Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is Rachel's best yet. Head full of Ghosts meets How to Sell a Haunted House in the way only Rachel can deliver.
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Berkeley Publishing Group for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison is another title in her playful contemporary fiction/horror cannon. Clio, our main character, finds herself the part owner of a dilapidated supposedly haunted house following the death of her estranged mother. While her sisters are ready to write the property off along with their memories of childhood trauma, Clio can’t help but find herself drawn to the house.
Something that I really appreciate about Harrison, in both this and her other works, is her ability to turn on a dime. In a number of chapters she can go from talking about a Jaclyn Hill-esque lipstick influencer (millennial nod of approval) to describing the sinister and wily creeping figure in the shadows of a child’s darkened room. She can very seamlessly blend a narrative voice that fits a twenty something NYC fashion stylist while still describing the shaking, unyielding terror of a the thing hiding in a closet.
While the haunting elements of the home—visits from old priests, spooky attics, communication through child’s drawings were well done, I didn’t think anything about this was particularly novel or with a particularly fresh perspective. Even within Harrison’s body of work, it felt somewhat similar to other openings we’ve seen before; outsiders in the band of occultists clustered around an estranged parent, etc. From about the second chapter I had a very good idea of what was going to happen—and happen it did, with little surprise.
For me, this was not the feather in Harrison’s literary cap. It’s fun, relatively straightforward and borrows on some well trodden tropes. However, the characters are one-note, and they learn virtually nothing from their ordeal. The storyline is straightforward and nothing felt particularly inventive. I think if you like Rachel Harrison books and some light horror, you’ll enjoy Play Nice. It’s good, but it’s not great and for that reason it’s a 3.5/5.
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Clio is an Instagram influencer and fashion stylist living a glamorous life in Manhattan, spending her nights a ritzy corporate parties and hooking up with men to warm her bed. This way of life is challenged when her sisters call her to tell her that their estranged mother has died. Clio hasn't seen her since she was seven, and only has fragments of memories to remember her by... and the book that she wrote about their supposedly haunted house, which the three sisters have promised each other not to read. With her death, they inherit the house, but Clio's sisters want nothing to do with it. Clio takes it upon herself to fix the house and try to flip it, but finds a copy of her mother's book with annotations specifically for her and decides to break her promise with her sisters.
Your enjoyment of 'Play Nice' will depend on how much you enjoy the protagonist, and I'm sorry to say that I was actively rooting for Clio's downfall. She's rich, she's mean to everyone under a guise of snarky detachment, and she does it all with an 'I'm just a girl' faux innocence, probably because she was obviously the favorite child. Also, she hates cats. There are parts of this book where this is the conflict and people get sick of her nonsense, such as a part when she confronts her step-mother at a Memorial Day party, but each time she's forgiven too easily. Her terrible actions have no lasting consequences, except maybe getting others hurt.
There are some nice nods to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper', with Clio and her mother's source of madness being ambiguously from the haunted house or imagined. Clio reading her mother's book, along with her personal annotations specifically for her daughter, was probably my favorite bit, though the parts were a lot less interesting to read after Clio loses her annotated copy and finds another one. The family drama is raw and painful, and I liked the parts where Clio was becoming unstable like her mother the more time she spent in the house. Her refusing any family help and labeling all of them as monsters who are trying to hold her back is realistic, and sad to read about when we're in Clio's mind and we know she needs it. And again, because I had turned against Clio halfway through the book, I had gotten some sick satisfaction from her crashing out and burning every bridge. Alas, nothing good can stay, and even her boring love interest neighbor comes back to her to be her first monogamous partner because this is the one dynamic thing about her character.
This book is finding an audience, and I can see the appeal, but it's decidedly not for me.
Your enjoyment of 'Play Nice' will depend on how much you enjoy the protagonist, and I'm sorry to say that I was actively rooting for Clio's downfall. She's rich, she's mean to everyone under a guise of snarky detachment, and she does it all with an 'I'm just a girl' faux innocence, probably because she was obviously the favorite child. Also, she hates cats. There are parts of this book where this is the conflict and people get sick of her nonsense, such as a part when she confronts her step-mother at a Memorial Day party, but each time she's forgiven too easily. Her terrible actions have no lasting consequences, except maybe getting others hurt.
There are some nice nods to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper', with Clio and her mother's source of madness being ambiguously from the haunted house or imagined. Clio reading her mother's book, along with her personal annotations specifically for her daughter, was probably my favorite bit, though the parts were a lot less interesting to read after Clio loses her annotated copy and finds another one. The family drama is raw and painful, and I liked the parts where Clio was becoming unstable like her mother the more time she spent in the house. Her refusing any family help and labeling all of them as monsters who are trying to hold her back is realistic, and sad to read about when we're in Clio's mind and we know she needs it. And again, because I had turned against Clio halfway through the book, I had gotten some sick satisfaction from her crashing out and burning every bridge. Alas, nothing good can stay, and even her boring love interest neighbor comes back to her to be her first monogamous partner because this is the one dynamic thing about her character.
This book is finding an audience, and I can see the appeal, but it's decidedly not for me.
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've been a fan of Rachel Harrison for ages now and I think this might be her best one yet. I've always loved the way she pulls real world emotions and horrors into a story with fantastical elements. I also love a good haunted house story so this one was right up my alley.
In Play Nice, we follow Clio, a stylist and fashion influencer, as she fights the metaphorical...and literal demons in her life. After her parent's disastrous divorce in her early childhood, Clio's mom, Alex, moved her and her two sisters into a house that Alex claimed was possessed by a demon. The majority of this story takes place after Alex dies and the siblings inherited the haunted house they didn't know their mom still owned. Clio volunteers to fix the house up to be put on the market and begins the journey of unraveling the truth of her mother's life and the version of the truth she was told growing up.
I loved the flawed characters and the way Harrison portrayed the journey of becoming an adult and realizing that our parents are just as messy and flawed as everyone else.
In Play Nice, we follow Clio, a stylist and fashion influencer, as she fights the metaphorical...and literal demons in her life. After her parent's disastrous divorce in her early childhood, Clio's mom, Alex, moved her and her two sisters into a house that Alex claimed was possessed by a demon. The majority of this story takes place after Alex dies and the siblings inherited the haunted house they didn't know their mom still owned. Clio volunteers to fix the house up to be put on the market and begins the journey of unraveling the truth of her mother's life and the version of the truth she was told growing up.
I loved the flawed characters and the way Harrison portrayed the journey of becoming an adult and realizing that our parents are just as messy and flawed as everyone else.
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Abandonment
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So so good. Harrison always does a great job of balancing humor with serious topics through the horror lens. This one might just be my favorite of hers - she does a great job of diving into the fear, alienation, and intense horror of being labelled the 'crazy woman'.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Self harm, Blood, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes