Play Nice

Finished September 16

Play Nice by Rachel Harrison

This creepy horror novel is narrated by Clio, the youngest of three daughters, with Leda being the eldest and Daphne the middle daughter. Clio is in her late twenties and works as a stylist and fashion influencer in New York City. Her parents divorced when she was young and her mother bought a house that is the origin of the creepiness in the novel. 

Her mother Alexandra believed that there was something living in the house that was evil, and her actions surrounding this belief caused her to lose custody of the three girls. Following that Alexandra moved in with a new partner in the city, and wrote a book about the house and its evil presence and how she experienced that. The girls agree to not read the book, and Clio hasn't until she finds a portion of it in the house, with annotations by her mom addressed to her. 

Alexandra died of a heart attack when visiting the house, and Clio is the only one to go to the funeral. Her older sisters have more traumatic memories of their time in the house, so Clio volunteers to fix and update the house to prepare it for sale, with the idea of using this redecoration/renovation as content for her socials. She also hopes that it will make the home get more money when it sells. She is a natural when it comes to design and an eye for what looks good, and she really puts labour into the job. 

But whether it is the stories from her mother's book, the noises she isn't used to in the house, or whether there really is something paranormal going on, Clio begins to be affected by the situation, particularly when staying at the house as she works on it. 

This is a compelling read, with a strong, independent woman at the centre who approaches the situation with logic and practicality. She does accept help, and hires specialists, aware that she doesn't know how to do what needs to be done herself. Her relationships aren't deep except with her family, partly due to her independent attitude. I liked her and appreciated how she could step back and analyse what happened at different points to seek out different reasons for things. 

This is great suspense, psychological suspense with some physical elements to add creepiness to the horror. A book that is hard to put down.