy Fun
Fans of The Last of Us may have thought they knew everything about fungi out of control, but The Blooming by Erica Ferencik (Scout Press, forthcoming February 2027, 289 pages) confirms that there are still thrilling eco-horror tales to be told. This novel’s pacing and lyrical language bring characters Dani and her daughter, Piper, to vivid life as a central mystery unfolds—what is happening to Piper, and what happened years ago on that hike with Dani’s lover?
Ferencik's suburban Boston landscape is saturated with "blood-warm rain." Growing out of this unprecedented damp is a mysterious menace that's all-present, all-knowing: a fungal creature more animal than plant, and looking for a host.
The Blooming’s single mom Dani, is that rare thing: a relatable mycologist writing her thesis on the animalish plant kingdom of organisms we know as fungi. Dani's own family becomes the evidence lab for her research as the hotter, wetter world they inhabit paves the way for an "unparalleled jump": a fungal mind and body invasion. How does this fungus incrementally take over its host's mind, behavior, and voice? And why, like a vengeful soul that's never satisfied, does it seek a more interesting host still? The suburban nightmare of unrelenting rain and a failed sump pump reveals something that's been sleeping beneath the surface to emerge stronger, smarter, and more determined than ever to wreak havoc on Dani and those she loves most.
Readers who might have, like myself, put off recaulking their bathroom or avoided the neighbor's root cellar will feel a familiar, clammy chill up their spine as they descend the staircase with our heroine. There is also catharsis here for the creeping anxiety we may feel as "once in a generation" weather events become more common. The Blooming gives brilliant—lush, sensual, often lyrical—language to our uneasy fears. And when the last mystery of the host-jumping fungus is exposed, we're left with both a triumphant sense of relief and, inevitably, a lingering sense of doubt—and perhaps a reluctance to go into the basement for a while.
Fans of The Last of Us may have thought they knew everything about fungi out of control, but The Blooming by Erica Ferencik (Scout Press, forthcoming February 2027, 289 pages) confirms that there are still thrilling eco-horror tales to be told. This novel’s pacing and lyrical language bring characters Dani and her daughter, Piper, to vivid life as a central mystery unfolds—what is happening to Piper, and what happened years ago on that hike with Dani’s lover?
Ferencik's suburban Boston landscape is saturated with "blood-warm rain." Growing out of this unprecedented damp is a mysterious menace that's all-present, all-knowing: a fungal creature more animal than plant, and looking for a host.
The Blooming’s single mom Dani, is that rare thing: a relatable mycologist writing her thesis on the animalish plant kingdom of organisms we know as fungi. Dani's own family becomes the evidence lab for her research as the hotter, wetter world they inhabit paves the way for an "unparalleled jump": a fungal mind and body invasion. How does this fungus incrementally take over its host's mind, behavior, and voice? And why, like a vengeful soul that's never satisfied, does it seek a more interesting host still? The suburban nightmare of unrelenting rain and a failed sump pump reveals something that's been sleeping beneath the surface to emerge stronger, smarter, and more determined than ever to wreak havoc on Dani and those she loves most.
Readers who might have, like myself, put off recaulking their bathroom or avoided the neighbor's root cellar will feel a familiar, clammy chill up their spine as they descend the staircase with our heroine. There is also catharsis here for the creeping anxiety we may feel as "once in a generation" weather events become more common. The Blooming gives brilliant—lush, sensual, often lyrical—language to our uneasy fears. And when the last mystery of the host-jumping fungus is exposed, we're left with both a triumphant sense of relief and, inevitably, a lingering sense of doubt—and perhaps a reluctance to go into the basement for a while.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I don't generally read horror, but I love Erica Ferencik's other books, so I was excited to read her newest, and wow - what a powerful, haunting read this was! Taut, eerie, atmosphereic.... I could feel on a visceral level the terror and helplessless Dani experiences as she watches her daughter being consumed and transformed from within. Absolutely compelling.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Phew, what a ride. If mushroom horror is having a moment, this is the pinnacle. Slightly predictable at times, but the lush power of the mushies kept me invested. Reason #838494961 why I don't eat mushrooms! More in depth review to come.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A page-turning thriller! The suspense just kept building with this one. This was so different from what I typically read but I really enjoyed it and will be checking out more from Erica Ferencik!
Thank you to the author/NetGalley for the arc!
Thank you to the author/NetGalley for the arc!
Review of advance copy received from Author
My favorite Ferencik novel yet!
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