"Moms were the ones who had to fix problems. From small things like a skinned knee, to bigger ones like supernatural forces trying to take over families."

It's Desperate Housewives meets The Exorcist in this fun horror/spoof of the suburban lifestyle.

Things have gotten a little too interesting lately for the ladies of one Chicago bedroom community.

When construction on a She Shed accidentally opens up a whole can of fiendish worms, Amy's next-door-neighbor and friend becomes possessed by something unsavory (not to mention unsanitary). Since an old priest and a young priest seem to be unavailable, it's up to the gals to save their pal, AND the neighborhood.

This one was loads of fun, as the author played things mostly for laughs, (think demonic Roombas), though there are a few chilling moments, mostly involving children in danger - so be warned.

I really need to stop choosing books that have a big mom life theme. It turns out that PTA meetings and organizing school events really hold no interest for me. After reading the author’s note, I understand that this is what she was going for (suburban life drama with a side of horror) but it didn’t work for me as much as I’d hoped. There were definitely some creepy moments, but not too scary (thankfully), but I found my attention wandering. I liked the characters enough, but wish they’d felt a little more well-developed. I think it was just such a mishmash that it lost me a bit. I do believe this is the author’s debut, so would be interested in reading a future publication.

Overall, it was a mostly enjoyable read, but disappointed me in several areas. I would still recommend if the premise sounds interesting to you, just go into it knowing that good portion of it is suburban mom life. I know tons of people love that! Also, the cover is perfection!

This one was super fun and I loved it. A horror comedy about suburban moms who’s friend may or may not be possessed? Sign me up. If you’re like me and love horror books that make you laugh at times, love suburban moms in their thrillers, and just overall want a light and easy horror read- this one is for you. It did feel a little corny at times but that was the point. I think this would be perfect for anyone new to the horror genre or anyone looking for an easy light and entertaining read this fall.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the perfect book to initiate the spooky season!

Amy, Jess, Melissa, and Liz all live in a suburban neighborhood where they became friends. At one of their monthly wine nights, they christen the development of their She Shed when they open a world of demonic possession. Together, they work to save their friend, and neighborhood.

Immediately from the first chapter, I was hooked into Amy’s life. The atmosphere of a picture-perfect suburban neighborhood was humorous backdrop to such a bazaar situation. I loved the friendship dynamic and the writing style. It was like being a part of the group, included in all their decisions. I especially enjoyed the commentary on basic suburban neighborhoods and how they are all the same. Plus, Jess’ character stole the show for me. She was so unapologetically herself in this cookie cutter neighborhood. It was refreshing.

There were some parts where the story was extremely slow. I appreciated the attention to descriptive detail, but this could have been a shorter book. Because the plot was so drawn out, I got bored around the halfway point. The resolution was also extremely cliché. I wish there was a bit more action, but I assume by the ending, that may be followed up in the future.

I would recommend this book to everyone. This is the perfect mix between comedy and a thriller. It is a fun piece for beginners in the genre as well as seasoned readers. This put me in the mood to pull out all my spooky Halloween books on my shelves. I had such a fun time reading this!

A group of suburban moms find themselves smack in the middle of demonic hell in this humorous and spooky read. And they have to band together to save one of their own from the clutches of pure evil.

This book was seriously a fun reading experience. I loved the characters… well I loved the four main women. Their husbands kind of annoyed me, but don’t they all? 😆 I really enjoyed the dynamic in the neighborhood. You have your groups of friends that get along really well, and you have those catty women who exits right on the outskirts of your friend group… the annoying ones who you interact with when you have to. All the kiddos were great too, even as involved as they get in the mess.

Our narrator, Amy takes us on a tour of her cul-de-sac where everyone looks after one another. She is close friends with the other moms in the neighborhood and enjoys her monthly wine nights with them. After this last one, though, things have really changed! When one of the girlies starts building a “she-shed” in her backyard, an old evil is kicked up and the neighborhood will never be the same.

With one of her own friends in the grip of this evil, she and her other friends have to figure out how to save the cul-de-sac… and themselves in the process.

"Years ago, I would have never imagined that I would live in a town that became embroiled in such petty drama so often. Mark and I had vowed we weren’t going to become those suburbanites who talked about mowing their lawn and tree-trimming services. No, we were much better than that—we were city people. Who took our kids to fancy restaurants and walked everywhere. Who shared one car that we barely drove and always knew where to get the best Indian takeout. I was deeply aware of how uncool and boring the suburbs were. And yet I would soon come to find that our suburb was anything but mundane."

This was so fun and also pretty scary! A group of suburban moms accidentally get tangled up with a demon. Common household objects start coming to life and trying to kill them. Creepy dolls scare their children. But these mom's won't go down without a fight. Think of this book as wine mom vs the supernatural.

Thank you netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! As a sarcastic Chicagoan who loves horror, I was instantly drawn to the title and it did not disappoint! I was hooked and flew through this one in two days.

While it was very campy there were some truly horrific scenes that I enjoyed. While it was funny I appreciate that the horror elements were well done and made me take the book seriously. I felt big Grady Hendrix and American Horror Story vibes as I read. It felt modern but not overly so, without excessive pop culture name drops.

Aesthetically, the cover is gorgeous and instantly drew me in, and I liked the drippy numbers on the chapters. As a Chicago native I loved the references (Kilmer even threw in an "ope!") and the clear distinction made that the city and suburbs are very different.

This was meant to be humorous but I enjoyed the few serious elements thrown in, such as grappling with addiction, loss of identity as a mother, and loneliness. I am not usually the person to feel bad for a group of privileged suburban women, but Kilmer wrote them with such humanity that I could relate to them and have empathy for their issues. I also appreciated that no one was perfect yet the husbands were not all bumbling idiots. I am tired of the terrible husband trope and glad there was only one really insufferable husband.

There were a few continuity errors that threw me off (like outfits changing between scenes when it didn't make sense) but nothing that kept me from enjoying the story. I get that it is the suburbs so it is probably accurate, but I would have liked to see more diversity in the characters.

A peaceful neighborhood on the outskirts of Chicago is the perfect location for a backyard She Shed where neighbors Amy, Liz, Jess, and Melissa can unwind once a month, free of the demands of their spouses and children. But as soon as they break ground in Liz’s back yard, it seems a demonic force has taken over suburbia - and possessed Liz!

Wow, this book was ridiculous and I mean that in the best way! I knew from the title and the summary this book wouldn’t take itself too seriously and I enjoyed every moment. It definitely reminded me of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampire - it’s a look at friendship and motherhood told through an unexpected lens of horror, but vamps are traded in for a demonic spirit.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Suburban Hell is scheduled for release on August 30, 2022.

Amy, Liz, Jess, and Melissa seem to be living the perfect suburban mom life in a seemingly perfect cul-de-sac. They are four four best friends who enjoy spending their time hiding PTA crowd and having girls nights watching movies and drinking. They decide to build a special she shed to have their fun nights. It’s just too bad that when they christen the groundbreaking of the she shed that they release a demonic force that terrorizes the seemingly perfect neighborhood.

Y’all Suburban Hell is CRAZY. It’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism meets Desperate Housewives and Bad Moms. I absolutely loved this book and I simply devoured this book in one night. This is funny, creepy and somewhat disturbing but definitely a must read. With short chapters, great humor and a fast pace this one will have you reading the whole thing in one setting.

"Whoever said it's best to just rip off a Band-Aid clearly never had to yank a bandage off blistering, infected wound caused by a supernatural force."

SUBURBAN HELL by Maureen Kilmer follows a four-woman friend group in the idyllic suburbs of Chicago. When one of their friends starts acting bizarre, and strange things begin to plague their perfect neighborhood, the rest of the group begins to suspect that demonic possession might be the culprit.

My main gripe with this book is that it's SLOW. The demon that possesses the women's friend, Liz, is all bark and no bite. There are so many threats throughout the book--festering injuries, dangerous weather, misbehaving electrical appliances--and yet not much really comes of them. The horror-suspense of the book therefore suffers, and I never really felt as spooked as I hoped. I expected something more akin to Grady Hendrix's The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which is a much stronger, slow-burn horror saga also starring suburban moms that, for me, packed a bigger punch.

A sequel is implied in the epilogue, and the setup doesn't make much sense to me--not with the way the "demonic possession" was resolved in the last chapter.

Overall themes of female friendships, suburban housewife life, mom-empowerment, and spots of lightheartedness/humor make this book a horror-chick lit crossover. It's an easy read, just a bit too long, and didn't live up to my horror expectations.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons for this eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Maureen Kilmer’s debut horror novel was a winner for me. While I don’t read many horror novels, this one is lite horror with plenty of suspense, some humor, and relatable main characters. When Amy Foster and her family left Chicago for the suburb of Winchester, Illinois, she soon found friends in neighbors Liz, Jess, and Melissa. None of them fit in with the “in” crowd of school moms, but they bonded. During a monthly get-together, the four planned a clubhouse for Liz’s backyard. It would be a space just for them. No spouses or children allowed. However, the home-improvement project doesn’t go well, and a demonic force is released. Burn marks, dying grass, self-moving objects, and horrible smells are only the beginning. Fighting the evil spirit becomes a necessity. But who is stronger?

The story is told from Amy’s point of view. The main characters are well-rounded with traits that develop and change as the story progresses. The author was able to show how each brought something unique to their relationship. They felt like typical suburban moms with typical problems including arranging play dates for the kids, planning community and school events, dealing with neighborhood politics, trying to find some time for themselves, and balancing work, housework, looking for a job, dealing with the homeowner’s association, cleaning house, etc. However, when one of them is in trouble, who will be there for them?

Initially, the story is interesting but a little slow-paced. However, this changes as readers approach the fourth chapter. By then, we’re familiar with the four main families, and have a good sense of the relationships between them and with others in the neighborhood. I felt the emphasis on how a group’s dynamics changes when one person is missing or changes personality was especially understandable. It mixes the mundane with the important and throws in the supernatural to create suspense, danger, and drama. Themes include friendship, isolation, good versus evil, work/life balance, community support, and much more.

Overall, this was a well-plotted, moving, and clever story that built momentum, moved well, created a few startling moments, and built suspense as it moved to its dynamic conclusion and an epilogue that makes one think there will possibly be a second book. I recommend the novel to those that enjoy lite horror, realistic and relatable characters, some suspense, and a side order of snarkiness. It was an amusing and fun read and I can’t wait to see what the author pens next.

PENGUIN GROUP Putnam – G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Maureen Kilmer provided complimentary a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley as well as a paperback copy. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for August 30, 2022. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Suburban Hell visits in the form of this novel. Superficially, it best fits into horror because of the supernatural content and the demonic possession theme that drives the plot. However, it might be best to describe this as women’s fiction for readers that like a touch of woo-woo.

The characters are superficially interesting. You have your stereotypical aloof PTA moms who can’t get their noses high enough into the air. You have the hot stepmom resented by the women loyal to her predecessor, despite the fact that Jess had nothing to do with her partner’s divorce and met him long after the dust had settled. You had a cluster of neighbors only too happy to stick their noses into your affairs.

Which accurately describes hell on earth, so the title fits.

Before I get deeper into this, I want to state that this story moves at a steady pace and it isn’t a long book, so it’s a decent beach read if you’re looking for something light and breezy. Anyone that loves neighborhood drama sprinkled with a little horror may find this book appealing, and it was the right kind of read for me when I picked it up, so I give it. 3.25 stars.

Within the core four women, there are some common character types. Melissa is the Type A personality who’s a professional married to a stay-at-home dad, and is happy to work in the business world. She’s efficient, impersonal, and capable of making the toughest opponents wither with a single glance. Jess is the stepmom with a heart of gold who loves to parade around nude.

Amy, our protagonist, is a bit of a mess. She never seems to have it together, as a parent, partner, or professional. She’s been looking for work for months after taking time off to have her children. She’s supposed to be a social worker, but she’s more of the talker and pusher within her group, trying to get her friends on board with her plans, and one of her growth points in this book is actually discovering she’s taken her friends for granted.

Amy at times felt very real because she’s messy, but at other times her arc felt forced. There were some conversations between the friends that felt like characters had words stuck in their mouths because the author wanted the objection on the page, rather than because it’s what the character would really say. For such a smart, business-savvy woman, Melissa flip flops on her religious position and doesn’t really have a firm anchor for her views. The resistance to the mega-church money grab stuff makes sense, but to outright dismiss any spiritual explanations or activities needed to save their friend is puzzling and reactionary, not logical. Her default is that her friends are asking her to go against her beliefs … yet she wears a cross as a protection item and does say she believes some things she was taught. She doesn’t come across as religiously confused but rather contradictory, and as someone driven by logic who takes a business approach to life, it wasn’t convincing.

At the same time, Amy is also uneven. It’s hard to really buy into imminent danger and possibility of death when that tension’s interrupted for date night or festivities with friends. It was also troubling that Amy knew she needed help and could have received guidance from her mother-in-law, who she seemed to get along with well, but refused to turn to a trusted source for help. Instead, they trusted in the advice of a stranger in a bookstore and read one book about how to handle their situation and, despite Amy’s belief that the situation posed a real risk to her daughter and all three women had suffered unexplained physical injuries, Amy trudged off with a single author’s guidance and didn’t do additional research to back it up. It was hard to take it seriously, and although she meant well, it’s hard to believe Amy’s a capable leader ready to help women fix their problems when she’s barely managing to hold it together during summer vacation with her kids, which raises another point about Amy. She could have removed her children from the community and sent them to her in-laws to ensure their safety. She didn’t, yet was concerned about the safety of Liz’s kids. Given some of the things her daughter was saying and experiencing, it’s hard to believe in someone who thinks there’s a huge threat to her friend, but doesn’t take the threat to her kids seriously.

All in all, a breezy read if you don’t think about it too much and just go with the flow.

What a fun book to read!!

I loved that this pretty dark book is disguised as suburban humor.

The housewives of the neighborhood become exorcists when they realize their friend has been possessed by a demon.

The book is very well-paced and doesn’t try to do too much at once. I like how the demon makes them all realize their own special forms of evil and their weaknesses.

The ending was kind of anti-climactic. I really expected it to be a grander exorcism… it just wasn’t.

Overall, it was a good read!

Set in an all too familiar mundane suburb where the scariest thing one usually has to contend with is an overzealous HOA comes real evil. When Amy's friend Liz is possessed by a demon unearthed after breaking ground on her backyard She Shed she bands together with other friends from her neighborhood to banish this entity back where it belongs all while coordinating volunteers for the upcoming school carnival

Suburban Hell is a FUN read! There's obvious overlap Grady Hendrix, but while his books lean more towards horror Suburban Hell is like Liane Moriarty decided to dip her toe into horror, this is women's fiction domestic drama meets demonic forces and it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's campy and absurd and kind of horrifically funny, one scene involving a rogue robot vacuum had me chuckling out loud, and it has an admirable undercurrent of themes like the pressures of modern motherhood, the pitfalls of isolation, the importance of community, and the power of female friendships.

Suburban Hell is a fantastic addition for your Spooky Season reading!

Suburban Hell was quite the story!! 4 best friends, Amy, Jess, Melissa and Liz, have idyllic lives in a wealthy suburb of Chicago. They decide to build a She Shed, a place to get together without the unending interruptions from their husbands and kids. But once they break ground in Liz's backyard, she's somehow becomes someone else entirely. Amy takes the lead in figuring out what's going on with Liz and recruits Jess and Melissa to help her out. This was a laugh out loud horror/thriller story that had me glued to the pages! Demons, ghost and exorcisms, oh my!! Loved it all!!!

“What’s a little demon possession among friends?” It’s the perfect tagline for “Suburban Hell,” a story about a group of four moms who bond over playdates and disliking most of the other women in the neighborhood. After a girls night at Liz’s house, Liz’s husband gives in and allows her to build a SheShed in the backyard for the groups’s extracurricular activities. With plans in hand, a construction crew begins to break ground, only to open up something unexplainable… and smelly.

Amy, her next-door neighbor and self-proclaimed bestie, notices something’s off with Liz, which is confirmed once Liz tries to kill her. From there, peculiar things begin to happen and tests the strength of the group’s bond. The chain of events that take place post-possession are creepy-yet-funny, making this dark-comedy an easy read and something that you’ll want to speed through pretty quickly.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope the author writes more horror-like stories in the future!

Suburban Hell was a fun read and a great way to kick start fall reading! It reminded me of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires meets The Change.
I loved the friend group of Amy, Jess, and Melissa and had fun rooting for them as they tried to save their friend Liz and their neighborhood from a demon. It was a good mix of spooky scenes and funny, relatable moments!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A great summer read for those who are into summer thrillers. I enjoyed the fact that I can easily get the women since they are in my age range and they are mothers. We need more of this books. Worth the read and it was good!

Ahh I absolutely adored this gem of a book!! A mix of horror/thriller/humor, what a fun time! I love how there seems to be a trend of horror/thrillers with a mix of humor, it is quickly becoming my favorite thing to read. Pick this up you won’t be disappointed!!!

Oh man I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I started reading it and I was just not vibing with the whole mommy stay at home holding down the household thing but then it got interesting. Such a good mix of neighborhood drama, horrific history, supernatural elements, and above all else the strength of friendship. I thought the 4 main characters were a delightful group; sarcastic and funny. I thought it had a very Grady Hendrix vibe and a Real Housewives vibe, though toned down quite a bit. Ended up loving this!

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.