Listening to 80s Synthwave Halloween mix on Youtube while writing this review.

This was the kind of audiobook I had to invent chores to continue listening to. An incredible audiobook performance first of all. And a beautifully written book, oozing nostalgia from every acne-scarred pore. The angst. The rich details, and the evocation of 80s pop culture. The gruesome climax and the way it captured adolescence was heart-crushingly effective. Beautiful, elegant, rewarding, evocative of a lost era of shopping malls, roller rinks, suburban sprawls and cinematic small town skies, of an America still pregnant with mystery. It holds the classic fear of the unknown, growing up, friendship, and the travails of high school in its gooey center. The crunchy outer layer of prose is crisp and redolent with all of the texture of childhood – Dayglow Goosebumps covers, sleepovers, E. T.

I would change nothing about this book and I will read it again.
Better than Stranger Things, it tickles that sinister October vibe, and will haunt me for many years to come. Not scary so much as fun, rife with subtexts, and perfectly honed by a vibrant aesthetic, strong characters, and pitch perfect tone.