My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

High school devilry gets a retro twist.

I finally read my first Grandy Hendrix horror novel!

Truth be told, this one has been on my list of a long time — ever since I first saw the vintage-looking VHS-inspired cover at my local bookshop and knew instantly that this was a book for me.

It is a great cover. Indeed, most of Hendrix’s books have great covers (looking at you in particular, Horrorstör and The Final Girl Support Group).

But does the story measure up?

Absolutely.

My Best Friend's Exorcism tells the tale of two best friends in 1980s South Carolina: Abby and Gretchen.

Abby and Gretchen have been best friends ever since Abby’s 10^th birthday party at the local roller rink, when Gretchen was the only classmate to show up.

Since then, they’ve been tighter than tight — more like sisters than friends. Their lives are intertwined. They are inseparable.

Until one tragic night.

The two girls, along with some other friends, try LSD at a sleepover and Gretchen goes missing. When she is found in the morning, and it transpires that she got lost and spent the night in the woods.

But something unspeakable happened to her out there.

What, exactly, no-one knows. But over the next few weeks, Gretchen starts to smell. Like actually smell. Really bad. She doesn’t seem the same at all.

And then her entire personality changes overnight. Suddenly she’s the queen bitch.

A lot of bad shit happens, and despite Abby being the only one to stick by her friend’s side and try to help her, she somehow gets blamed for all of it.

Abby, you see, is a scholarship kid at the affluent private academy where the two of them go to school. Most of the other kids — Gretchen included — come from wealthy Charleston families. So when horrific things start happening, it’s only too easy to ignore all the difficult questions and simply lay the blame at the feet of the working class girl.

No-one seems interested in actually helping Gretchen or finding out what’s really wrong. It’s up to Abby alone to save her best friend. Even if that friend is possessed by a demon and in need of an exorcism.

My Best Friend's Exorcism is a fun YA horror novel that does a lot of things right: it has well-drawn characters, oodles of 80s nostalgia as window dressing, and snarky depth with regards to its socio-political dimension.

My main criticism is that its middle section meanders just a touch too long as the book dabbles with the idea of demonic possession as a metaphor for puberty which isn’t exactly original, doesn’t completely work, and which feels especially weird written by a man. Fortunately, just as this aspect of the book is about to wear out its welcome, the book pivots: the plot picks up again and charges off in a whole new direction — the one we’ve been waiting for all along.

Is it an utterly unique exorcism story? No. This is, truthfully, about as conventional a story of two teenage best friends (one of whom gets possessed by the devil) as you could imagine. But it is very well told, and the specific color of the characters and the retro Southern setting really help add dimension and elevate the experience.

My Best Friend's Exorcism is an enjoyable, undemanding, and ultimately satisfying horror novel that certainly delivers on expectations.