Julie, Elise, Mae, and Molly have been friends since college.
Now in their late 20s, they’ve somewhat drifted apart with big moves and
marriages, but they still consider each other best friends. Julie and Elise
most of all. No one has a bond like them. So when Julie suddenly disappears and
her friends and new husband are freaking out, Elise isn’t too terribly worried.
Because isn’t this just like Julie? To take off just so she can find herself
again. Six months go by. Then a year. A memorial service is held. Then two
years go by. And just when Elise is starting to doubt her own doubt, Julie
shows up again. Out of the blue, just like her disappearance. And she has no
memory of what happened to her.
The women, completely baffled but
elated, decide to take a girls’ trip to celebrate and get re-acquainted. Mae
has found a wonderfully kitschy hotel, tucked away in the woods with plenty of
activities for them to do. Sip and paint, here they come! They try to ignore
how gaunt and sickly Julie looks, how she randomly loses teeth with nothing
more than a shrug. They can ignore it for a while but not forever.
This was a fun read. It mostly all
takes place at the hotel, and I enjoyed the time Harrison took to highlight the
women’s complicated relationships with each other and their own individual
personalities. I listened to the audio book, and the narrator Sarah Scott does
a fantastic job of differentiating between the four women so seamlessly that
you almost forget only one woman is speaking. It’s a slow-paced book with a lot
of buildup, and honestly, not much of it is scary. (Although there is some
creepy tense moments throughout and well-written body horror towards the end.)
I enjoy reunion-type thrillers when secrets spill out so I liked it quite a
bit. I was a little underwhelmed by Harrison’s novel Cackle so I wasn’t
quite sure what to expect with this one. It’s probably not a new favorite, but
I’m glad I read it, and I look forward to her recently released werewolf novel Such Sharp Teeth!
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