The Mean Ones — Novel Review
Welcome back, dear reader! It’s time for another review!
I almost didn’t read this one! I already had pre-ordered it at Stoker last year, then went through a break-up and a move, and totally forgot to update my shipping address with Creature Publishing.
So when the book was delivered to my ex’s house, who really wasn’t the type who would be considerate enough to pass it along, I almost gave up. I felt really bad though because Creature Publishing was kind enough to offer to send new copies, which I didn’t think fair since it was my mistake. I eventually asked some mutual friends to rescue the book and I am so glad I did.
I do discuss some spoilery things below, if you haven’t read the book yet — just don’t go beyond the spoiler line!
The Author
Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is the author of the horror novels Such Lovely Skin, The Mean Ones, and What Feeds Below (Fall 2026.) She has an MFA from The Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. When she’s not writing, she’s either gaming, lifting weights, or teaching people how to lift weights. She is of Japanese, Mexican, and European descent, and lives in Iowa. — Tatiana’s website
You can find her at her website, Instagram, and Tiktok.
The Book
So what if Sadie hears talking dead animals and a strange, comforting male voice in her head? The therapist insists these are just symptoms of PTSD. It makes sense considering that she hid under the bed and watched as her best friends were slaughtered.
But the murders were seventeen years ago, back when her name was Sabrina. Now, she’s Sadie: a perfectly normal 29-year-old. She works as a physical therapist assistant and lifts weights with her boyfriend, Lucas, who’s the sweetest, most considerate man—as long as he’s not angry. But when Lucas spontaneously agrees to join a couples trip to a cabin in the woods, the visions get worse, a strange figure stalks her during the night, and that male voice in Sadie’s head keeps calling, asking her to do things she’s never fathomed.
Sadie’s not sure if it’s her paranoia or something else entirely . . . But she is sure of one thing—this time, she’s not going to sit idly by as everything starts to unravel. — Creature Publishing page
The Review
I absolutely loved this novel. My favourite book this year. I ended up reading it all in one sitting, I could not put it down, and now I am left with the sad ennui of wanting that high again so I got a second hand copy of Tatiana’s Such Lovely Skin.
The novel is told in alternating chapters of the protagonist’s present and the camp murders that happened when she was a child. The pacing is superb, keeping you entangled.
Sadie is just trying to be normal, trying to check all the boxes, and not take up space after the trauma of her childhood. Her boyfriend is egotistical but she’s okay living in his shadow, if it means staying safe, unseen.
But she is seen, by an ethereal entity that drags her into another space from time to time, challenging her sanity. In her present chapters, we explore what it means to be afraid to live, to distrust your own senses, trauma, and sanity, while dealing with a less than ideal partner.
In the childhood chapters, we see the toxic dynamics of childhood friendships, especially when one doesn’t fit in. Kid Sadie deals with growing resentment, anger, and bitterness towards her two “closest” friends and the guilt after their deaths.
Each chapter brings you closer to a foreboding conclusion and I was hooked, absolutely hokoed.
Together, these timelines twist together — tied tight with cults, demons, and teetering madness — and Sadie must make the decision to finally act.
The character, Sadie, is immensely relatable to me. She focusses on weight training as a form of therapy (me too) and struggles with hypochondria. Tatiana wrote Sadie’s struggles with hypochondria so well that I felt like she was somehow in my brain. It was so carefully handled and protrayed, I felt so seen (cries in germaphobia.) It was really validating to see a character like that.
Overall, perfect pacing, on point characters, tightening tension, and an unforgettable, deliciously sinister ending. Literally, Tatiana’s book left a void in my life because I want more.
10/10
x PLM
SPOILERS AHEAD — YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
Oh my God. Tatiana’s characters. At one point, she describes Lucas (the boyfriend) as always wanted to have sex in front of a mirror so he can watch his own muscles and I almost screamed. I wanted to shake poor Sadie. It makes sense why she is with him. If he’s so blind over his own self, then he never looks beyond surface “Normal” Sadie, meaning he never finds out about her traumatic past until she tells him.
I also loved the brutal betrayal of young female friendships. Sadie is part of a group of three and is the one that gets picked on. I know what that’s like. I’m the middle of three girls in my family and we were feral creatures.
I felt for little Sadie, dealing not only with growing pains, horrible friends, but her anxiety around germs. As someone who also grew up with that type of anxiety, it can feel so isolating. You know that it’s not exactly logical. People can swim in lakes and ponds, yet there’s that anxious part of your brain saying “but, what if?” And you never feel comfortable enough to share that because people can and will make fun of you for it.
I honestly couldn’t blame Kid Sadie for letting the cultists murder her friends. In the book, Sadie definitely feels guilt for it but, realistically, I don’t think she would have made it to the cabin door. She’s just a kid.
The novel definitely explores that Sadie didn’t feel as much guilt or grief as maybe would have been expected, but those “mean ones” had also been bullying her in the name of friendship for the entire summer, if not longer. Having been bullied as well, I could also emphasize with that.
Overall, this book was stunning. Just such a fun and impactful read. I love that Lucas lost the one thing he valued above all else — his identity — to the demon. Chef’s kiss.
I also love that the cult was just chill and supportive? Haha. Life goals. Just kidding, unless?
Seriously, favourite book this year by far.
