Library Journal - Audio
03/01/2022
DeMeester's (Beneath) latest is a horror suspense novel with some very sharp teeth. Young Lila Sawyer would love to understand her mother, the famous sculptor Caroline Sawyer. However, Caroline has a dark past, one that begins in New Orleans when she and the rest of the city are terrorized by the Cur, a serial killer targeting young girls. In the present, both mother and daughter notice young girls in their neighborhood turning up dead. The Cur appears to be active again, both Caroline and Lila are keeping secrets, and something hungry is closing in. The story jumps between different timelines, from Caroline's past to Lila's present, but DeMeester's descriptive powers are laser-focused on the psychological horror that both mother and daughter endure. Indeed, DeMeester's descriptions of physical and mental trauma are both beautiful and harrowing, and the breathy drawl of narrator Kristine Hvam roots the supernatural suspense deep in the heart of New Orleans. What draws listeners in and creates the most tension in this story is the isolation of Lila and Caroline—from each other and from the men they trust, men who either ignore or dismiss the horrors the mother and daughter have experienced. VERDICT Recommended for public library horror collections.—James Gardner
Publishers Weekly
09/06/2021
Demeester (Beneath) blends realistic descriptions of dissociation and schizophrenia with the horror of a serial killer preying on young girls in this chilling probe into gender-based violence. In 2019, high schooler Lila Sawyer struggles with her attraction to her only friend; her increasingly strained relationship with her mother, Caroline; and the frightening news of young girls who were discovered dead and mutilated in the nearby woods. Demeester’s immersive descriptions suck readers into Lila’s inner turmoil as she starts seeing and hearing dogs that aren’t there and feels a dark presence awakening inside of her. Afraid that she’s inherited Caroline’s paranoid schizophrenia, Lila keeps these episodes secret while working to uncover what Caroline is hiding about a serial killer, known as The Cur, from years ago. Well-structured timeline shifts to 2004 depict Caroline’s sanity unravelling as she cares for her terminally ill father and manages her fiancé’s mounting envy of her artistic talent, while, in the present, Lila becomes enamored with the sense of power she feels when the darkness within speaks through her. Demeester’s darkly visceral imagery draws a fine line between mental illness and supernatural events that will leave readers doubting reality as the uncanny merges with the real-world horrors of a young girl coming of age. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
"Wonderfully well written; the dread, the enigma, build with each scene. It’s coming of age, it’s family secrets, it’s life in the balance, too. It’s Thomas Harris, it’s Lois Duncan… but no, it’s Kristi DeMeester, in complete confident control of your experience. An outstanding story in outstanding hands." –Josh Malerman New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Malorie
"Raw, beautiful, and absolutely haunting. Such a Pretty Smile captivates both with the shadows that lurk beneath, and an unwavering look at the wildness and horrors of girlhood." - Camilla Sten, author of The Lost Village
"I've never read anything quite like SUCH A PRETTY SMILE: at turns brutal and shocking, at turns lush and evocative, and deeply disquieting throughout. This novel unsettled me at nearly every turn of the page, and that feeling has stayed with me since I closed its cover days ago. Kristi DeMeester is a highly-original voice in horror and I can't wait to see what she writes next." -emily m. danforth
"Kristi DeMeester is certainly an exciting new voice. Her exploration of toxic female friendships and her deep dive into the darkest parts of the human psyche made this a riveting, compulsive and horrifyingly entertaining read." - #1 international bestselling author Liz Nugent
"Kristi DeMeester's novel is a menacing, mysterious, and righteously angry fever dream, one that hooks into you from page one. SUCH A PRETTY SMILE is unafraid to bare its feminist fangs."—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song
"A mother and daughter fight for their lives and their sanity in Kristi DeMeester’s SUCH A PRETTY SMILE, a quietly brutal feminist horror novel about what it means to be a ‘good girl’ in a world of men—and monsters. Thoughtful, creepy, and razor-sharp. This one will cut you.” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and Red Hands
"With expert pacing and captivating characters, Kristi DeMeester’s SUCH A PRETTY SMILE is a gothic thriller that speaks to the strength of women. A darkly feminist and timely novel, I was spellbound until the final page." – Karma Brown, bestselling author of RECIPE FOR A PERFECT WIFE
"Darkly visceral...will leave readers doubting reality as the uncanny merges with the real-world horrors of a young girl coming of age." - Publishers Weekly
"DeMeester’s storytelling is ferociously and unashamedly feminine...very satisfying." - Sadie Hartmann "Mother Horror," Mystery & Suspense Magazine
"DeMeester has taken the horror fiction world by force, delivering her own brand of hard-hitting yet intensely personal horror." - This is Horror
“Sharp-minded fiction…shed[s] unabashed light on a grim saga that personifies the legacy of dread that follows women throughout their lives.” - Fangoria
"Intoxicating, lyrical...emphatically feminine and provocative." - Litreactor
"Gorgeous and grim...a story about what it means to be a woman, living in a world determined to make you small, and meek, and above all, quiet." - BookRiot's The Fright Stuff
"So much horror centers on the beastliness of men, but few recent novels have literalised the monstrosity of misogyny with quite the finesse of Such A Pretty Smile...DeMeester’s novel really screams its intention, with implications that reach far beyond any single showdown between a young girl and a violent man." - Esquire
Library Journal
10/01/2021
What is scarier, sexism in mental health care or an actual monster? DeMeester's (Beneath) empowering, engaging, and intense supernatural thriller seeks an answer through alternating time lines and brisk pacing. In 2019, 13-year-old Lila is dealing with an overprotective mother, an unrequited crush on her best friend, and the murders of several local teen girls. In 2004, Caroline (Lila's mother) is a young adult, facing an eerily similar serial killer who sets off a series of events that destroy Caroline's marriage, earn her critical acclaim for her grotesque sculptures, and inspire her to get treatment for mental illness. The unease is thick, pressing down on readers. Lila and Caroline intimately spill their dark secrets on the page but struggle to share these supernatural experiences and disturbing realizations with other people, for fear of stigmatization. As events in both timelines spin out of control, past and present collide in an epic showdown that will leave readers looking over their shoulders. VERDICT An obvious choice for fans of female-driven psychological horror (e.g., Sarah Pinborough's Cross Her Heart and Rachel Harrison's The Return). Also a good suggestion for readers who want to explore the trauma and inequalities in mental health treatment (like in Victor LaValle's The Devil in Silver).
