Okay, Bea Pants, I read it!

Ack! This was so good! Go read it!!

“On the morning of the exorcism, I stayed home from school.”

Fifteen years ago, Meredith (“Merry”)’s sister Marjorie began acting…strange. Her symptoms and behavior led her family to consult a priest, and eventually landed them on a reality TV show — with the intent of broadcasting an exorcism. In present day, Merry revisits those events with a writer, as she tries to understand what really happen, and clear up the lies displayed by the show.

This book was so, so good. First of all, it’s very self-aware — full of pop culture references, snarky comments and fantastic commentary about horror movies, reality TV, and religion. I could have done without the reveal of who was writing the blog posts (seemed unnecessarily convoluted), but the blog posts themselves (which discuss the TV episodes in the manner of TWoP recaps) cracked me up. They’re perfect.

And then there’s the horror. This book creeped me the fuck out. I read most of it on a plane, late at night, undergoing turbulence. I felt weird and twitchy the whole time and it was wonderful. Tremblay employs the time-honored horror trope of financial issues that contribute to the general unease of the family, the house, the story, etc. Amityville Horror comes immediately to mind, not to mention quite a few Stephen King stories

And then…there’s the ending. I won’t say one more word in fear of spoiling it, but I freaking loved the ending (which was terrible and horrible and awesome), and three days later I’m still pondering it.

Go read this book!