Scan barcode
A review by amandamlyons
The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis
4.0
The Wicked Unseen is a YA horror/suspense novel that deals with the satanic panic of the 80s and 90s. It's set in the mid-90s, an era I know a bit about having graduated in 99 and grown up in the 90s era of fundamentalist Christian churches taking a very deep root in many small town regions like my own. This book does a great job of expressing how all consuming the family and church environments could be under these ideals and how those ideals could easily be used to create toxic home and social lives for the kids who grew up in them- as it often did for many of the folks that grew up in that era and beyond. Gender, race, and sexuality were all heavily limited in destructive ways and both exclusion and social pressures were encouraged to be intense to underline the need to fit an idealized example of what it was to be "a good Christian".
Wicked Unseen takes these elements and discusses them through the eyes of two young women, one who grew up under this type of faith structure named Elle, and another who is an outsider to the experience who has recently moved there and lived a secular life with parents who offered a comfortably accepting family structure named Audre. We learn at the beginning of the book that Audre is lesbian and attracted to Elle, who she has invited to her bonfire in an effort to make a connection to her and some of the other local kids as the new kid who is well aware she stands out as the child of a mom who is a mortician and a father who researches the occult. Uncomfortable with the uptight religious overtones she's encountered in her new town (she was sent home from school for wearing purple nail polish before the story begins), Audre is still making an effort because she's an easy going kid who'd like to make the best of a complex situation. Elle, an already engaging figure in her yellow sweater dress, becomes all the more mysterious at the bonfire where Audre observes her uncomfortable interaction with the boy she brought along, Ryan, who seems to be her boyfriend or someone who may be obsessed with her.
Is Elle ok? Audre playfully observes the group and decides Elle would be the first to disappear at the beginning of a horror movie because she's such an ideal female figure in her community and seems so uncomfortable even in her natural sweetness and grace. This first gathering is followed by an uncomfortable and triggering experience at the local church's 'Hell House' for Audre and an uncertain conversation between the two girls afterward, sometime after which Elle disappears- just like in a creepy horror movie.
Audre throws herself into trying to search for Elle, her new friend David in tow, but everyone in town seems to think their search is illogical and even harmful compared to their gatherings to pray and- to Audre's horror and confusion- seemingly go about their lives as if nothing has happened. Things only become more bizarre and horrific as the police start to come down on her and David and even her little family- her dad arrested, her mother locked in a battle to get him released, and her little sister Volga having nightmares about the demons her friend at school tells her affect her family because they are 'Satanists'. What really happened to Elle and why is the town so locked into blaming her family? Audre doesn't know, but she's determined not to get pushed into joining the church in their uncomfortable form of faith and never stop trying to find out what happened to Elle.
Most of the book centers around Audre and her search for the truth but it also gives us some clues about Elle and snippets of her experience in the days leading up to her disappearance, this is a great way to underline how much this sort of community can harm people locked into it and how little these things become evident to outsiders until their experiences are openly expressed.
The Wicked Unseen is a safe horror story for young adults and a bit of a retro callback to the 90s for adults who lived the era themselves and might feel troubled about the links between this era of religious abuse and modern day fundamental churches who have expanded into doctrines that involve and dictate political outlooks as well as daily life. You won't find any gory extremity in this book (there is some violence toward the end of the book but even these scenes are light on detail to help reduce the severity for readers), and the horror is more of the psychological sort suited to the intended reading age of about 12-17, largely centered on topics of abuse, toxic religious beliefs, and teen social groups and grounded with a fun family who accepts themselves and stands up for others.
Wicked Unseen takes these elements and discusses them through the eyes of two young women, one who grew up under this type of faith structure named Elle, and another who is an outsider to the experience who has recently moved there and lived a secular life with parents who offered a comfortably accepting family structure named Audre. We learn at the beginning of the book that Audre is lesbian and attracted to Elle, who she has invited to her bonfire in an effort to make a connection to her and some of the other local kids as the new kid who is well aware she stands out as the child of a mom who is a mortician and a father who researches the occult. Uncomfortable with the uptight religious overtones she's encountered in her new town (she was sent home from school for wearing purple nail polish before the story begins), Audre is still making an effort because she's an easy going kid who'd like to make the best of a complex situation. Elle, an already engaging figure in her yellow sweater dress, becomes all the more mysterious at the bonfire where Audre observes her uncomfortable interaction with the boy she brought along, Ryan, who seems to be her boyfriend or someone who may be obsessed with her.
Is Elle ok? Audre playfully observes the group and decides Elle would be the first to disappear at the beginning of a horror movie because she's such an ideal female figure in her community and seems so uncomfortable even in her natural sweetness and grace. This first gathering is followed by an uncomfortable and triggering experience at the local church's 'Hell House' for Audre and an uncertain conversation between the two girls afterward, sometime after which Elle disappears- just like in a creepy horror movie.
Audre throws herself into trying to search for Elle, her new friend David in tow, but everyone in town seems to think their search is illogical and even harmful compared to their gatherings to pray and- to Audre's horror and confusion- seemingly go about their lives as if nothing has happened. Things only become more bizarre and horrific as the police start to come down on her and David and even her little family- her dad arrested, her mother locked in a battle to get him released, and her little sister Volga having nightmares about the demons her friend at school tells her affect her family because they are 'Satanists'. What really happened to Elle and why is the town so locked into blaming her family? Audre doesn't know, but she's determined not to get pushed into joining the church in their uncomfortable form of faith and never stop trying to find out what happened to Elle.
Most of the book centers around Audre and her search for the truth but it also gives us some clues about Elle and snippets of her experience in the days leading up to her disappearance, this is a great way to underline how much this sort of community can harm people locked into it and how little these things become evident to outsiders until their experiences are openly expressed.
The Wicked Unseen is a safe horror story for young adults and a bit of a retro callback to the 90s for adults who lived the era themselves and might feel troubled about the links between this era of religious abuse and modern day fundamental churches who have expanded into doctrines that involve and dictate political outlooks as well as daily life. You won't find any gory extremity in this book (there is some violence toward the end of the book but even these scenes are light on detail to help reduce the severity for readers), and the horror is more of the psychological sort suited to the intended reading age of about 12-17, largely centered on topics of abuse, toxic religious beliefs, and teen social groups and grounded with a fun family who accepts themselves and stands up for others.