Hannah

4.5 stars - Originally posted to dragonsandwhimsy.co.uk

Over the past few years, I have been delving more and more into the horror genre. At one time I couldn???t get enough of it but I was too young to watch or read most things. Then I developed an anxiety disorder and found myself too easily frightened. However, my love of the genre never really went away. There is something about a dark, creepy story that gets under your skin. I still don???t know what it is, but I started keeping an eye out for horror novels when I checking the Kindle sales and that is how I came across My Best Friend???s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. 

That Cover Art, Though
Of course, the first thing you notice about this book is the cover. I suppose you can say the same for any book but this one, in particular, grabbed my eye. I???ve been finding myself enamoured with the 80???s retro vibe a lot of shows have been embracing the past few years, from Stranger Things to GLOW.

I just love the colourful nature of 80???s fashion, the big curly hair and the amazing pop music, the rise of some truly great horror and alternative music and fashion??? yes, the ???80s was a terrible decade in many ways, but there???s something to be said for it. And the cover art for My Best Friend???s Exorcism screams ???the 80???s does horror, and here???s the VHS from the back of your dad???s cupboard???. So of course my first thought was: ???oh hey, I wonder if this will scratch that Stranger Things itch,??? and the short answer is: no. It won???t. But it does many other things really, really well. 

A Friendship Like No Other?
The shining jewel of this novel is the friendship between Abby and Gretchen. They met as kids at Abby???s E.T. themed roller-skating party when Gretchen was the only other kid from class who showed up. They???ve been thick as thieves ever since. Gretchen is there for Abby when her dad loses his job and they fall into poverty, and Abby is there for Gretchen when her parents??? discipline turns violent. Beautifully, what divides them only seeks to make them stronger. Then comes high school when they have more friends, but they are still each other???s BFF. Until something changes and Gretchen starts acting really weird and then withdrawn until Abby loses hope of ever calling Gretchen her friend again.

Gretchen raised her head and looked at her bedroom door. ???I???m going to kill her,??? she whispered. Then she wiped her nose and looked up at Abby. ???Don???t ever tell I said that.???

The Midway Slog

The Horror is There

Who Should Read My Best Friend???s Exorcism?

Not a great book but it was relaxing and nostalgic to read. Review to come.

Just taking too long to really get started, the characters are not doing it for me, they're too real in a very “grimy” kinda way... Only characters I liked were Maggie and Lou, and poor Lou is fat, and we are told just how fat he is every damn time he's mentioned. To the point where the way he's described at times feels fatphobic, you know? And it's SO much. Jesus. Charlie Manx, also, very interesting villain. But again, it took way too long to get to the point. We get dribs and drabs here and there (I stopped at 43%, it may have picked up after this point but I'm so mentally checked out) and the narrative is so ... jagged. Lots of POV hopping, and changes in time period and such. It's messy. I just don't think this one is for me. Sadly. I was so excited, too.

Did not enjoy the paedophile perspective. At all. Why? I'm sure something comes of it later but ew. The writing style was fine enough to read but the story itself just felt too mundane and I couldn't get interested. None of the characters were interesting to me, or loveable. Even when the vampire attacks somebody there was no excitement there, I didn't feel gripped, no suspense. I was just bored. Decided not to waste my time further. It may well pick up but many books to read, little time!

 That was great! Wow. Inspired by a short story called “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood, somebody who inspired the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, T. Kingfisher weaves an absolutely bonechilling story of other worlds that appear in the walls of her strange but king Uncle Earl's Wonder Museum, full of bizarre taxidermy and other such artifacts.

I'm still stewing on it, really, but I can say that it takes a lot for horror to get under my skin these days, but The Hollow Places creeped me out. And I love every moment of it. Nothing felt out of place, or bland. Kingfisher writes with so much colour and knows the perfect moments to tone it down and... damn. The atmosphere.

Read this if you're a fan of horror, particularly the Weird.