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A review by katyisreading
Reprieve by James Han Mattson
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
REPRIEVE is a top contender for my favorite book of 2021. If you like horror and/or literary fiction, I hope this review convinces you to pick it up.
Plot: Quigley House is a full-contact haunted house, owned by a cult-following-white-guy-entrepreneur type named John Forrester. On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final room in the house, but before they can complete the challenge (and win a cash prize), a man breaks in and murders one of them.
The reader learns what happened through deposition interviews with contestants and employees + chapters that walk through the haunt the day of the murder (This is the “horror” element, and as someone who isn’t a horror reader, this part did give me one night of bad dreams, but it was also so well done that I didn’t care).
The other half of the book unfolds in alternating chapters about the characters’ back stories. Each time I got to one of these chapters, I had a moment where I wanted to go back to Quigley House—back to the action. But, the only reason I cared about what happened in the house was because of how perfectly written these chapters were. Each characters felt real, with complicated pasts and desires. Their stories culminated in an unputdownable book full of cultural critique about prejudice, deceit, and our cultural obsession with fear and violence.
Considerations:
-I’m glad I read this vs. listening to it so I could flip back to the early deposition interviews once I learned more about the characters
- I recommend this for anyone who loved FANTASTICLAND, another underrated thrillery book full of character deep dives
- Content warnings: Violence/blood/gore, racism, homophobia, death (including of a parent)
Plot: Quigley House is a full-contact haunted house, owned by a cult-following-white-guy-entrepreneur type named John Forrester. On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final room in the house, but before they can complete the challenge (and win a cash prize), a man breaks in and murders one of them.
The reader learns what happened through deposition interviews with contestants and employees + chapters that walk through the haunt the day of the murder (This is the “horror” element, and as someone who isn’t a horror reader, this part did give me one night of bad dreams, but it was also so well done that I didn’t care).
The other half of the book unfolds in alternating chapters about the characters’ back stories. Each time I got to one of these chapters, I had a moment where I wanted to go back to Quigley House—back to the action. But, the only reason I cared about what happened in the house was because of how perfectly written these chapters were. Each characters felt real, with complicated pasts and desires. Their stories culminated in an unputdownable book full of cultural critique about prejudice, deceit, and our cultural obsession with fear and violence.
Considerations:
-I’m glad I read this vs. listening to it so I could flip back to the early deposition interviews once I learned more about the characters
- I recommend this for anyone who loved FANTASTICLAND, another underrated thrillery book full of character deep dives
- Content warnings: Violence/blood/gore, racism, homophobia, death (including of a parent)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Death of parent