My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

My Rating: ★★★★

Abby and her best friend, Gretchen, are as close as best friends could get. One day they drop acid with a couple of friends from school, but the acid never hits, and Gretchen takes off wearing nothing but a pair of shoes. Things get weird when she turns up hours later with an unseen entity: a demon hell bent on destroying everything Gretchen cares about. The demon burns every bridge there is and leaves Gretchen with a single bright spot: Abby.

I absolutely love this story. It's a demon possession rooted in one of my favorite things to read about: friendship. The story starts out a little slow, but it's important to build this close friendship so that it's realistic for Abby to risk it all when she's all that Gretchen has left. I love that we quickly go through the early years between these two characters. How they met in school but never really spoke until Abby's disastrous birthday party with a single guest: Gretchen. These two are inseparable after the bond they shared at this party, which reminds me of how it was for me and my best friends throughout school. These characters feel natural and relatable, which makes it so easy to root for them and pray they come out on top.

Whether you believe in demons or demon possession, the story is realistic enough to make you question whether or not Gretchen is possessed or if she's just turned on everyone even when things are clearly leaning toward possession. She's not crawling up walls or anything like that. It starts out somewhat subtle and quickly turns to evil, which makes it a chilling tale.

The story really comes out swinging once things get going, and I like that we also get a glimpse at the rest of their lives. It comes full circle and makes it a truly enjoyable book. Plus, Hendrix does an excellent job capturing the voices of his characters and makes them really sound their ages and genders. There was no mistaking who was who or at what point in their life he captured them at any point of the story. Even the subtle changes in Gretchen as the demon took over made who was present very clear. I will definitely be rereading this novel in the future.