UnCovered Review by Samantha LeRoy, ACLS Mays Landing Branch
Ryan
La Sala’s new book The Honeys follows in the footsteps of films such as Midsommar
and the Witch, fitting nicely into this niche of “elevated horror,”
horror defined by stylistic psychological twists, commentaries on society, and
a dash of tasteful gore. The novel follows gender-fluid teen Mars Matthias in
the aftermath of the traumatic death of his twin sister Caroline. Convinced her
death has something to do with the Aspen Summer Academy, a summer camp designed
for the kids of the hyper-wealthy and politically connected, Mars enrolls to
investigate. There he finds the Honeys, a cabin full of enigmatic and powerful
girls - the girls Caroline lived with during her time at Aspen. The closer Mars
gets to the girls, and the more he blurs the binary divide of the camp, the
more a sinister presence encloses around him.
The
Honeys is a trippy
analysis of gender, class, and grief. Throughout the book, Mars fights to find
a place between the boys and the girls, torn between wanting to be embraced by
the acceptance of the girls but also the respect of the boys, at the same time
battling the demands of his high-maintenance, high-profile, wealthy parents.
The horror itself is a slow burn, it keeps itself hidden until roughly 200+
pages in, and when it hits it hits hard (I don’t want to spoil it but it
involves a horrible teenage boy, honey, and a basement). La Sala’s prose is
also dreamy and poetic, however if you don’t have the patience for long-winded
descriptions of bucolic imagery it may grow tiresome, but it was exactly how I
prefer my novels.