Carrion more like carried this whole book…

This book kicks off with a premise that’s equal parts eerie and absurd: Clio inherits her childhood home after her estranged mother’s death, only to find out it’s still occupied by a supposed demon. Her sisters want nothing to do with the place, but Clio, ever the fixer, decides to clean it up and sell. While sorting through the clutter, she finds her mother’s novel, a “fictionalized” account of their hauntin, and begins to read. As she spends more time in the house, the lines between fiction and reality start to blur. Is Clio losing her grip, or was her mother telling the truth all along?

I loved how Harrison balanced the supernatural with the deeply human messiness of the Barnes family. The “book within a book” element can sometimes derail a story, but here it added depth without slowing the pace. The horror elements are light, creepy in spots but never over the top, and the family drama fills in the rest of the tension nicely. It’s equal parts haunted house story and dysfunctional family soap opera, and the mix works surprisingly well. Even the influencer subplot, which could’ve felt gimmicky, actually fits into the chaos in a way that makes sense.

That said, Clio herself is a lot. She’s manipulative, self-absorbed, and a little too comfortable sharing a roof with a demon that doodles smiley faces, but somehow that makes her fascinating to watch. The whole cast is flawed in a way that’s both maddening and entertaining, and the sisterly sniping feels painfully real. The demon, symbolic or not, ends up being one of the least threatening in horror fiction, but the story’s charm doesn’t lie in the scares. It’s in the family dynamics, the humor, and the sheer weirdness of it all. Play Nice is messy, clever, and a whole lot of fun. A solid 4-star read and definitely not my last Rachel Harrison novel.