Play Nice Review

It’s not fall until I read a Rachel Harrison book. Let’s get into my Play Nice review.

Synopsis

Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio’s parents’ messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That’s not what Clio’s sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped her of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.

After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother’s book, a sinister presence in the house manifests, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundation.

My Thoughts on Play Nice

Honestly, Play Nice almost beat Cackle out as my favorite Rachel Harrison novel. It was that good. I could not put this book down. I finished it in a day, and I haven’t done that in a really long time.

However, we need to talk about what this book does not have. That is likeable characters. There are two decent characters tops, unless I count the demon that was actually a little more likeable than some of the humans. And it wasn’t supposed to be likeable the characters were just that bad. So, if you’re looking for a relatable character to empathize with go ahead and skip this one.

Now let’s talk about what this book does have. That’s gaslighting, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and grief. This is me telling you to check the trigger warnings. This is a dysfunctional family at best.

But all of that came together in a way that made one heck of an addicting read. I loved the way the not always reliable main character stumbles across memories from her childhood. I liked the way that the book her mother wrote was front and center in the plot. And I really liked the way the demon was portrayed. It was creepy as heck. I’ve called Rachel Harrison’s work “cozy horror” in the past but Play Nice breaks the barrier into full scale horror, and I had the best time with it.

My Rating: 5/5