Thank you to PUSH for sending me a copy of Beholder in exchange for an honest review.
Athan Bakirtzis, an orphan with the power to manipulate mirrors, has lived a hard life. Relying on charm and a secretive job as an art handler to care for his ailing grandmother, he adheres to his Yiayia’s warning never to use his ability, one she sees as a curse. However, during a high-society party in a New York penthouse, Athan breaks this rule, inadvertently triggering a nightmarish chain of events.
As chaos erupts at the party, Athan realizes that an evil force has been lurking behind his reflection. He becomes entangled in a supernatural conspiracy involving occult societies and eldritch horror as he tries to uncover the truth about this malevolent presence that has always been watching.
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Beholder begins with a truly great opening line: “The Sunday night of the party, a few hours before everyone dies, a girl with bleached bangs is telling you all about her future.” How can a line like that not draw you in? The first chapter of Ryan La Sala’s fourth novel is wild and compelling. However, the rest of the book just can’t keep up the pace.
I struggled a lot with the structure of Beholder. While most books have to slow down after an epic first chapter, this is compounded by the alternating points of view La Sala uses. Every other chapter is written in the second person by someone speaking directly to Athan. The unnamed character is definitely sinister, but these chapters do more to confuse the reader than move events along or reveal anything new.
As far as surrealist horror goes, the bones of Beholder are strong. I loved the idea of the cult-like world of high-society art collectors concealing something dark and terrifying. The inspiration La Sala takes from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is also clear and effective. However, combining it with the Lovecraftian horror of the mirrors may have been too much. This aspect didn’t feel developed enough to land right.
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All in all, Beholder just didn’t quite work for me. I was obsessed with La Sala’s 2022 novel The Honeys, so it’s possible my expectations were too high. It’s getting great reviews from others, however, so check it out if you’re interested in queer, YA, surrealist horror.
Beholder comes out on October 3, 2023, and is available for preorder from your local independent bookstore or Bookshop.org.
TW: abandonment, death, death of a parent, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, gaslighting/manipulation, grief, medical abuse, murder, self-harm, toxic friendship, violence
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/books-like-yellowjackets-showtime/
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