Normally, when I abandon a book, it’s because the book isn’t working for me or because it’s so bad that I doubt it would work for anyone. But Horror novels aren’t normal. They set out to be horrifying. Sometimes I become so horrified by what I’m reading that I decide not to finish the book.

That’s what happened with my ‘Best Friend’s Exorcism‘. I set it aside in 2021 and told myself I’d come back to it but I know now that I never will. This isn’t because the book is badly written. It’s because it’s so well written that everything in the book felt real to me and it wasn’t a reality that I wanted to stay in.

Grady Hendrix knows how to tell a story. His novel, ‘The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Killing Vampires‘ was remarkable. It was surprising, original and emotionally challenging but not at all the amusing, lightweight novel that the title suggests.

The same is true of ‘My Best Friend’s Exorcism’. It looks like it’s an 80s nostalgia High School horror story that might be just a little bit tongue-in-cheek. It isn’t. It’s a serious book about two High School sophomores going through a trauma that the adults around them refuse to confront. There’s enough rape, violence and social cruelty to make demonic possession feel like an extension of real life.

As I didn’t finish the book I can’t review it in the normal way so, instead, I’m going to share my experience of the book from the start to when I abandoned it.

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25%
I hate the school described in this book. How does Grady Hendrix manage to make real-life seem more sinister and malignant than the supernatural?

45% 
I’m struggling with this now, not because it’s bad but because it’s well done and it’s very bleak. 
Initially, the re-immersion in 80s pop culture was fun but we’re past that now and we’re looking 80s misogyny in face. I have to say, it hasn’t changed much but that doesn’t make it any prettier.
The world is so dark at the moment that I’m not sure I can stick with this, even though the storytelling is next to perfect.

53% 
This is a gruelling, almost masochistic read.

Grady Hendrix knows how to take the small unkindnesses and every-day hatreds of our lives and show them for the evil that they are, making the supernatural evil lurking in the background seem like it’s coming home.

56%

I’m done. There’s just too much suffering in this and it’s too easy to imagine it. Even if it all works out in the end, no one here is going to emerge unscathed. I’m going to set this aside.

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‘My Best Friend’s Exorcism‘ is a powerful book and if your stomach is stronger than mine, it might be a perfect Halloween read for you. I recommend the audiobook version. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.