BLACK SHEEP by Rachel Harrison

Named as one of the top horror books of 2023 by the New York Times, this book is not believable enough to be scary.  However, it is macabre entertainment of the first order, almost like a sequel to Rosemary’s Baby but less grim.  In fact, this book needs its own sequel.  Vesper is a twenty-something young woman waiting tables since her escape from the cult-like religious enclave in which she grew up.  I was thinking maybe Scientology, but that’s not nearly creepy enough.  Vesper receives a mysterious anonymous invitation to the wedding of her former best friend and her former boyfriend and decides what the heck.  Now that she’s been fired from her job, she may as well go home to visit her estranged family.  She also has high hopes of seeing her elusive and charismatic father there.  Vesper’s icy mother is a former horror movie actress whose home décor includes myriad props from her films.  This is the perfect Halloween read—an eerie treat with a snarky but relatable first-person protagonist.  The author taunts us with clues about the identity of Vesper’s father, but these clues are not substantial enough to give it away.