The Return

Wow! This author has a way of making her horror more than the unknown. She weaves the familiar in which leads to a new kind of scariness.

it was ok. I thought it was going to ba little horror fixated, but instead it was character based. with a lot, I mean a lot of inner monologue.

Mae, Molly, Elise, and Julie have been friends since college although it was always really Mae and Molly, and Elise and Julie. In recent years they've all drifted, especially Elise who has pushed the others away as she makes life choices that they don't really care for. And then Julie dies a few weeks after getting married. She went hiking in the mountains alone and never came back. Elise doesn't believe it even after the funeral a year later. And then two years after disappearing Julie returns. Mae, Molly and Elise decide to go to an expensive hotel with Julie so they can all bond again and move on. It's too expensive for Elise to afford, but she doesn't say anything and goes anyway. But everything isn't like it was once. Julie's different; She's a lot skinnier and her skin is cold to the touch, and she mostly eats meat now. At first The Return seems like a breezy thriller in a real world setting, but a lot of suggestions are given that something supernatural and gory is going on pretty early on. It takes its time getting there though because this isn't about monsters or ghosts, it's about friendship and how hard it is to maintain and how people always feel left out and rejected. It's about trying to make a life after college and failing or at least feeling like a failure. But it's also about monsters. One frustration I did have with it was that a lot of the details given felt like setup such as the specific details about her friends, and the strangeness of the hotel, but most of them didn't really go anywhere as the book focused in on Elise and Julie's relationship. Despite this I thought it was surprisingly good, if a bit rushed at the end.

Awesome book!!!!!