Atlantic County Library System

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.