When Rachel Harrison debuted on the horror scene, her first effort was hard to pass by. That’s because the cover featured an eerie black and white photograph covered in hot pink. Then, there was the gripping and succinct title: The Return.
I borrowed that book from the library, like most of her following works, but didn’t love it. I enjoyed it, and thought it was pretty good, but had really high hopes for it.
Since then, I’ve been kind of following the author’s career, and have read all of her releases except for one that I started and didn’t get far into. I’ve since attempted to rectify that by borrowing it again.
Although I didn’t love The Return as much as I’d hoped, it showed a lot of potential. This potential was further realized by better books in the form of Such Sharp Teeth, which I really enjoyed, alongside Black Sheep, which I was also a pretty big fan of. Those were complemented by a good short story collection called Bad Dolls, which I reviewed.
When I saw that Rachel Harrison was releasing a new book — titled Play Nice — this fall, I immediately placed a hold on it. Now, after devouring it in just several days, I’m here to share my thoughts on the latest release from one of horror’s best modern writers.
Play Nice follows a bratty and incredibly attractive young woman named Clio, who works in the fashion industry in New York. She’s not exactly an influencer, but goes to all of the parties, product launches and similar festivities, where she wears unique, provocative and interesting outfits fit for Instagram. She’s attractive and she knows it, and she takes advantage of her looks.
When Clio’s estranged mother passes away, she heads to New Jersey to be with her father, his wife and her two sisters. She’s also the only one to go to the funeral, which is where she learns that she has inherited her mom’s home. The problem is that it’s haunted, and comes with a lot of baggage from a troubled past, which involved fear, abuse, and a broken family.
Clio decides to renovate the home and post pictures along the way. However, she may not be prepared for what’s waiting there to welcome her home.
To be honest, Play Nice is almost more of a character study and family drama than it is anything more. It’s all wrapped up in the confines of a haunted house story, and there’s a reason it’s like this. Don’t let this keep you from reading it, though, because it’s another good story from a quality author.
Some will like Clio, but others won’t. To be honest, I found her interesting to experience such a novel through. She’s definitely not the best person who ever lived on paper, but she’s interesting as a result.
I’ve definitely been desensitized to most horror, and must mention this. That said, I’m not immune to being scared. This particular novel didn’t scare me, but there were some well written parts that had me a little unnerved. The writing was quite good.
I do have one bone to pick with Rachel Harrison, though, and that has to do with the nu-metal slander that is found in two or three places herein. Two of my favourite bands (Slipknot and koRn) are talked about poorly, which I didn’t appreciate.
Overall, Play Nice by Rachel Harrison is a good, memorable and well written novel. It’s another strong effort from one of modern horror’s best.
This review is based on a copy of the book that we borrowed from the library.