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Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Review: Cackle by Rachel Harrison

Cackle
by Rachel Harrison

Thanks so much to Berkley for this gifted book! #BerkleyPartner


Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date: October 5, 2021
Hardcover
304 Pages
Standalone
Genre: Horror

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.

Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?

My Review:


Ok, so... Cackle is a prime reason why I never write an author off after only reading one of their books.  Her previous book, The Return, was just an ok read for me and I wanted to see where Cackle was going to take me.  I love the title and it makes SO much sense once you get to a certain point in the book.

At first I thought this was going to be a bit annoying in the terms that the dialogue seemed weird at times and not natural.  And I found the book to be just about as cheesy as Jill BUT then something just clicked and I found myself relating a ton to Annie and loving her inner monologue: "She stares at me.  Seconds pass.  in these seconds babies are born, people die, stars burn millions of miles away and I may or may not have let out a silent, nervous fart." And for some reason, one of my favorite lines, "Am I going to have to eat sausage in front of strangers?" 🤣 Yeah, I'd be friends with Annie for sure. Just in case her and Sophie are listening, "hi, hello, I'd like some of that tea please!"

Remember when I read Bunny and groaned about the word 'bunny' being in it so many times? That's how I felt about Sophie using the word 'pet'. UFF. That's now my least favorite term of endearment and for those who have read this already, you'll know the part where I actually cheered. 😉 But really, the star of this show is RALPH. I want to make tiny little hats for him.  At the very, very least, read this book for him. 

This was an amazingly entertaining read and gave me a little Drag Me to Hell vibes.  A bit like a horror comedy but with a LOT of heart. Any New Yorkers want to road trip upstate? 😈

★★★★


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