Play Nice - by Rachel Harrison (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A woman must confront the demons of her past when she attempts to fix up her childhood home in this devilishly clever take on the haunted house novel from the author of Black Sheep and So Thirsty.

Clio Louise Barnes leads a picture-perfect life as a stylist and influencer, but beneath the glossy veneer she harbors a not-so glamorous secret: she grew up in a haunted house. Well, not haunted. Possessed. After Clio's parents' messy divorce, her mother, Alex, moved Clio and her sisters into a house occupied by a demon. Or so Alex claimed. That's not what Clio's sisters remember or what the courts determined when they stripped her of custody after she went off the deep end. But Alex was insistent; she even wrote a book about her experience in the house.

After Alex's sudden death, the supposedly possessed house passes to Clio and her sisters. Where her sisters see childhood trauma, Clio sees an opportunity for house flipping content. Only, as the home makeover process begins, Clio discovers there might be some truth to her mother's claims. As memories resurface and Clio finally reads her mother's book, a sinister presence in the house manifests, revealing ugly truths that threaten to shake Clio's beautiful life to its very foundation.

Review Quotes

"Play Nice packs a prickly punch by cleverly nesting its possession story within another kind of familial and familiar possession. While the demon at the center of it all terrorizes the women in Clio's family when they are most vulnerable, the book is scary because there's more than one kind of demon."--Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and The Cabin at the End of the World

"I raced through Rachel Harrison's Play Nice, drawn in by the relatable protagonist and the irresistible blend of horror, mystery and family drama. Play Nice is a great fit for anyone who enjoyed The Good House or Grady Hendrix's How to Sell a Haunted House, taking the reader on a spooky journey through the haunted spaces from the past that plague us all."--Tananarive Due, Bram Stoker Award winner, The Reformatory

"A gripping and refreshingly contemporary horror novel that hits close to home."--Elle

"Play Nice is as fun as a journey into darkness and family trauma can get. Rachel Harrison crafts a uniquely spirited haunting that's both ruthlessly frightening and overflowing with heart."--Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Lucky Day and Bury Your Gays

"Who better to put a contemporary spin on infested architecture than Rachel Harrison, the doyenne of angsty, millennial horror fiction...easily Harrison's most unsettling book since her debut, The Return." - Vulture

"This refreshing haunted-house novel has chills, thrills, and twists that will linger with readers long after it's over." -Library Journal (starred review)

"This novel delivers truly chilly scenes while also exploring the emotional depths that make horror meaningful... Harrison has earned a place among a vanguard of women reinventing horror that includes Mona Awad and Julia Armfield." -Kirkus (starred review)

"Rachel Harrison is in a league of her own--maybe a genre of her own. Play Nice is the sexiest, scariest, most fun haunted house novel I've ever read... Harrison is my horror queen, and this book is her best yet."--Ashley Winstead, USA Today-bestselling author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour

"Rachel Harrison once again gives us our best friends, our best enemies, our best crushes, and our worst nightmares. This time sexier, scarier, grittier than ever before."--CJ Leede, USA Today bestselling author of American Rapture

"To call Play Nice Rachel Harrison's scariest book yet is to perhaps risk downplaying how it's also as deft and gripping a guessing game about literal and metaphorical demons as A Head Full of Ghosts or The Haunting of Hill House. Yes, this book is just that good. But it's also scary as hell."--Nat Cassidy, author of Mary and When the Wolf Comes Home

"A funny, deft, and very scary novel about an influencer, a possessed house, and the inescapable horror of realizing you can never truly know another person, even (or especially) when they're family...Rachel Harrison is in a class of her own, and Play Nice is her best book yet."--Emily C. Hughes, author of Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too Scared to Watch

"Readers will be riveted...As is typical of a Harrison book, Play Nice takes a horror trope--this time, the haunted house--and turned it on its head with a fun, feminist twist. Horror readers who are not familiar with Harrison need to get on board, and this book could be her breakout hit." - Booklist (starred review)

"Play Nice is Harrison at her best. Creepy, paranoid, and full of heart. A nuanced, humanistic take on the supernatural. How our lives and relationships are haunted by our past... sometimes literally. A home possession thriller that sits on the same block as Amityville, but has significantly higher resell value."--Adam Cesare, author of Clown in a Cornfield and Influencer

"Reading Rachel Harrison is akin to an incantation, summoning a master craftsman of horror, then ending up possessed by her downright demonic ability to hurt and haunt you all at once. No exorcism will expel this novel from your consciousness."--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

"A Barbie dreamhouse of fright...Play Nice lingers not just as a tale of a haunted house, but as a reflection on what it means to survive when the real monsters are woven through society." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Play Nice is an exorcism of a haunted heart--a singular, obsessive, and deeply palpable examination of the wounds we mend from the trauma, the excruciating cruelty we inherit from our loved ones...Rachel Harrison is the new Queen of Horror."--Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"Rachel Harrison is on a bloody hot streak. Even if you're a fan of her previous works, you are not prepared for what Play Nice has in store for you. Protagonist Clio might be her nastiest, messiest creation yet; Harrison is the master of writing characters you want to be best friends with but also hope you never meet."--Liz Kerin, author of the Night's Edge duology

"Play Nice is a brilliant and vibrant take on the classic haunted house novel. It pulses neon, it bleeds black, it pokes at bruises and reopens old wounds. It examines the way we perceive women, especially when they say things we don't want to believe or act differently than we want them to. This is Rachel Harrison's best, scariest, most fun book yet, and it's going to stick with me for a long time."--Boston.com

About 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, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and in her debut collection Bad Dolls. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and their cat/overlord.