Cackle

by Rachel Harrison

Genres: Horror
Pages: 320
Rating:

Synopsis:

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her long-time boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching job that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. Her new home is picturesque and perfect. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is lovely 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 town seems… a little afraid of her. And, okay. 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?

Rachel Harrison’s Cackle starts out feeling surprisingly cosy and familiar: a girl breaks up with her long-term boyfriend (who clearly doesn’t appreciate her enough), and strikes out on her own to a small town where everyone’s friendly and everything feels warm and welcoming. Life’s still hard and she’s grieving the relationship, but she meets a new friend who’s warm and encouraging and helps her open up to more of the world’s possibilities.

With spiders. And maybe ghosts? And curses? Everyone in the town is scared of this friend, Sophie, even though she’s always nice to Annie. The unease builds up slowly, and at the same time there’s still that cosiness: Sophie sees Annie and wants to bake with her, make her pretty clothes, watch Netflix with her. The spider is surprisingly endearing.

It all ends up feeling weirdly… ambivalent? Sure, Sophie scares the townspeople, and it’s fairly clear that she’s amoral and self-centered. At the same time, some comeuppance is deserved, and Annie does deserve to be valued, and to learn that she didn’t need that guy: some of the stuff that is unsettling is just that Sophie has power, without it being obvious that she’s actually going to do anything with it (whether that’s evict someone or curse them).

Cosy-unsettling is a fascinating vibe, and overall I really enjoyed this. Annie’s self-pity got a bit wearing at times, and Sophie’s attitude to others sometimes feels a bit too off — but you can’t help but be eager for Annie’s freedom, once she finally figures things out.

One thing I would say: if you’re struggling with depression or alcoholism, this probably isn’t the book for you. Annie’s definitely depressed and definitely self-medicates with alcohol.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)