James Han Mattson_79
Woke horror. Like COVID novels, it's a product of now. 'Reprieve' is set in a haunt—an extreme 'full contact' haunted house renowned for terrifying the bejeezus out of its paying players who exit traumatised and injured. The Quigley House is in white-than-white rural Nebraska, an uncomfortable new home for teenage Kendra, who is Black, goth-ish and cranky. Thai student Jaidee is equally out of place. White hotel manager Leonard wants more than he deserves. As 'Reprieve' begins we know someone has died at the haunt, and each character's topical backstory is revealed in parallel with a re-telling of the players' progress through a gruesome series of escape-room-style 'cells', each more horrible and viscerally confronting than the last. This is all very clever and memorable, but the cover claim that 'Reprieve' is "an eventual American classic" is just silly. 'Reprieve' occupies the same territory as the brilliant '...