My Best Friend's Exorcism

March 15, 2016
The wonder of friendship proves to be stronger than the power of Christ when an ancient demon possesses a teenage girl. Hendrix was outrageously inventive with his debut novel (Horrorstor, 2014) and continues his winning streak with a nostalgic (if blood-soaked) horror story to warm the hearts of Gen Xers. "The exorcist is dead," Hendrix writes in the very first line of the novel, as a middle-aged divorcee named Abby Rivers reflects back on the friendship that defined her life. In flashbacks, Abby meets her best friend, Gretchen Lang, at her 10th birthday party in 1982, forever cementing their comradeship. The bulk of the novel is set in 1988, and it's an unabashed love letter to big hair, heavy metal, and all the pop-culture trappings of the era, complete with chapter titles ripped from songs all the way from "Don't You Forget About Me" to "And She Was." Things go sideways when Abby, Gretchen, and two friends venture off to a cabin in the woods (as happens) to experiment with LSD. After Gretchen disappears for a night, she returns a changed girl. Hendrix walks a precipitously fine line in his portrayal, leaving the story open to doubt whether Gretchen is really possessed or has simply fallen prey to the vanities and duplicities that high school sometimes inspires. He also ferociously captures the frustrations of adolescence as Abby seeks adult help in her plight and is relentlessly dismissed by her elders. She finally finds a hero in Brother Lemon, a member of a Christian boy band, the Lemon Brothers Faith and Fitness Show, who agrees to help her. When Abby's demon finally shows its true colors in the book's denouement, it's not only a spectacularly grotesque and profane depiction of exorcism, but counterintuitively a truly inspiring portrayal of the resilience of friendship. Certainly not for all readers, but anyone interested in seeing William Peter Blatty's infamous The Exorcist (1971) by way of Heathers shouldn't miss it.

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March 15, 2016

In 1982, Abby met Gretchen at her bomb of a birthday party, and they have been best friends ever since. Now high school sophomores, they spend their time as most 16-year-olds do in Charleston, SC: listening to music and sneaking smokes and Bud Lite. After a night of lame acid and skinny-dipping turns horrible, Gretchen begins to act differently--very differently. Mood swings may be common for teenage girls, but Abby fears Gretchen's condition is much more than that. Abby can't get anyone to believe that there is anything wrong with Gretchen, so she digs into what could have altered her friend's personality. When the truth comes to light, it is greater than teen angst, peer pressure, or popularity--it is the work of the devil. VERDICT Hendrix (Horrorstor) brings his blend of dark humor and horror back in this perfect balance of teenage dread and supernatural thrills. Readers who lived through high school in the 1980s may dredge up old memories of big hair and stirrup pants, which will be frightening in itself. [Five-city tour; previewed in "Editors' Spring Picks," LJ 2/15/16.]--KC

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Starred review from March 15, 2016
Teenagers in the 1980s had a lot to worry about. Would the button on their skin-tight Jordache jeans pop if they ate too many Cool Ranch Doritos at lunch? Was their Aqua Net really responsible for the growing hole in the ozone layer? And what about the proliferation of news reports that there were Satanic cults lurking around every corner just waiting to prey on innocent kids? Abby and Gretchen are high-school juniors living a fairly typical adolescence in South Carolinauntil the night they experiment with LSD and Gretchen disappears. When she stumbles home hours later, naked and filthy, she denies that anything bad has happened to her. Oh, but it's bad indeedAbby realizes her best friend has been possessed by a demon. Gretchen starts randomly bleeding and has strange flashbacks and fits. She refuses to change her clothes, preferring to douse herself with United Colors of Benetton perfume to mask the fact that she hasn't showered in weeks. Then, out of nowhere, she seems to recover. But the oddities simply go from physical to psychologicalshe manipulates their circle of friends so that bad things multiply (including a particularly horrific scene involving a tapeworm), and no one but Abby recognizes what's happening. Hendrix nails the stagnant air of suburbia and gets right to the dark heart of dysfunction that lies beneath so many teenage-girl friendships. Readers who thought Heathers wasn't quite dark enough will find this humorous horror talefilled with spot-on '80s pop-culture referencestotally awesome.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)