carolesrandomlife

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life

I had really high hopes for this book. Like really high. I was a bit disappointed in the end. I wasn't a bad story but it didn't even come close to living up to my expectations. When I first saw this book, I knew that I would have to read it. Demonic possession with heavy dose of 80's references were enough to really grab the attention of this old lady. Unfortunately, despite the wonderful premise I found the book rather underwhelming.

Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since grade school. Things go wrong at a high school party when the girls were doing a few drugs. Gretchen gets lost in the woods and is gone for a night and her personality starts to changes. She becomes very mean especially to her friend, Abby. Abby knows that something is wrong but she can't seem to get anyone to listen to her in order to get her friend the help that she needs.

I love the 80's. I was a teen in the late 80's and I really was looking forward to a story set in this time period. Unfortunately, the 80's references in this book became a little too much for me. It felt a little forced in some ways and I think it actually ended up being a bit distracting.

The characters felt a little flat to me. I never felt any kind of connection to Abby or Gretchen. I also thought that the story dragged at points. There were some really exciting moments but nothing truly scary as I had hoped to find. In the end, this story just never really grabbed me and was just okay. I do think that a lot of readers will enjoy this one a lot. This is the first book by Grady Hendrix that I have read and I would be willing to read his work again in the future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Quirk Books via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Initial Thoughts
This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be. I really enjoyed all the 80's references as the book got started but eventually it became a little too much...even for someone who loves to walk down memory lane like myself. The story was okay and it did have its exciting moments but there was nothing here that blew me away. I need to think about this one for bit before I decide on a rating but right now it is sitting at about 3 stars.