TW; Gaslighting, light gore
Suburban Hell is a story of friendship and loss - and a good one at that. A horror with themes of friendship, family, and community - with a great framework created by someone who is natural of suburban life. It focuses on Amy, a mother of two married to the man of her dreams, in the town of her dreams. Living beside her three best friends, Liz, Melissa, and Jess. That is, until Liz starts acting weird, her hair begins falling out, and her nails fall off. In the dead of night, Amy sees her walking around the neighborhood - setting all the dogs off. Soon, Amy has to make a choice - save herself, or save her friend?
Suburban Hell sucked me in from its very first page, with the spooks starting from the very first page. This book was a VERY quick read for me, and I absolutely loved it all the way until the very last chapter. It was a breath of fresh air, and I got through it in under two days. The characters are intelligent, not the usual tree horror main’s are picked from. They’re thoughtful, well-written, and witty. This book falls more so under horror-comedy, and it made me laugh out loud multiple times while reading it. Not to mention the constant mention of MLM’s and Lululemon. It feels very present in its environment, and it’s clear that the author is experienced with suburban life. I felt as if I was stepping into Amy’s story, who was ever present in her own world as a mother in suburbia. Like I was interrupting a real world. However, despite this - some plot points made were redundant, and resulted in only disappointment as the climax reached its end. For instance, it is constantly mentioned that Amy is a social worker who hasn’t found a job - and it even goes into depth of her actively applying to one. Later on, she’s rejected - and it does NOTHING for th plot. In fact, the climax reached no real resolution. There’s only about 4 pages in between the character doubting herself, and her friends getting ready to move from town and leave them - to them actively performing an exorcism. That, by the way, and no similarities to a real exorcism, and in the end it doesn't matter. Because throwing wine on the spirit possessing Liz, and lighting her on fire seems to banish them. We have no idea why wine and fire worked, we are provided with no context for this beforehand - but it does. This lack of resolution is probably building to a sequel, but it was a cheap end to an otherwise great book. The end is too sudden, too abrupt to justify Amy sitting on her solutions for so long.
The author herself is a practiced writer, able to help you envision settings effortlessly. While the book lacks in prose, it makes up for in wit. It’s a fun book full of ouija boards, creepy kids, visions, and all those usual to the trope but with a different spin. It was nice to see a new type of character experience these tropes, with slightly different reactions. The author does not overwhelm you with information, rather lets it come to you naturally. It takes a good perspective on failure in adulthood, and I’d overall recommend it to anyone. Whether you like or dislike horror, I guarantee you will like Suburban Hell.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC