Kiss, Slay, Replay takes an ingenious premise and delivers something elbow-deep in blood but also beautifully emotional. It cements Rachel Harrison as a must-read author for me and a shining light within the horror space.
I have an incredible personal connection to Harrison’s previous book Play Nice. Sometimes you just read a book at the right time and it leaves an indelible mark on your heart. That was one of those books for me, particularly within the voice, characterisation and overarching exploration of grief. Needing to consume more of her work, I was drawn to Kiss, Slay, Replay. This is Harrison’s take on the time-loop and this narrative device takes us to some unexpected and brilliantly bizarre territory. We get to cram in a bucketload of horror tropes but also play with them in sometimes unexpected and subversive ways. As with her previous work, she deftly weaves together these stomach-churning moments and these deeper themes that underscore the story. There is plenty of dark humour and gory beats here with some deaths that I do not think I can scrub from my mind.
At the centre of it all, we have Willa. She is heart-broken and forced to confront her ex at the wedding of her longtime friends. This is enough of a nightmare and then the killing begins. Because of the time-loop of it all, the story becomes a character study of Willa and the journey Harrison takes her is extraordinary. You connect with her immediately from those small flashes of humanity, the loneliness and hurt behind the facade of humour and coping mechanisms. When she is taken into this new space, you are rooting for her to succeed and I liked how realistic her character arc felt in this extreme scenario. She is not a final girl and makes plenty of meta references to horror, which adds this extra dimension to the work. In part this story works so well because her voice is arresting and pulls you completely into the story. You become immersed with these scenes playing out like short films before your eyes. The smell of fear is palpable as we go through the familiar moments again, but you cannot rest easy. Around every corner, Harrison has a surprise and it is usually not the sweet and cute sort. The twists are played brilliantly, placed at just the right moment and land with greater emotional impact because of the stellar character work that has been going on.
Ultimately this is a story about mental health and the fierce grip illness can have on you. For me, the way Harrison chooses to tell this story was profoundly moving and inspired. This embodies what horror can be. At times it is campy and gore-filled, but at others, it stares into the pit found within us and asks us to confront that darkness. That endless void of existence can be a heavy weight to carry but Harrison leaves us with room to sit with this, if only for a second within the carnage. What is being delivered here uses the horror framework to explore something deeply human, impactful and introspective. I enjoyed how existential it got at times and the philosophical elements interwoven with the blood and violence. Everything builds to an unforgettable conclusion. Without giving anything away, it is somewhat ambiguous, bittersweet and leaves plenty of room for discussion but also tinged with hope.
Kiss, Slay, Replay was extraordinary. It takes a staggering concept and weaves it into a story that I cannot get out of my head. This was clever, moving and everything I love with horror.
Kiss, Slay, Replay is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore!
Will you be picking up Kiss, Slay, Replay? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis
Will this nightmare ever end?
It’s the picture-perfect wedding weekend—the venue is dreamy, the weather is beautiful, love is in the air, and Willa Sullivan is having a bad time. She’s excited to celebrate her best friends finally having the big wedding they always wanted, but this is the first time she’s seeing her ex-fiancé in months, and he brought a date. Everything feels off, like she stumbled into an alternate universe. But things start to look up when Willa meets Danny, the groom’s charming and single childhood best friend. When they sneak off together, their rendezvous is interrupted by a masked killer terrorizing the reception. Willa and Danny fight to save the ones they love and survive the night, but the killer is unrelenting. A final girl, Willa is not.
Or is she? She wakes up and it’s the morning of the wedding. She just had the most intense nightmare of her life. Only as the day unfolds, there are some uncanny coincidences that make her question if it was really a dream, déjà vu, or something more sinister. After a horrifying turn of events, Willa comes to understand that she’s stuck in a loop of carnage and terror that she must learn how to escape or suffer a fate worse than death—being an eternal wedding guest.
