I obtained a evaluation copy from the writer. This doesn’t have an effect on the contents of my evaluation and all opinions are my very own.

Play Good by Rachel Harrison

Mogsy’s Score: 4 of 5 stars

Style: Horror

Collection: Stand Alone

Writer: Berkley (September 9, 2025)

Size: 336 pages

Creator Data: Web site

Rachel Harrison writes what I prefer to name “chick lit horror,” which has earned a particular place in my coronary heart. Suppose tales which can be sharp and biting, but in addition by no means shies away from exploring the darker corners of womanhood within the context of themes like household, romantic relationships, and feminine friendships. Play Good isn’t any exception.

The story follows Clio, a younger girl residing out the Zoomer dream of being a sizzling, trendy influencer in New York. However when information breaks of her estranged mom Alexandra’s sudden demise, a wrench is thrown into her excellent life. Abruptly, Clio finds herself again within the suburbs together with her household, every of them processing the loss in their very own approach. Her older sisters, Daphne and Leda, virtually appear relieved. Alexandra had all the time been disturbed, they insist, and that Clio could have been too younger to totally keep in mind the time after the divorce when their mom moved the three women right into a home she later claimed was possessed by a demon. Alexandra’s unhinged obsession with the supposed haunting even led her to put in writing a ebook about it, which solely deepened the rift together with her daughters and led to them not wanting something to do together with her.

However Clio isn’t happy with that. Certain, she may not keep in mind the worst of it, however she is appalled by her sisters’ attitudes. It doesn’t matter what, Alexandra was nonetheless their mom, and towards her household’s needs, Clio decides to attend the funeral. There, she learns one thing stunning: the notorious home she all the time simply assumed had been bought had the truth is been stored by Alexandra—and now, it belongs to her youngsters. With Leda and Daphne uninterested, Clio sees a chance to flip it for revenue and in addition to show to her household that she is able to being impartial and accountable. Naturally although, issues don’t go to plan. Quickly after Clio strikes in, she discovers a duplicate of her mom’s memoir, which had served as the premise of the ebook she revealed about her time within the “demon home.” Unusually, the pages are full of notes that look like directed particularly at Clio. As disturbing incidents start piling up, lots of which mirror the experiences described in Alexandra’s writings, one has to marvel if it’s all coincidence or if Clio is perhaps succumbing to the identical delusions that value her mom every little thing.

On the floor, Play Good seems to be simply one other spin on the great previous haunted home trope, however Harrison makes it her personal by together with messy household ties and painful buried recollections. It’s as a lot a sister drama as it’s a horror story. Leda, the oldest, is the accountable one all the time prepared with a rebuke; Daphne is the center youngster, the mediator; and our protagonist Clio is the infant of the household—attempting to forge her personal path in her personal chaotic approach, however by no means fairly manages to shake her household’s veiled doubts and disapproval. Anybody with a sibling will in all probability see one thing acquainted on this dynamic. There’s definitely battle and bickering, however a lot of love and loyalty too.

Clio herself is an fascinating character examine as a result of in a approach she’s caught between identities as a younger grownup who nonetheless has loads of rising as much as do. Whereas she fancies herself a succesful and mature girl, there are quite a lot of examples within the story that time on the contrary. However on that notice, her flaws additionally make her really feel relatable, and contemplating she is a social media influencer, I preferred how the ebook highlights that what you see on-line may not all the time be as picture-perfect because it appears. Clio unfiltered is impulsive, cussed, and quite a lot of instances self-absorbed, nevertheless it doesn’t actually really feel like it’s coming from a nasty place, because it’s extra possible that she’s simply naïve and inexperienced.

Fairly actually, this makes the horror that comes all of the extra disturbing. As a result of when unusual issues begin taking place in the home, it’s arduous to inform whether or not Clio is really at risk or if her immaturity is coloring her perceptions and making her unreliable. That her spiraling so carefully resembles what occurred to her mom additionally makes you query what is perhaps actual and what would possibly simply be in her head. It’s this fixed uncertainty that retains the strain excessive.

Total, Play Good is a intelligent and emotionally charged novel that after once more reveals off Rachel Harrison’s knack for writing enjoyable female-led horror. It may not work for each reader, since I can see Clio’s character being a polarizing actor, however for me it was successful. That mentioned, it wasn’t my favourite of the creator’s books, however having learn all her novels so far, there’s rather a lot to check, and some of the plot factors right here felt barely much less impactful and satisfying. Nonetheless, I loved myself immensely, particularly the audiobook and the narration by Alex Finke and Natasha Soudek, taking up the roles of Clio and Alexandra, whose perspective we get by means of her memoir. For those who like haunted homes with a facet of household dysfunction, undoubtedly give it a glance.