The Return — Book Review
Hey, spooky reader!
If you missed it, my newest collection released! Whims of the Night Winds is available whereever you buy books. You can also check out my shop and buy directly from me!
Other updates: almost ready to query my novel and I’ve written enough sci-fi horror stories for another collection that I’ll be looking for a home for! Keep an eye out for those!
Now onto the review!
The Author
Rachel Harrison is the New York Times Bestselling author of PLAY NICE, SO THIRSTY, BLACK SHEEP, SUCH SHARP TEETH, CACKLE, and THE RETURN. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and in her debut story collection BAD DOLLS. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and their cat/overlord. Her next novel, KISS SLAY REPLAY, is out this September from Berkley in the US and Titan in the UK. — Harrison’s website
Follow Rachel Harrison on Instagram or visit her website for more updates!
The Book
A group of friends reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance in this edgy and haunting debut.
Julie is missing, and no one believes she will ever return—except Elise. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and feels it in her bones that her best friend is out there and that one day Julie will come back. She’s right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she’s been or what happened to her.
Along with Molly and Mae, their two close friends from college, the women decide to reunite at a remote inn. But the second Elise sees Julie, she knows something is wrong—she’s emaciated, with sallow skin and odd appetites. And as the weekend unfurls, it becomes impossible to deny that the Julie who vanished two years ago is not the same Julie who came back. But then who—or what—is she? — Penguin Random House website
The Review
The Return is Harrison’s debut novel and what a banger. I actually heard Harrison read from Play Nice live at Stokercon in Stamford and my friend, Ryan Marie Ketterer, highly recommended her work so I decided to check her out. Ryan suggested I read The Return first and it was so good that I ended up binging all her available novels (which helped me through a breakup and move, haha). So thank you, Rachel Harrison!
The Return is an exploration of adult friendships — how they can be messy, wonderful, horrible, and complicated. What does one do when a supposed best friend returns from who knows where and is not the same?
But Julie (the one who returned) isn’t the only one who is broken and flawed. That’s the beauty of this book. All the characters are. The main character’s life is a dumpster fire it seems and Julie coming back wrong is the rotten cherry on top.
This book is definitely a slow burn that sinks deep in your mind, wiggling in, the suspense mounting to a deliciously chaotic, and heart-breaking, conclusion. I really enjoyed this book and can see why so many people recommend it, so watch me jump on that band-wagon!
I love the setting of the funky hotel, the friends so despretely trying to pretend everything is okay while things go wrong all around them, to the ultimate expression of toxic friendship at the end.
Incredibly haunting and so addictive I couldn’t put it down, The Return is definitely your best intro to Rachel Harrison as a writer if you haven’t read anything by her yet.
10/10
x PLM
