I Put a Spell on You...Again: A Re-review of Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

Today’s review has been a long time coming. One of my first ever reviews here on RHRML was on Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. I wrote said review five years ago and 2025 me knows I can write a better one. Hex has been a favorite of mine for many, many years at this point, and I’ve got many thoughts on it. So let’s talk about em.

First, please give a warm welcome, officially, to Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt!

Synopsis time now. But first a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. I also have a major content and trigger warning to give. Hex has mentions of racism, sexual assault and rape, violence towards animals and animal death, physical abuse, and suicide and self-harm. There is a lot going on in Hex. There are many dark, difficult, and disturbing topics in these pages so please look up other content and trigger warnings because there is a good chance I’ve missed some topics. I have listed the big ones though. So with that, let’s get to the synopsis.

If you're jumping ship, that's fine. I'll see you next week!

In the small town of Black Spring, New York, a real life witch exists. Katherine van Wyler was murdered by angry townsfolk back in the seventeenth-century for witchcraft. If she was actually a witch back then is unknown, but that didn’t stop the townsfolk from ending her life. After her death she returned from the dead to curse the town. Residents of Black Spring are cursed to remain in town forever. Should anyone leave for extended periods, should anyone try to move away, they will grow depressed, they will begin to lose their mind, and they will commit suicide. It’s a sad fate for sure.

This curse remains in the present day. Katherine still stalks the streets. The residents of Black Spring have learned to live with Katherine and her curse, though they are still wary of her. No one is to interact with her, no one should touch her, and most importantly, no one is to talk about her outside of Black Spring; the outside world must never know Katherine exists.

There are those in Black Spring who want to change that rule; namely teenaged Tyler Grant. Born and raised in Black Springs, Tyler loathes the fact that he is stuck there for his entire life. He wants the world to know about Katherine and the town’s curse in hopes someone out there can break said curse. Of course, that’s all easier said than done. If he’s found out, he will be punished by being sent to a bunker known as Doodletown where those who attempt to reveal Black Spring’s secret are mentally tortured. Plus, there’s no telling what may ensue should Katherine be unleashed on the world.

How I imagine Katherine when she gets her revenge:

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” -Dante Alighieri, Inferno.

I can think of no more fitting quote than the above. Hex is a book where hope is meaningless. If you want a happy ending, this is not the book for you. Thomas Olde Heuvelt does a fantastic job in making readers feel helpless. Hex begins with so much hope. The first time I read this one, I truly believed the characters could fix things, I believed Katherine could be dealt with, I believed everything would right itself in the end. Oh boy, was I wrong. The slow, creeping realization of every ounce of hope disappearing as the story goes on was such a powerful feeling. I recommend reading Hex just once for that feeling alone.

Applause for that feeling, please!

Also, Thomas Olde Heuvelt masterfully creates a haunting atmosphere, and not because of Katherine. The townspeople are the true horror of the novel. It was the townspeople who first killed and tortured Katherine in the 17th century, and it is the townspeople now that continue to torture her in death. The characters in this novel continuously strain under this curse, and the desperate, drastic things that these people do in the name of the greater good are absolutely insane. Hex is much like Frankenstein or The Crucible in the sense of the story not being a tale of a witch or monster, but the true story being about who and what make a monster.

The way the townspeople treat Katherine truly highlights how humanity is the worst monster of all. Katherine has become dehumanized by the residents of Black Spring. The townspeople treat Katherine as an annoyance at best, at worst she is a terrifying, monstrous creature. In reality, she was simply woman a town othered and continues to other. And Hex showcases how easy and quick it is dehumanize someone with the characters in the book essentially pranking Katherine at the start before some begin physically abusing and violating her.

There are still parts of Hex that I’m not a fan of. That still being the ending. While I love the feeling of all hope being well and truly lost, the ending still comes across as anticlimactic for me. All hope has indeed been lost, like I said, Katherine has won, the people who live in Black Spring are losing their minds, but more could happen. Black Spring could be completely decimated, perhaps the townsfolk could be turned into mindless zombies for Katherine to take over the world with, I don’t know. What I do know is there could be more to the ending. I don’t want to imagine what Katherine could do to Black Spring or the world, I want to see her fully get her revenge. I want to see the chaos, the helplessness, and Black Spring turn into a modern day ghost town. The English version of Hex ends right on that precipice and I don't want to imagine what Katherine can do, I want to see it. As it stands, I find the ending to be unsatisfying though I deeply appreciate how bleak it is and would love to see more bleak book endings. I don't think they happen enough.

I also still have some issue with some of the dialogue. Quite a few times, there will be side characters of little importance who are in a scene and make problematic remarks. There are sexist, homophobic, and Islamophobic remarks made throughout the novel. There is one side character, one of the town officials who is an offended, Christian stereotype, that would make these types of comments fairly often when he was in a scene. It makes sense for him to say these things given his stereotype, but other times these comments come out of nowhere. They aren’t relevant to the plot, they offer nothing to the story at large, and some of the heavier topics like sexual assault are included to an excessive amount simply for the shock value; many of the topics I listed in the content and trigger warning are included for shock value and nothing more. The dog did not have to die! Hex does not need this attempt at shock value as the story at large is so unique. Katherine herself and the monsters the townspeople become all on their own do not need the inclusion of these real life horrors as they offer nothing to the plot.

I still really enjoy Hex. When someone asks me for a horror recommendation I do tend to answer with Hex. The premise is wholly unique, I adore Katherine and support her right to commit wrongs, and the claustrophobic atmosphere the town of Black Spring provides is wonderfully done. There are certainly aspects I could do without, as there are in most if not all books, but I enjoy Hex quite a bit. Though the older I get and the more books I read, the more mid Hex becomes for me.      

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Book Nerds! I hope you enjoyed spending time here on RHRML. I will see you all again next week with another new review. If you can’t wait that long then I highly suggest giving Reading Has Ruined My Life a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books then you should check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. It stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk pretty much everything under the sun. I have a whole series about cryptids if you want some more Spooky Season vibes. You can listen to the show on Spotify and YouTube.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!