My Best Friend's Exorcism


My Best Friend's Exorcism is a 2016 horror novel written by Grady Hendrix. A hardback edition will be published on May 17, 2016 through Quirk Books and an audiobook narrated by Emily Woo Zeller will be released through Blackstone Audio.
In November 2018 it was announced that Endeavor Content had won the film adaptation rights for Hendrix's book. Christopher Landon and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein were announced to produce.

Synopsis

The year is 1988 and Abby has just started her sophomore year of high school in South Carolina. She's glad to have her best friend Gretchen at her side, as they have been inseparable since they met at Abby's 10th birthday back in 1982. One night they decide to try taking LSD, only for Gretchen to disappear into the woods and return home a few hours later. Her friends are concerned, but Gretchen claims that nothing happened. Her actions belie her words, as Gretchen begins acting increasingly more erratic, prompting Abby to suspect that Gretchen might actually be possessed by a demon.

Reception

My Best Friend's Exorcism received reviews from the Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews, the latter of which stated "Certainly not for all readers, but anyone interested in seeing William Peter Blatty's infamous The Exorcist by way of Heathers shouldn’t miss it." Booklist also drew comparisons to Heathers and commented that the book was "totally awesome". The A.V. Club wrote a favorable review for the book, writing "Hendrix’s prose walks the fine line between comedy and horror throughout, delivering a simultaneously heartwarming and terrifying tale of teenage friendship, which is something most of us can relate to, exorcism or not."