My Best Friend's Exorcism
1988. Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act--different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries--and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about My Best Friend's Exorcism
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 1988 Charleston, Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. After a strange night at a lake house, Gretchen comes back wrong. Abby has a year to figure out how to get her actual friend back.
Yes. Amazon Prime Video released a 2022 film adaptation directed by Damon Thomas. The film follows the novel's 1980s Charleston setting closely.
Yes. My Best Friend's Exorcism is horror with significant body horror and possession imagery. The 1980s nostalgia and friendship themes balance the horror; many readers describe it as both terrifying and emotionally moving.
My Best Friend's Exorcism was written by Grady Hendrix, published in 2016 by Knaur HC.
My Best Friend's Exorcism is 336 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, My Best Friend's Exorcism takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
My Best Friend's Exorcism is a standalone novel by Grady Hendrix, not part of a series.
My Best Friend's Exorcism is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.