# My Best Friend's Exorcism

By Grady Hendrix

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/my-best-friend-s-exorcism-e53c47af/

Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. In 1988, a night of skinny-dipping goes wrong, and Gretchen returns changed. Abby tries to work out whether her friend’s alarming behavior has a supernatural cause, while the adults around them keep dismissing her.

## What makes it funny?

Even the exorcist’s obituary gets a mordant aside: the narration counts the driver’s Bud Light along with her painkillers. Later help comes from Brother Lemon, whose credentials include a Christian boy band called the Lemon Brothers Faith and Fitness Show.

### The comedy at work

Hendrix puts adolescent spite close enough to possession that Abby has trouble getting anyone to take the danger seriously. Her frustration with adults and the incongruous religious showmanship supply jokes without making Gretchen’s ordeal harmless.

### Try this if…

For horror readers drawn to intense teenage friendship and the culture of the late 1980s. The Satanic Panic setting gives Abby’s fears a particular backdrop, and the emotional bond between the girls matters alongside the scares.

### Good to know

Expect grotesque horror, profanity and teenage drug use. The affectionate treatment of friendship coexists with bloody, disturbing possession scenes.

## What to expect

- Genre: Horror
- Kind of humor: Dark comedy
- The atmosphere: Warmhearted
- Format: Novel
- Length: 336 pages
- Audiobook: 10 hr 11 min
- Published: 2016

## A few distinguishing details

- Best friends confront suspected possession in 1988
- An exorcist from a Christian fitness boy band

## Sources & further reading

- Author commentary: [Author](https://www.gradyhendrix.com/my-best-friends-exorcism)
- Book information: [Apple Books audiobook](https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/my-best-friends-exorcism-a-novel/id1646442337)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/My-Best-Friends-Exorcism/Grady-Hendrix/9781594748622)
- Book information: [Kobo audiobook](https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/my-best-friend-s-exorcism-2)
- Review: [Kirkus review](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/grady-hendrix/my-best-friends-exorcism)