BOOK REVIEW: Such A Pretty Smile by Kristi DeeMeester

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC of SUCH A PRETTY SMILE, a bizarre and terrifying tribute to womanhood. The book blends classic thriller motifs with a sharp psychological edge and haunting horror imagery to create a suspenseful, strange, and riveting narrative. The story follows a mother and daughter pair facing similar dangers in two separate timelines, one in 2004 and one in 2019. There is a lot to love about this book. The horror elements are fantastically atmospheric, and the settings are rich and vibrant. I adored the amusement park setting for a lot of the heavier beats; the overarching feel of New Orleans absolutely seeps into each page, but the choice to center the primary action around a place that's meant to be joyful and light, but is in fact much more sinister than meets the eye, is brilliant.

My issues with the book are on. more of a technical level. Getting from strong beat to strong beat was a bit of a struggle, with a lot of telling and little showing in the bridges between key scenes. I felt like the book was talking at me instead of bringing me along for the ride. I wish that more of those hard punches had been used to showcase and build-up that background, because I think that the climax would've hit just a bit harder if I had been invited to fully immerse myself in every aspect of the story. The ending also felt a bit rushed to me, and I almost wish it had been left a bit more open and ambiguous to allow the audience to draw their conclusions about what exactly had been plaguing the women and girls in the story. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this book, and I'm excited to continue to follow DeeMeester's work. She has an incredible talent for horror and I'm excited to see what she does next!

TW for mentions of sexual assault, emotional abuse, and animal horror.

★★★☆☆