Books › My best friend's exorcism
My best friend's exorcism
352 pages
A neon-soaked, blood-spattered love letter to the fierce, terrifying, and life-or-death intensity of teenage female friendship.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like popping a worn VHS tape into the VCR and watching a John Hughes teen comedy slowly curdle into a visceral nightmare. The narrative moves at a brisk, cinematic clip, heavily textured with neon-lit 1980s nostalgia and a soundtrack of synth-pop hits that perfectly mask the creeping, dread-soaked atmosphere. It balances campy, satirical humor with moments of genuine, stomach-churning body horror, never losing sight of its emotional core: the all-consuming, fiercely loyal bond of teenage girlhood. The prose is punchy and accessible, treating the social warfare of high school with the same life-or-death gravity as a literal demonic possession. It is a perfect fit for readers who crave dark comedy, grotesque thrills, and a surprisingly tender exploration of platonic love that fights like hell to survive the horrors of growing up.
- Mood
- neon-lit
- dread-soaked
- grotesque
- claustrophobic
- Tone
- satirical
- nostalgic
- earnest
- darkly comedic
- campy
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- intensity of teenage friendship · loss of innocence · horrors of adolescence · satanic panic · loyalty and betrayal
- The writing
- Punchy, cinematic, and heavily textured with 1980s pop culture references, balancing campy humor with visceral horror.
- The arc
- Moves from warm, nostalgic camaraderie into isolating, grotesque terror before culminating in a fierce, desperate fight for loyalty.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love 80s nostalgia, dark humor, and stories that treat the emotional stakes of teenage girlhood as life-or-death.
Content notes
- body horror
- animal cruelty
- gaslighting
- eating disorders
- teenage substance use
- vomit
About the book
1988. Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act--different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries--and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?
Description from Open Library.
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