Not to sound like a dick, but when I see that a guy has written a female-perspective book, I get a little
But I loved this. It's a story about the 1980s and demon possession, but overwhelmingly it's a story of friendship. I enjoyed his first book with Quirk (Horrorstör) but Grady Hendrix very much ups his game here and makes you grab your face with alternating bouts of happiness and anxiety.
My Best Friend's Exorcism is about best friends Abby and Gretchen, who go to high school together in 1988 and everything is normal until Gretchen gets demonically possessed and shit gets real weird.
Strangely enough, one of the things I loved the most about this book was its 1988 setting. If you're an older Millennial (yes, I just turned 31) and were born in the '80s, then you have vague memories of life before the internet and cell phones and how you somehow managed to get things done in that near-impossible-to-survive environment. Swatch watches are mentioned! And B. Dalton! Remember B. Dalton?
(Kids, back before the internet, there were bookstores in malls, and they consisted of Waldenbooks and B. Dalton, and you would go there, order a book, and then wait for them to call you so you could joyously run there and pick it up)
It's set in Charleston, which I was extra-delighted by because I was just there, and I had to do a double-take because not only is some of it set on Isle of Palms (an island appx 25 minutes from Charleston, which is where I stayed) but it also references The Windjammer, which is a bar my friends and I stumbled upon when we were walking on the beach at 10 PM, trying to avoid stepping on jellyfish.
All the characters are written wonderfully. Abby and Gretchen's friendship is real and vivid and believable, and I loved spending time with all of them. Also the cover is a rockin' '80s good time. Basically, you should read this if you like friendship and also maybe books about demon possession but mainly friendship.
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