Book Review - My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady hendrix

Title: My Best Friend’s Exorcism
Series: -
Author: Grady Hendrix
 
Description: Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fifth grade, when they bonded over a shared love of E.T., roller-skating parties, and scratch-and-sniff stickers. But when they arrive at high school, things change. Gretchen begins to act….different. And as the strange coincidences and bizarre behavior start to pile up, Abby realizes there’s only one possible explanation: Gretchen, her favorite person in the world, has a demon living inside her. And Abby is not about to let anyone or anything come between her and her best friend. With help from some unlikely allies, Abby embarks on a quest to save Gretchen. But is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?
 
Review: Place yourself back in the 80s, big hair, playlists on cassette tapes, movies on VHS, roller skating. You will start to yearn for this time when reading “My Best Friend’s Exorcism”.
 
We follow Abby and Gretchen, who have been friends since the fifth grade. And now, both high school students, their friendship is the best thing in their lives. One nights, when Gretchen and Abby are spending time with some new friends, Gretchen disappears. When she reappears the next day, she starts acting strange and it becomes stranger. Abby suspects Gretchen is possessed by a demon. Of course, she is the only one suspecting this and no one believes this. Everyone starts turning against Abby, so she has to save her friend all by herself.
 
“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” reads and feels exactly like when you’re watching a horror movie from the 1980s and it has major “Stranger Things” vibes. It’s nice and over the top at times, has blood and gore and the warmth of childhood friendship. And each chapter has the title of an 80s song, which I really liked.  
 
The heart of the story is the friendship between Gretchen and Abby, which is wholesome. It’s so much more then a book about possession. That, and the 80s nostalgia, where why I loved this book as much as I did. I understand why this book is so loved. I started showing up on booktube and bookstagram everywhere in 2022, even knowing this book was released in 2016. And I’m officially a fan of author Grady Hendrix, whose weird horror books I have been loving so far.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5