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Book Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism
Apr. 17th, 2023 06:51 pmMy friend Becky is on a Grady Hendrix kick, so I read My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which is about two high school girls in 1988 and features the MOST eighties-homage cover that someone in 2016 could possibly make.
The book as a whole is extremely an homage to the eighties (to the point that I actually didn’t get a lot of the references, which mostly doesn’t matter but sometimes does) and also extremely high school. I loved Gretchen and Abby and their friendship, and while I can’t say I loved some of the grosser scenes (( spoilers ) they were certainly very effective! The whole book makes possession horrifyingly vivid: you can really feel Abby’s helpless terror as Gretchen goes more and more off the rails and Abby can’t help her, in fact at some point is no longer allowed even to speak to her.
The exorcism itself is fantastic, an amazing climax, so tense and chilling. But the ending went off the rails a bit. Fortunately, it isn’t bad in a way that spoils what came before it, but given the high quality of the book until then, it was sad to see it dribble out leaving a lot of loose ends untied.
Two of the loose ends particularly bothered me.
( Spoilers for the ending )
Quibbles aside, I did very much enjoy the book, and I’m planning to continue exploring Hendrix’s oeuvre. Any advice about his other books? In particular, do any of them seriously up the gore and general ick factor? I could handle the level in this book (although, again, THAT ONE SCENE), but if there’s one where there’s significantly more I might skip it.
The book as a whole is extremely an homage to the eighties (to the point that I actually didn’t get a lot of the references, which mostly doesn’t matter but sometimes does) and also extremely high school. I loved Gretchen and Abby and their friendship, and while I can’t say I loved some of the grosser scenes (( spoilers ) they were certainly very effective! The whole book makes possession horrifyingly vivid: you can really feel Abby’s helpless terror as Gretchen goes more and more off the rails and Abby can’t help her, in fact at some point is no longer allowed even to speak to her.
The exorcism itself is fantastic, an amazing climax, so tense and chilling. But the ending went off the rails a bit. Fortunately, it isn’t bad in a way that spoils what came before it, but given the high quality of the book until then, it was sad to see it dribble out leaving a lot of loose ends untied.
Two of the loose ends particularly bothered me.
( Spoilers for the ending )
Quibbles aside, I did very much enjoy the book, and I’m planning to continue exploring Hendrix’s oeuvre. Any advice about his other books? In particular, do any of them seriously up the gore and general ick factor? I could handle the level in this book (although, again, THAT ONE SCENE), but if there’s one where there’s significantly more I might skip it.
