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.

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.

Overall Rating

5/5

Spooky Rating

3/5

Content Warnings Summary Courtesy of StoryGraph

Graphic

Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol

Moderate

Animal death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship

Minor

Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Homophobia

Quick Take

For those of us who have been made out to be crazy. For those of us forced to be the glue holding a family together while simultaneously being made the scapegoat.

This is THE BOOK that will make you feel seen.

So I’ll just say it – sometimes, nothing is scarier than family. Rachel Harrison is the author that finally spoke to an experience that is scary in how accurate it is to mine – and I’m just spit balling here – will be close to so many of yours.

The house and haunts are the least scary aspects of this novel.

Tell Me More

You know how I’ve been saying I haven’t been able to read many books this year, but each book has hit me on a personal level? Well, copy and paste that to this review because…damn it, Rachel. You must have somehow known my experiences with my family, because the similarities were uncanny.

Rachel Harrison is the queen of pink horror, and Play Nice solidified that for me. Upon first glance it appears like a haunted house novel, similar in vein to Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly (haven’t read that one? THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!)

But I mean it when I say that the house, haunts, and demons are the least scary parts of this novel. Sometimes, nothing is scarier than family, and Rachel hit that on the head.

Clio is one of three sisters who grew up in a house that their mother was convinced was haunted or possessed. She had multiple paranormal experts and exorcists come to the house during their upbringing, and Clio was believed to be possessed as a child. Their mother wrote a book about her experiences, but Clio never read it. Instead, she decides to move in and renovate the house as house flipping influencer content after her mother’s death. The scares regarding the scenes of what is going on in the house are spine tingling in their similarities to classics like The Haunting of Hill House and The Exorcist. But when Clio ends up with a copy of her mother’s book that includes note written for Clio and begins to unravel the truth of what happened, her family (especially her father), and gaslighting…the terror escalates. Especially with challenging women being labeled as “crazy” – something I have experienced more than once in my life.

Clio is what I would call a classic “unlikeable female character”, and she OWNS IT. This is why it was heartbreaking to watch as she unravels the truth and discovers who the real villain was.

Play Nice, like all of Rachel’s books, are essential.

You better believe it.