A Subliminal Metaphor for Trauma

Written by

Twilight Sage Moon

September 30, 2026

Itch! by Gemma Amor

Synopsis

Something moves on the forest floor . . .

Josie is at rock bottom. Burned out, heartbroken and recovering from an abusive relationship, she lives a haunted existence after returning to her isolated hometown on the edge of the Forest of Dean.

But the tall, dense pine trees are not the only things casting shadows across her skin.

Josie’s hopes of a fresh start are horribly derailed when she stumbles across a dead woman’s decaying, ant-infested body in the woods. The grim discovery sends her into a downward spiral, forcing her to face uncomfortable truths about the victim and her own past – all whilst battling the swarming black ants that seem to have burrowed into her mind . . . and her flesh.

As Josie struggles with infestations of all kinds, she scratches the surface of an age-old mystery – a masked predator stalks the forest around Ellwood, a place deeply gripped by ancient folklore and strange customs. So when the village dresses up for its annual festival, Josie gets closer and closer to unveiling a monster, and begins to ask herself:

Are these dark crawling insects leading her to uncover the truth?
Or is she their next victim?

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Overall Rating

4/5

Gore Rating

3/5

Spooky Rating

4/5

Content Considerations

Sexual Assault
Rape
Suicidal Thoughts
Mental Health Concerns
Self-Harm
Physical Abuse
Emotional Abuse
Homicide

The use of bugs in horror has been used as a gross out factor for so long, but more authors are twisting the use of them. Gemma Amor is one who did something truly spectacular with the use of ants in Itch! It had some atrocious moments, but the bugs were strategic and an essential aspect of the trauma portrayed in the book.

Grounded in folk-horror, Itch! follows Josie, a woman who has suffered emotional abuse at the hands of her father. Including both emotional and physical abuse by her ex-girlfriend. The novel travels back and forth in time to reveal Josie’s relationship with her father, her ex, as well as coming across the dead body of a woman. A moment that changes her life, and everything she thought she knew, forever.

His gaze always on her, watching, disapproving. The constant crushing pain of needing his approval while also fearing him, fearing him right down to her bones, for he may have presented in a friendly way to the rest of the world, but to Josie he was hot one minute, cold the next, affectionate or angry, with no in-between.

Becoming infested by ants, Josie begins to unravel the truth behind this woman’s death, including the deaths of multiple of other women. As she experiences continued trauma responses to what she has gone through with her father and her ex, the more the ants take over her body. There were scenes with bugs that were extreme, which the reader should be aware of, but they were essential to the story. They were used in such a way for Josie to come to grips with the trauma that lives within her, and the truth that finally comes out near the end of the book about the missing women.

Josie shivered then, thinking about her father. About the most difficult of all habits to break: that of still hating him.

Comparing trauma to being infested was a brilliant portrayal, and one that I relate to well. While traumatic scenes and mentions were incorporated throughout the book, they were not discussed in detail. Ultimately, this book was a feminist rage tale with a satisfying ending that does survivors justice.

Good girl, her father used to say. Good girls kept secrets that weren’t theirs to keep, for years and years, until the secrets turned into crawling black things that swarmed through every nook and cranny in the human body and turned a person inside out, hunting for the truth.

Itch! by Gemma Amor is not my typical read. I am not often fond of bugs in horror, but her novel is one that so many women, and any survivors of abuse, will find cathartic.

*Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the review copy!