Rachel Harrison’s novel, Play Nice, comes out next week on September 9, 2025. It was easily one of my favorite reads of the year! Even though I haven’t been able to read many books, I feel like each one hit me on such a deep level. It honestly felt like Play Nice was written for me based on how much I related to the main character.

My full review is coming soon, but please enjoy this interview I had with Rachel!

Book Synopsis

A woman must confront the demons of her past when she attempts to fix up her childhood home in this devilishly clever take on the haunted house novel from the USA Today bestselling author.

Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio’s parent’s messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That’s not what Clio’s sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped Alex of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.

After Alex’s sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother’s claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother’s book, the presence in the house becomes more real, and more sinister, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio’s beautiful life to its very foundation.

Interview

Sage Moon: Rachel, you have such a gift when it comes to feminist horror and highlighting women in such a realistic way that pushes stereotypes!  Your main character in Play Nice, Clio, could easily be labeled an “unlikeable female character,” and she completely owns it.  What is your take on the offensive “unlikeable female character” label, and what is your take on women and female characters historically needing to be “likeable”?

Rachel Harrison: Clio’s personality is very intentional. I wanted her to have traits that our society typically finds unacceptable in women. She’s conceited, she’s selfish, she’s brutally honest, she’s unapologetically herself, she’s a brat, she’s promiscuous. She’s savvy, borderline manipulative. None of these traits are inherently bad or evil, but they’re treated as such. She is the way she is because of how she grew up, and the hard lessons she learned young. She’s also the way she is because when we meet her in the novel, she’s thrust into emotional turmoil. I wanted to challenge readers to find empathy for a character with traits we’ve been conditioned to find unacceptable. I wanted to challenge readers to ask themselves why are these traits unacceptable, why do we bristle at a woman who isn’t sweet and generous and selfless? Why are we so hard on women? All my novels get responses about the characters being unlikable or flawed, and I always want to swap that word out with “human.” All humans are flawed, we’re all unlikable to someone. If you don’t connect with a character, I think that’s totally fair! I just worry about the level of judgment reserved for women—in fiction and in real life. Empathy matters. Understanding matters. I want to challenge myself and others to deconstruct any internalized misogyny. Clio is part of that, and I love her for it.   

SM: In Play Nice, you brought up so many familial issues that were extremely relatable (my copy is heavily tabbed!)  The way the mother is perceived was influenced by the father’s narrative, which I feel is all too common.  This elevated the horror and the frustration Clio experiences about not knowing the full truth.  Do you think that altered perceptions and lost memories are vital when it comes to realistic horror involving families?

RH: Families are so complicated! In beautiful ways and in horrific ways. Memory is fickle, the past is slippery. We all have different versions of the same events, because we all have different perspectives, different vantage points. Sometimes that can cause rifts, or resentment. When there’s a rift in a family, I think perception becomes really vital and really dangerous. Who do we believe and why? Can we trust ourselves, our own version of events, our own memories? It’s messy. I always come back to that Tolstoy quote… “Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” I think it’s generally true, but there are a lot of common threads. 

SM: There were so many terrifying scenes throughout the book involving the house, exorcisms, and the like.  Your use of simple descriptions were remarkable in that they allowed the reader to create their own mental images of the scenes (I had to put the book down a few times and step away!)  Do you feel that quiet horror is more impactful than focusing on shock factors?

RH: It depends on the reader, I think! What scares me might not scare someone else, and vice versa. Fear is so subjective. I try to focus on the characters, setting a scene, the emotional resonance and tension. I think if the goal is to scare everyone, you’re fighting a losing battle. There’s always someone who’s going to say, “that didn’t scare me.” I’m not trying to scare. I’m trying to tell a story. I’m trying to make the reader feel. If they feel any emotion intensely while reading, that’s a victory to me.

SM: When it came to Clio’s sex life in the book, I loved how you made her unapologetic about her hookups and experiences with sex.  So often, women are shamed for having active sex lives with different partners, when it is not the same way for men.  Do you think that we need more of this representation in books and across other media?

RH: For sure! This ties back to my answer to your first question. I wasn’t like “Mwahaha how can I scandalize readers?” I was thinking about Clio’s personality, and how she was raised. She saw her mother heartbroken and destroyed by her marriage. It made sense to me that Clio wouldn’t be interested in a monogamous relationship. But she’s young and attractive and likes to have fun and feel good. Of course she’d be out there hooking up no strings attached. And that trait aligned with me intentionally challenging readers to examine why Clio’s sexuality might make them uncomfortable. It’d be nice to get to a point where people just chill out about sex. Other people’s sex lives don’t affect us. If a woman wants to get hers, and that’s not what you (you being a random person not you reading this) would do, then you go make a different choice. Our society wastes all this time and energy clutching pearls and passing judgment, when we could just love and accept everyone and spend that now free time eating snacks and enjoying our lives. Clearly I have strong feelings about this!  

SM: The way you incorporated your wit with dark humor gave an edge to Play Nice that paired well with the intense horror.  It helped to create such a well rounded and atmospheric novel!  As someone with complex PTSD, I often struggle with memories and my sense of self due to lost/foggy memories.  It made me relate to Clio on many levels.  What are you hoping that readers will take away from the novel beyond the horror scenes in regards to Clio’s insecurity about her past and demanding the truth?

It’s okay to ask for what we need. It’s okay to ask questions. It’s okay to take time to mourn and process the past, as long as we don’t allow ourselves to get stuck there forever. We can’t control our past, but we can control our future.

It’s easy for people to call us crazy when they want to deflect, when they don’t like what we have to say. Trust your intuition. Trust yourself.  

About Rachel Harrison

Rachel Harrison is the USA Today Bestselling author of SO THIRSTY, BLACK SHEEP, SUCH SHARP TEETH, CACKLE, and THE RETURN, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Guernica, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, as an Audible Original, and in her debut story collection BAD DOLLS.

Her new novel PLAY NICE is out September 9th from Berkley.

Official Website: Rachel Harrison