Reprieve: A Novel
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Description
“An eventual American classic that is unrelenting in its beauty and incisive cultural critique.” – KIESE LAYMON
Recommended by New York Times • Los Angeles Times • NPR • Today • Esquire • O Quarterly • Boston Globe • Chicago Tribune • Harper’s Bazaar • Shondaland • Thrillist • The Millions • Crimereads • XTRA • Tor • Literary Hub • and more!
A chilling and blisteringly relevant literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room—a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our obsession with fear as entertainment.
On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, “reprieve,” they’ll win a substantial cash prize—a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house’s long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.
Those who were present on that fateful night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager who’s been uprooted from her childhood home after the sudden loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a desperate and impressionable hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the United States in a besotted search for his former English teacher. As each character’s journey unfurls and overlaps, deceit and misunderstandings fueled by obsession and prejudice are revealed, forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a horrifying catastrophe.
An astonishingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade, Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism to present an unsettling portrait of this tangled American life.
Book Information
Posts
4.5 stars I really really enjoyed this and often times wished I could continue reading instead of doing other things. Lots of people go into this book with wrong expectations in my opinion. If you're into literary fiction and are interested in thriller/horror and maybe want to get into it (which is were I'm in my reading journey right now) you should read it. If you expect horror/thriller, don't. It's about 20% that and 80% about the life of the characters before entering the escape room / haunt / game. I very much enjoyed some characters (loved Kendra + Bryan) and was disgusted by others (which means good writing in my opinion!). What I liked was that they are written in this way that there wasn't just good and evil and just innocent and guilty, which caused me to think about them more. I'm still coming to terms with my feelings about all of them. The book is very character focused and you learn about each of them throughout the story and piece together what happened through the chapters of each character. I had to write them all down and create kind of a map for myself to remember how they all were connected (it's not that complicated though, just me). Don't expect it to be this big reveal in the end of who the victim is. It is not one of those books with many plot twists and reveals. You know kind of what happened from the first chapter and then find out the how and the why throughout the book. Like I mentioned before, I liked the writing and didn't think it was boring or too slow like many others seemed to think. I was hooked from the first chapter and intrigued throughout the whole story. The ending kind of shocked me a little, but like I said I'm new to the genre. There is a lot of discussion about race and being part of a minority in the US. I liked reading about those topics and felt like they were handled in a good way in this book, there were some really powerful quotes about it too. Even the ending and how it tied all of those topics together - wow. Will be thinking about this for quite some time.
4.5 stars I really really enjoyed this and often times wished I could continue reading instead of doing other things. Lots of people go into this book with wrong expectations in my opinion. If you're into literary fiction and are interested in thriller/horror and maybe want to get into it (which is were I'm in my reading journey right now) you should read it. If you expect horror/thriller, don't. It's about 20% that and 80% about the life of the characters before entering the escape room / haunt / game. I very much enjoyed some characters (loved Kendra + Bryan) and was disgusted by others (which means good writing in my opinion!). What I liked was that they are written in this way that there wasn't just good and evil and just innocent and guilty, which caused me to think about them more. I'm still coming to terms with my feelings about all of them. The book is very character focused and you learn about each of them throughout the story and piece together what happened through the chapters of each character. I had to write them all down and create kind of a map for myself to remember how they all were connected (it's not that complicated though, just me). Don't expect it to be this big reveal in the end of who the victim is. It is not one of those books with many plot twists and reveals. You know kind of what happened from the first chapter and then find out the how and the why throughout the book. Like I mentioned before, I liked the writing and didn't think it was boring or too slow like many others seemed to think. I was hooked from the first chapter and intrigued throughout the whole story. The ending kind of shocked me a little, but like I said I'm new to the genre. There is a lot of discussion about race and being part of a minority in the US. I liked reading about those topics and felt like they were handled in a good way in this book, there were some really powerful quotes about it too. Even the ending and how it tied all of those topics together - wow. Will be thinking about this for quite some time.
4.5 stars I really really enjoyed this and often times wished I could continue reading instead of doing other things. Lots of people go into this book with wrong expectations in my opinion. If you're into literary fiction and are interested in thriller/horror and maybe want to get into it (which is were I'm in my reading journey right now) you should read it. If you expect horror/thriller, don't. It's about 20% that and 80% about the life of the characters before entering the escape room / haunt / game. I very much enjoyed some characters (loved Kendra + Bryan) and was disgusted by others (which means good writing in my opinion!). What I liked was that they are written in this way that there wasn't just good and evil and just innocent and guilty, which caused me to think about them more. I'm still coming to terms with my feelings about all of them. The book is very character focused and you learn about each of them throughout the story and piece together what happened through the chapters of each character. I had to write them all down and create kind of a map for myself to remember how they all were connected (it's not that complicated though, just me). Don't expect it to be this big reveal in the end of who the victim is. It is not one of those books with many plot twists and reveals. You know kind of what happened from the first chapter and then find out the how and the why throughout the book. Like I mentioned before, I liked the writing and didn't think it was boring or too slow like many others seemed to think. I was hooked from the first chapter and intrigued throughout the whole story. The ending kind of shocked me a little, but like I said I'm new to the genre. There is a lot of discussion about race and being part of a minority in the US. I liked reading about those topics and felt like they were handled in a good way in this book, there were some really powerful quotes about it too. Even the ending and how it tied all of those topics together - wow. Will be thinking about this for quite some time.
Description
“An eventual American classic that is unrelenting in its beauty and incisive cultural critique.” – KIESE LAYMON
Recommended by New York Times • Los Angeles Times • NPR • Today • Esquire • O Quarterly • Boston Globe • Chicago Tribune • Harper’s Bazaar • Shondaland • Thrillist • The Millions • Crimereads • XTRA • Tor • Literary Hub • and more!
A chilling and blisteringly relevant literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room—a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our obsession with fear as entertainment.
On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, “reprieve,” they’ll win a substantial cash prize—a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house’s long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.
Those who were present on that fateful night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager who’s been uprooted from her childhood home after the sudden loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a desperate and impressionable hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the United States in a besotted search for his former English teacher. As each character’s journey unfurls and overlaps, deceit and misunderstandings fueled by obsession and prejudice are revealed, forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a horrifying catastrophe.
An astonishingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade, Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism to present an unsettling portrait of this tangled American life.
Book Information
Posts
4.5 stars I really really enjoyed this and often times wished I could continue reading instead of doing other things. Lots of people go into this book with wrong expectations in my opinion. If you're into literary fiction and are interested in thriller/horror and maybe want to get into it (which is were I'm in my reading journey right now) you should read it. If you expect horror/thriller, don't. It's about 20% that and 80% about the life of the characters before entering the escape room / haunt / game. I very much enjoyed some characters (loved Kendra + Bryan) and was disgusted by others (which means good writing in my opinion!). What I liked was that they are written in this way that there wasn't just good and evil and just innocent and guilty, which caused me to think about them more. I'm still coming to terms with my feelings about all of them. The book is very character focused and you learn about each of them throughout the story and piece together what happened through the chapters of each character. I had to write them all down and create kind of a map for myself to remember how they all were connected (it's not that complicated though, just me). Don't expect it to be this big reveal in the end of who the victim is. It is not one of those books with many plot twists and reveals. You know kind of what happened from the first chapter and then find out the how and the why throughout the book. Like I mentioned before, I liked the writing and didn't think it was boring or too slow like many others seemed to think. I was hooked from the first chapter and intrigued throughout the whole story. The ending kind of shocked me a little, but like I said I'm new to the genre. There is a lot of discussion about race and being part of a minority in the US. I liked reading about those topics and felt like they were handled in a good way in this book, there were some really powerful quotes about it too. Even the ending and how it tied all of those topics together - wow. Will be thinking about this for quite some time.
4.5 stars I really really enjoyed this and often times wished I could continue reading instead of doing other things. Lots of people go into this book with wrong expectations in my opinion. If you're into literary fiction and are interested in thriller/horror and maybe want to get into it (which is were I'm in my reading journey right now) you should read it. If you expect horror/thriller, don't. It's about 20% that and 80% about the life of the characters before entering the escape room / haunt / game. I very much enjoyed some characters (loved Kendra + Bryan) and was disgusted by others (which means good writing in my opinion!). What I liked was that they are written in this way that there wasn't just good and evil and just innocent and guilty, which caused me to think about them more. I'm still coming to terms with my feelings about all of them. The book is very character focused and you learn about each of them throughout the story and piece together what happened through the chapters of each character. I had to write them all down and create kind of a map for myself to remember how they all were connected (it's not that complicated though, just me). Don't expect it to be this big reveal in the end of who the victim is. It is not one of those books with many plot twists and reveals. You know kind of what happened from the first chapter and then find out the how and the why throughout the book. Like I mentioned before, I liked the writing and didn't think it was boring or too slow like many others seemed to think. I was hooked from the first chapter and intrigued throughout the whole story. The ending kind of shocked me a little, but like I said I'm new to the genre. There is a lot of discussion about race and being part of a minority in the US. I liked reading about those topics and felt like they were handled in a good way in this book, there were some really powerful quotes about it too. Even the ending and how it tied all of those topics together - wow. Will be thinking about this for quite some time.
4.5 stars I really really enjoyed this and often times wished I could continue reading instead of doing other things. Lots of people go into this book with wrong expectations in my opinion. If you're into literary fiction and are interested in thriller/horror and maybe want to get into it (which is were I'm in my reading journey right now) you should read it. If you expect horror/thriller, don't. It's about 20% that and 80% about the life of the characters before entering the escape room / haunt / game. I very much enjoyed some characters (loved Kendra + Bryan) and was disgusted by others (which means good writing in my opinion!). What I liked was that they are written in this way that there wasn't just good and evil and just innocent and guilty, which caused me to think about them more. I'm still coming to terms with my feelings about all of them. The book is very character focused and you learn about each of them throughout the story and piece together what happened through the chapters of each character. I had to write them all down and create kind of a map for myself to remember how they all were connected (it's not that complicated though, just me). Don't expect it to be this big reveal in the end of who the victim is. It is not one of those books with many plot twists and reveals. You know kind of what happened from the first chapter and then find out the how and the why throughout the book. Like I mentioned before, I liked the writing and didn't think it was boring or too slow like many others seemed to think. I was hooked from the first chapter and intrigued throughout the whole story. The ending kind of shocked me a little, but like I said I'm new to the genre. There is a lot of discussion about race and being part of a minority in the US. I liked reading about those topics and felt like they were handled in a good way in this book, there were some really powerful quotes about it too. Even the ending and how it tied all of those topics together - wow. Will be thinking about this for quite some time.