Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC! The book is set in New Hampshire during the 90s satanic panic, which is what had me intrigued especially as it’s marketed as a murder mystery/thriller. The MC/narrator’s parents are beloved in their community until hysteria of the Satanic panic cause accusations to be thrown against them.

The book had a very slow start and didn’t ever grab my interest. 

Writing feels disjointed with more telling than showing. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters, they’re all morally grey and the disjointed writing makes them a bit disconnected from us as readers. You never really know what to believe because the narrator is a child for the first part, which I did enjoy the unreliable aspect.

So many slurs especially in terms of homophobic slurs and ableist slurs-I get that it was the time period but it felt overwhelmingly icky and unnecessary at times.

More lit fic coming of age than the thriller/mystery/horror like it’s listed as on goodreads and what I was hoping for 😭 I sooo badly wanted to love this!! If it was marked correctly as being lit fic and didn’t say it’s a murder mystery in the synopsis, then maybe I would’ve gone in with different expectations but I’m not in the mood for lit fic coming of age right now, I wanted horror/thriller vibes. 

If you also want a satanic panic horror or thriller book, check out dark places by Gillian Flynn instead (also saw my best friends exorcism recommended but haven’t read it yet).

TW/CW: ableism, homophobia, slurs, bullying, child sexual assault