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aliciafaithreads 's review for:
Suburban Hell
by Maureen Kilmer
Suburban Hell is Maureen Killer’s debut horror book. In it, we follow Amy, a stay at home mother of two who enjoys the suburban life, for the most part. She just wants something more fulfilling. Having one of her friends get possessed by a demon after breaking ground to build a she-shed isn’t exactly what she had in mind though. The summer was supposed to be about being stress free by the pool, not fighting the forces of evil!
If you are a fan of Grady Hendrix’s My Best Friends Exorcism and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, this book is for you. It has that same kind of humor/horror that makes those books so fun. I think it is exactly the kind of niche horror that I really enjoy.
While I don’t think this book was overtly “horror,” it did have some spooky imagery. That juxtaposed with the summer mom life made it a really good blend of horror and comedy. The first half of this book had me laughing out loud several times. Without doing any research on the author at all, I can tell you with absolute certainty that she is a mother of multiple children. Amy is painfully relatable as a main character if you are a mom. The children characters felt very authentic. I have an issue with children characters in adult books because I feel like they almost never seem like they are true to life. They either act older or younger than they are supposed to be and it always pulls me out of the story. The husbands were the worst in the best way. I also really loved the friendship dynamics between our main characters.
As far as negatives go, I don’t have a lot. The second half of the book is definitely weaker because things become less funny and more serious but it never really felt like it really went all out like it should have. I would have loved more intense horror towards the end. There is also a subplot with Amy’s sister that just felt like it was a different tone than the rest of the story. I know the subplot helps Amy’s character development and creates more backstory for her but it just really seemed pointless for the most part. I would have loved more scenes with the women as a group instead.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I had high expectations and I think it definitely exceeded them for the most part. I think this book would appeal most to moms, in particular moms who feel like they don’t really belong in the “PTA type” mom crowd. This is a book that I will be picking up when it is released.
***Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
If you are a fan of Grady Hendrix’s My Best Friends Exorcism and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, this book is for you. It has that same kind of humor/horror that makes those books so fun. I think it is exactly the kind of niche horror that I really enjoy.
While I don’t think this book was overtly “horror,” it did have some spooky imagery. That juxtaposed with the summer mom life made it a really good blend of horror and comedy. The first half of this book had me laughing out loud several times. Without doing any research on the author at all, I can tell you with absolute certainty that she is a mother of multiple children. Amy is painfully relatable as a main character if you are a mom. The children characters felt very authentic. I have an issue with children characters in adult books because I feel like they almost never seem like they are true to life. They either act older or younger than they are supposed to be and it always pulls me out of the story. The husbands were the worst in the best way. I also really loved the friendship dynamics between our main characters.
As far as negatives go, I don’t have a lot. The second half of the book is definitely weaker because things become less funny and more serious but it never really felt like it really went all out like it should have. I would have loved more intense horror towards the end. There is also a subplot with Amy’s sister that just felt like it was a different tone than the rest of the story. I know the subplot helps Amy’s character development and creates more backstory for her but it just really seemed pointless for the most part. I would have loved more scenes with the women as a group instead.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I had high expectations and I think it definitely exceeded them for the most part. I think this book would appeal most to moms, in particular moms who feel like they don’t really belong in the “PTA type” mom crowd. This is a book that I will be picking up when it is released.
***Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.