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A review by hackeynut
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
2.0
Man this book bummed me out. After last year's [b:Horrorstör|13129925|Horrorstör|Grady Hendrix|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1414314217s/13129925.jpg|18306052], I couldn't wait to crack open this book from Grady Hendrix. Sadly, everything that made Horrorstor one of my favorite books of last year is conspicuously absent from Hendrix's latest.
The setup is simple if long. It is the 1980s. You know it is the 1980s by the incessant references to the 1980s, to the point of embarrassment. Every page and nearly every sentence seems to give a snippet of an 80s song, movie or other cultural touchstone. It is exhausting.
Anyhow, the setup. Two friends and their two extended friends. They have a long friendship, do some drugs and one friend is changed after that. Then there is some more shenanigans that could be traced to the "changed" friend. The payoff is of course in the title of the book.
Like I said, I really wanted to enjoy the book, but it just didn't work. It doesn't work as a high school story or a coming of age tale simply because it isn't good enough. It is a cliche riddled mess. That would be okay if it hit strong on the horror side.
It doesn't. It might be the least scary exorcism entertainment product ever produced and I'm counting Leslie Nielsen's "Repossessed."
Either way, thanks to Netgalley for providing the ARC!
The setup is simple if long. It is the 1980s. You know it is the 1980s by the incessant references to the 1980s, to the point of embarrassment. Every page and nearly every sentence seems to give a snippet of an 80s song, movie or other cultural touchstone. It is exhausting.
Anyhow, the setup. Two friends and their two extended friends. They have a long friendship, do some drugs and one friend is changed after that. Then there is some more shenanigans that could be traced to the "changed" friend. The payoff is of course in the title of the book.
Like I said, I really wanted to enjoy the book, but it just didn't work. It doesn't work as a high school story or a coming of age tale simply because it isn't good enough. It is a cliche riddled mess. That would be okay if it hit strong on the horror side.
It doesn't. It might be the least scary exorcism entertainment product ever produced and I'm counting Leslie Nielsen's "Repossessed."
Either way, thanks to Netgalley for providing the ARC!