Welp, I've done it again. The first Ladies of Horror Fiction Readalong of 2022 and I've messed it up again. I started this month's book a few days into February, a few people had already started to discuss it, so I thought I'd gotten the timing pretty right. But then, boom. I finished it in less than 24 hours. In fact, more like 12, and I've once again completely missed all the discussion. I couldn't help it. I couldn't put it down. I took the morning off work to finish it. From the first page to the very end, I couldn't tear my eyes away.
Getting a wedding invite from your childhood best friend should be a cause for celebration. But for Mira, that invite means returning to her small, southern, still very much segregated hometown of Kipsen, the town she fled ten years earlier intending never to look back. When she left Kipsen, Mira also left her two best friends - Celine - always mocked as a child for being the only white girl in town with Black friends, and Jesse, the boy she secretly loved. Returning to Kipsen doesn't just mean dredging up old relationships. Celine is holding her wedding at the sinister Woodsman plantation. A horrifying monument to its oppressive racist history, and reportedly haunted by the ghosts of the slaves who were tortured and died there, it's also the site of the catastrophic dare a decade earlier that resulted in the collapse of Mira's friendships and the arrest of Jesse for murder. Hoping to reconcile with Jesse, Mira resolves to attend the wedding, but the ghosts of the past will not be silenced, and the three old friends must acknowledge both their on history and that of the planation if they have any hope of surviving the weekend.
Of all the different types of horror, I will always gravitate towards ghost stories first and foremost, they're definitely my favourite. However, despite having that ghostly element, it's quite easy to see going into this book that it's going to be one of that subgenre of horror where the terrors of the paranormal and supernatural are matched, and often outstripped by the very real horrors of racism. It's incredibly well done here, and The Reckoning addresses not only the external racism, but also requires Mira to tackle her own internalised anti-Blackness. The Reckoning is completely immersive. The prologue and chapter breaks were absolutely haunting, and the skill of McQueen's writing allows a clear visualisation of the plantation, fields and swamps of the setting, and then, as we race towards the chilling climax, the mounting levels of body horror as she describes the fates of the plantation slaves so many years earlier. There's no pussyfooting around the sort of thing that happened to these slaves. If you find it uncomfortable reading, it's supposed to be. The message here is clear - if you turn away from history, if you avoid it because it's uncomfortable, it will repeat itself.
I love a good comeuppance story, and, not surprisingly, when the title is literally When the Reckoning Comes", I was not disappointed. There's something so incredibly satisfying about the spirits of the enslaved exacting retribution on the descendants of those who enslaved them. And, really, they had it coming. I had absolutely no trouble at all believing that a plantation turned tourist trap and event venue would have the audacity to have an entirely Black staff and actually host slavery re-enactments. Antebellum-themed cocktails, recreated slave quarters, and dress-up for the white visitors - I'm sure a two minute google would find a real life version of exactly this. And you don't have to look far on social media who actually do think these places make great wedding venues. A disappointing move by Celine, but a clear reminder that "I have Black friends" does not absolve you of being racist.
I think this is easily the best book I've read so far in 2022. I could not put this down. It's a speedy read anyway at just over 200 pages, but I was completely mesmerised. Even in so short a book, McQueen has managed to weave a complex story, in-depth characters, and a chilling, gothic atmosphere. A ghost story with extra twists, I definitely recommend. That said, I definitely don't want to fall into the trap of only reading Black-centric horror that focuses on Black trauma, so if anyone has any recommendations for Black horror authors, I would really appreciate it!
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