Review by Booklist Review
Sixteen-year-old Neely's life is lonely, despite her "monsters"--a man she sees in the closet and a little girl under the bed, among others. Neely's parents are gone, and her brother, Lance, has died by suicide, leaving Neely alone to protect their grandparents from her mental illness and the fact that she's a lesbian. A summer job at an underground cave system where her monsters cannot follow brings new friends and renewed resolve but still can't prevent Neely's brewing internal storm. Grief clouds an already tenuous grasp on reality, and her mental illness begins manifesting in ways that Neely can no longer control or even remember. When her beautiful new crush, Mila, dies a gruesome, mysterious death, a dream come true becomes another living nightmare for Neely, who can't remember what really happened that night. Tackling a sensitive subject that easily could have veered into sensationalism, McGinnis cleverly shapes a tender examination of mental illness, grief, and love that still contains her characteristic dry wit and deeply disturbing imagery. While Neely's condition may be rare, the feelings of isolation and burdensomeness she experiences are not, and a realistically open ending leaves room for Neely's condition to improve without tying things up too neatly.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Via a horror-tinged psychological thriller, McGinnis (A Long Stretch of Bad Days) uses the lens of a whip-smart teen from a family with a history of mental illness to sensitively explore relevant themes. After gay 16-year-old Neely Hawtrey's mother dies in a car accident, her older brother Lance dies by suicide, and her father abandons her, Neely and her three secret monsters--a girl who lives under her bed, a strange man who inhabits her closet, and an annoying presence called Shitbird Man--move in with her grandparents in East Independence, Ohio. Neely is soon hired at a local cavern tourist attraction, where she crushes on her hot, tall, blond coworker Mila Minter, an English major at Ohio State University. Neely loves her job; hanging out with Mila and the fact that her monsters can't follow her underground allow Neely to briefly forget about her problems and her past. She's even started developing better coping mechanisms to manage her hallucinations and has befriended other cavern workers--but then a terrible crime occurs, destroying her carefully constructed reality. Neely is an acerbic protagonist whom readers will love and empathize with as she endeavors to regain control of her own life. Striking a careful balance of dry humor and occasionally harrowing depictions of Neely's mental health challenges, McGinnis delivers a compassionate and gripping read. Main characters read as white. Ages 14--up. Agent: Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, Folio Literary. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up--Sixteen-year-old Neely is used to being seen as the weird girl, the unstable girl, the girl with the dead mom and the brother who died by suicide. Years after her dad (who had severe mental illness) walked out on her family, Neely lives with her grandparents, and she's determined to make their lives as easy as she can. That's why she doesn't say anything about hearing voices that nobody else can hear, or about being gay. That's also why she decides to get a summer job at the East Independence caverns, the largest cave system in Ohio. At work, where the voices don't follow her underground, she finally feels the sense of normalcy she's craved and develops a crush on Mila, the gorgeous, charismatic tour lead. But when Mila goes missing after a party and ultimately dies a gruesome death, Neely begins to doubt her own memories of the night in question. Fans of McGinnis's characteristically gritty plots and lush, evocative prose will find much to admire here. An almost unbearably foreboding mood suffuses the read with tension even before the plot kicks in. Many thematic elements make this title best for mature readers who are prepared for complex mental health content: a suicide is graphically depicted, and Neely finds disturbing, incel-like messages online that a friend says her brother wrote before his death. Main characters are cued as white. VERDICT Haunting and enormously gripping, but the suicide content deserves consideration for sensitive readers.--Elizabeth Giles
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In an insular Ohio town, a young woman struggles with family trauma and experiences hallucinations that she keeps secret. Sixteen-year-old Neely, like her dad and older brother, Lance, who is now dead by suicide, can hear voices. Neely's mother died in a car accident many years ago, and later her dad left, leaving Neely living with her touchingly supportive but somewhat repressed grandparents. A longtime fan of the large cave system that's a tourist attraction in her town, Neely snags a job working there for the summer. Neely, who's gay but not out to many people, quickly falls for beautiful, smart Mila, who runs tours of the caves. When a shockingly horrific death occurs in one of the caves after Neely tries weed for the first time at an employee after-party and experiences what seems like a psychotic break, she fears she may be responsible. This gritty and sometimes gruesome thriller thrums with gripping menace, especially as Neely's brother's only friend, Brian, alleges that Lance was sharing incel-like posts on an anonymous internet site. Neely's frank, self-deprecating inner monologue is often bitingly funny, providing balance to the grim subject matter. Though they're portrayed with nuance, Neely's hallucinations sometimes seem to move with the plotting, which, given the unpredictable nature of serious mental illness, can make this element feel too convenient. All the main characters read as white. A propulsive, unpredictable, and troubling thriller. (Thriller. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
