The Return by Rachel Harrison Published by Berkley on March 24 2020
Genres: Adult, Horror, Psychological thriller
Pages: 296
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Purchased
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The nitty-gritty: A well written story with plenty of unsettling and scary moments, The Return is an excellent and entertaining debut.
I’m catching up with Rachel Harrison’s backlist, and I decided to try her debut horror story. The Return is super creepy and weird, and while it’s not my favorite of her books, I had a lot of fun with it. This starts out as a sort of haunted hotel story but morphs into something else, and the author did such a good job of keeping me guessing.
Julie decided to go on a solo hike one day two years ago, and she never came back. Her best friends from college, Elise, Mae and Molly, are mourning her disappearance in different ways, but after two years with no leads in her missing persons case, Mae and Molly are convinced she’s dead. Elise, though, was Julie’s best friend, and she senses that Julie isn’t dead and will return some day. They’re all surprised when two years to the day she went missing, Julie shows up in her front yard.
Mae decides to arrange a mini vacation for the four of them, hoping it will bring them closer together. But when Julie arrives at the quirky hotel that Mae has booked, they are shocked at her appearance. She’s emaciated, her teeth are chipped and brown, and even stranger, she smells terrible. Julie claims that she doesn’t remember anything about the two years she was missing, so the others decide to keep things light by not asking too many questions. Meanwhile, Elise is trying to come to terms with the drastic changes in her best friend, who sort of acts and sounds like Julie, but clearly has changed in some horrifying ways.
Their girls weekend gets even stranger when Elise experiences some weird things around the hotel. Her room is perpetually cold, no matter how high she sets the thermostat. She keeps seeing shadows out of the corner of her eye and has the sense that someone is stalking her. And her room and the hotel corridors keep changing. She swears the mirror on the wall was in one place, but when she returns to her room, it’s on a different wall. And the wallpaper in the hallways is different every time she walks by. Is the hotel haunted? Or is Elise stressed out by Julie’s arrival and starting to crack? Julie’s behavior becomes more and more erratic, and Elise and her friends begin to wonder—did something else come back in Julie’s place?
Harrison sets up some very unsettling scenarios without explicitly telling the reader what’s going on, and that sense of mystery is one reason I enjoyed this so much. We have the mystery of Julie and who—or what—she is. I had all sorts of guesses, none of which were correct. We get little hints, like the fact that she used to be a vegetarian and now eats meat (and not just eats meat, she devours it!). Whenever she eats something, her appearance improves: her hair becomes shiny, her skin evens out, and she loses her emaciated look. And then there’s her smell, like something rotten crawled out of the ground. It’s clear something is terribly wrong with Julie, but the author keeps things under wraps for most of the story.
Even weirder is how Elise, Mae and Molly react to her. Instead of commenting on her smell or appearance (or the fact that her teeth are falling out!), they ignore all that and pretend like nothing’s wrong. This was so odd to me, and while I didn’t really understand it, somehow it worked and added another layer of terror to the story.
There are some gruesome descriptions of body horror that I wasn’t expecting (see above, teeth falling out for example), and I loved the way the author set these against the seemingly normal set-up of four friends reconnecting on a getaway vacation.
Then there’s the mystery of the hotel itself, an over-the-top themed inn where every room is decorated in a different style. Harrison’s descriptions of Elise trying to find her room, wandering down the seemingly endless corridors and getting lost, made this feel like a ghost story and made me think of The Shining. And here is where the plot faltered a bit for me. While I loved both the eerie hotel and the mystery of Julie’s return and what’s going on with her, I expected the two elements to mesh at some point. They never did, though. The weird hotel seemed to be a completely separate entity from Julie’s storyline, with neither one having anything to do with the other. I suspect the author was throwing in some psychological drama to show Elise’s state of mind. Is she really seeing these things? Or is Julie’s presence affecting her mental stability?
Like Harrison’s other books, The Return takes a deep dive into female friendships, and in fact, a great deal of time is spent delving into the characters’ pasts, especially those of Elise and Julie. I did like the close relationship between the two women, which is the focus of the story, but there’s also quite a bit of drama, like Elise’s earlier affair with a married man and, that took the focus off the horror elements.
Luckily the last third of the book is almost pure horror, and this is when Julie finally tells Elise what happened to her. I loved the ending, which surprised me by going to some very dark places. It’s interesting to read an author’s debut after loving their more recent books, especially when it’s this good, and I’m looking forward to reading Cackle next.
This sounds excellent!! The mystery of ‘what’ someone or something is hooks me more than an actual reveal!
It was such a well done mystery, keeping Julie’s true nature under wraps:)
I was about to say, “Rachel Harrison has another book coming out already?!” Then I saw you’re reading her backlist haha. I need to read one of her books some time…kinda eying SUCH SHARP TEETH, I think it’s called.
Yes, read Such Sharp Teeth! It’s my second favorite after Black Sheep.
This sounds like intense horror, glad you enjoyed it. I haven’t read this author before so I’m adding this to my TBR. Thanks for the recommendation!
I love her books, and I hope you enjoy her if you get the chance to check out her work:-)
So glad you liked it! I didn’t think too much about the “why” of the weirdness of the hotel itself, and just assumed a lot of what Elise experienced was some sort of atmospheric response to Julie, in a way. (But I agree that the hotel is creepy, has The Shining vibes — and even without crazy things happenings, the rooms sound disturbing, not luxurious!). Great points about how weird it is that the friends keep trying to have a fun girls’ weekend (cooking and painting!) while Julie’s teeth are falling out! I think it’s so interesting to read the debut after loving the author’s later books. Cackle was the first I ever read, and that hooked me right away!
I loved the descriptions of the hotel, and I hope I never wind up in such a place!
This sounds really spooky, there’s something so unsettling in fiction when there’s something CLEARLY wrong, and characters aren’t reacting to it!
Exactly! I think that’s why it didn’t bother me that much that the friends weren’t saying anything.
The fact that the two mysteries are apparently unrelated would probably bother me a bit (and Elise’s affair with a married man even more, grrr)……but then again, the premise sounds so interesting! (especially since the reveal about Julie managed to catch you by surprise).
I don’t think I’ve read any reviews that mention the haunted hotel versus the thing that’s going on with Julie, so maybe it’s just me, lol.
I don’t know why but I find nothing more gruesome than teeth falling out. Gives me the worst kind of chills. But obviously perfect for a horror story like this!
Me too, I cringe when I read about it, lol.
Teeth falling out? Eeek! I don’t think it’s for me Tammy
Ha ha probably not!
The Shining comparison makes me think this is one for the TBR list, the teeth falling out bit maybe makes me hesitate a little
Luckily that’s a small part of the story:-)
I somehow still need to try this authors work (I’m probably starting with Black Sheep) but I’m glad you enjoyed this one and hope that Cackle goes well. I’m surprised the two sides of the story don’t really seem to tie together and the friends’ reaction sounds odd but other than that I’m incredibly intrigued by this book. If I get on well with some of the others I’ll definitely have to also check this out.
Definitely start with Black Sheep, I think it’s her best.
I seem to be collecting Rachel Harrison backlist on my TBR of late, so I’m looking forward to reading some more of hers next year.
I just have one more to go, and then I can say I’ve read all her books!
I’ve read at least two of her books and need to come back to this one. I really enjoyed So Thirsty so maybe I’ll try to squeeze this one into January, Looks like you are having fun mood reading this month!
I am loving mood reading, and I need to do it more next year:-)
I’m very intrigued by this one.
Lynn
It was very spooky:-)
I enjoy having the experience you did of having all sorts of guesses to the mystery, none of which end up being correct. I love surprises, at least when done well. And your mention of Elise wandering and getting lost in the halls of the hotel reminds me of dreams I used to have of trying to get somewhere but becoming hopelessly lost and unable to find my way.
This might be a little too close to those dreams, Todd;-)
Sounds like one I should recommend to my aunt. Great review!
I had such fun with BLACK SHEEP, it sounds like I should try this out as well!