A playful horror story with the atmosphere of a light-hearted comedy. This is a nice, easy read about a stay-at-home mom who feels like an outsider in her suburban life, except in the company of her three best mom friends. Life is shaken up when one of those friends starts to demonstrate signs of demonic possession.

A fun and creepy book. Possession has hit the neighborhood and what are these suburban moms to do. An entertaining read and if you love Grady Hendrix, then definitely check out this book!

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy for an honest review.

A clever and wicked funny novel that I would recommend to those that enjoy light horror, comedy-horror, killer roomba's, relatable characters, life in suburbia for an outsider, strong friendships, parenting woe's.

Very fun read and would love to see more from Maureen Kilmer!

In this snappy debut of diet horror, Maureen Kilmer gives readers a fun look at the chills of suburban life in 'Suburban Hell'.

Stay at home mom, Amy Foster, begins to feel that something is amiss in her quaint suburb outside of Chicago. Her friend Liz, always the perfect hostess and the most thoughtful of all the neighborhood moms, has suddenly retreated into herself. The children are frightened of her, animals no longer cross her yard, and most grievous of all - her husband doesn't even seem to notice. Topping it all off is a horrific smell of sulfur emanating from Liz's backyard. Suddenly, Amy's idyllic and tranquil neighborhood seems to be anything but. Kilmer's quippy book explores the limits of the weird and the depth of adult female friendship beyond the PTA and superficial interactions that - I am led to believe - plague mommyhood. Certain moments made me laugh out loud, while others were painfully cringe and borderline sacrene.

While I didn't mean to, I couldn't help but compare this story to 'My Best Friend's Exorcism', and 'Suburban Hell' plays out much the same as Hendrix's book. However, unlike Hendrix's book which is set during our last collective experience (high school), Kilmer very clearly is writing for a specific demographic and experience set. There isn't anything wrong with that. I think there are some beautiful parts of her book that address loneliness, "baby blues", and the isolation that comes from generally being a mom. However, some might find the narrative lacking and strictly surface.

Please don't mistake me, this is by no means a "bad book", but it is definitely fluffy. All in all, I enjoyed it - I could listen to Melissa relive her traumatic childhood in a megachurch all day, the possessed roomba will legit haunt my dreams, and I appreciate Kilmer using the lens of horror to examine suburban isolation and mature female friendship.

Sincere thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book. Very creepy, mysterious and, dare I say funny. This book is one I would read again and highlight my favorite parts. Spooky, scary read!!

This book is a total scream! I loved it. Hilarious horror is my jam and there's totally not enough of it, especially female focused. If you pick just one book to read for Spooky Season, make it Suburban Hell. I can't wait to see what else Maureen Kilmer has in store!

What a wonderful debut, I couldn’t put it down! What starts out as your normal girl’s night turns into something much more sinister. It was atmospheric, creepy and provided a couple good laughs. I enjoyed the bond between the group of women, I’m always a fan of strong women relationships in books! The ending was fantastic. Overall, this was such a fun book!

Decent writing but I've already forgotten what this book is about. Not my thing. Guess I need to write more before I can send this. This wasn't what I expected. Loved the front cover though.

I expected more from this book maybe because I did the one thing you should never do. Base a book on the cover, which I loved by the way! I just found it hard to get into the story and WANT to read it. It was an okay story that I don’t regret reading but I also wouldn’t say it was a huge page turner. I found each of the main characters to be very similar in terms of their family members, & pets? I wish it was a little more diversified.

Our main characters Amy, Liz, Melissa & Jess are suburban mom friends who found one another through their kids schooling. They’re the “outcast” of the moms in their town and don’t really care what anyone has to say about it but when one of them gets mixed up with some demonic force, the others have to find a solution and QUICK before everything goes south for not just one of them, but all of them!

If you’re looking for a seemingly innocent “horror” novel then this is for you. I found some scenes to bring in the more goofy side of the story than keeping it a straightforward terrifying read. If you’re huge on horror books as I am, I’d say you could easily put this one off and wouldn’t miss out on much?

This was a fun, scary little read. Set in Suburbia, a group of women with various commonalities face an ages-old curse, along with a more mundane fear- a group of friends falling apart as life takes them in different directions...like the grave.

Suburbia…every millennial’s worst nightmare.
Imagine you move to the suburb. You’ve decided to settle down outside the city and raise your family…but oh yeah, there’s a demon that took over your friend.
Honestly I thought this book was really fun. Imagine a combination of My Best Friend’s Exorcism and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and you have Suburban Hell.
This book takes place in a suburb of Chicago, and as a Midwesterner, I really related to so much of it. I think you’ll especially like this book if you’re a mom and can relate to the struggles of the main characters surrounding motherhood. My only complaint is that I wish we had seen more of the demon. You see what the demon does, but you don’t get to see it perform these awful acts. I think that would’ve helped it pack a little bit more of a punch.
Overall, I really recommend this book. It’s perfect for the spooky season.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A book overflowing with character, but can get bogged down at times with genre tropes and the mundane. Would have loved more focus on the interesting world that the author created. Overall an enjoyable read, but I never felt truly invested in the outcome.

Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer is a unique blend of Chick-Lit and Horror, with a little humor thrown in. Amy, Liz, Jess, and Melissa are neighbors in a quiet Chicago suburb. These dear friends get together regularly for a girls’ night which involves watching movies and drinking wine. They watch each other’s children, enjoy neighborhood activities with their families, and try to avoid the PTA cliques. Each woman brings a unique perspective to the group.

Liz decides to build a She Shed in her backyard, and all hell breaks loose when a demon escapes from the newly excavated hole. Liz starts acting strangely and then terrible things start to happen including a Roomba gone rogue, dead bunnies, dying grass, and personal injuries. Amy, who has personal struggles of her own, is determined to free Liz of the demon and keep their girl group together.

I enjoyed the friendship aspect of the story a lot more than I did the horror. There are discussion questions at the end of the novel and this one made me laugh thinking about my answer:

“Amy realizes something is off with Liz when Liz fails to clean up her house after their movie night. What would be the first sign of demonic possession in your best friend?”

3.5-Stars rounded up. This book was published on August 30, 2022. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Suburban Hell was so much fun to read! I read it on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and could not put it down because it was so entertaining. While reading, I was reminded of Grady Hendrix horror comedy. This book is a celebration of female friendship and how important it is to nurture relationships, even when one of your best friends might accidentally get possessed by a demon from Hell. I highly recommend this exciting read. It would also make an excellent book club book.

The day I become a suburban mom, I hope I have friends like Amy, Melissa, Jess, and Liz. Minus a demon taking over my friend. Although that sounds kinda fun according to the book I just read 😂 this book was a fun read! It was a light and cozy ish? story of a demon taking over someone’s body and causing chaos in a basic suburban town, while the moms try and exorcise it. The only thing scarier than the demon were the PTA moms *shivers*. I hope I get a chance to read another Maureen Kilmer book and this was the perfect book to start off my fall reading!!

This was super fun and I enjoyed every second of this creepy domestic thriller, I would say it’s a very easy beginner book into the horror genre with some supernatural elements but also many comic relief moments

Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer is a must with a dash of silly for spooky season!

A neighborhood group of girlfriends meet once a month for a wine night. One of the women plans to build a She Shed in the backyard, and the friends christen the space with a drink the evening before construction is set to begin. The next morning, the crew breaks ground and the neighborhood suddenly smells like serious death. The ladies definitely woke something up with their christening. The woman with the plans for the She Shed gets possessed by a demonic force and the rest of the women band together to save their friend and confront some demons of their own along the way.

This was so so fun. Humorous and spooky, but not super frivolous. The novel explores familial themes and the strength of found sisterhood. Thank you @netgalley, @authormaureen, and @putnambooks. This book is out now!

When a group of suburban moms decide to build their own "she shed" to give them a place to escape to, they unearth an evil none of them could have expected.
Maureen Kilmer has hit it out of the park with this story of possession and the possibly greater terror, American suburbia. She couples laugh out loud scathing social satire with a genuinely disquieting story of haunting and possession. Suburban Hell delivered everything I wanted.

Suburban Hell Review!!

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam, Maureen Kilmer, and Netgalley for this gifted copy, in exchange for an honest review! Suburban Hell is out now!

Okay. Ever since reading Grady Hendrix, I have loved comedic horror. This one felt very homey and funny at times. In fact, I feel like if My Best Friends Exorcism and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (both by Hendrix) had a baby, Suburban Hell would be it!!!

Suburban Hell was a 5/5 ⭐️ for me!! I absolutely loved this one and I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. It was such a great book that revolves around sweet friendships, living in the suburbs of Chicago, with a large sprinkle of demons and exorcisms. 😂 Kilmer is definitely on my radar for new horror!!

~4.5 stars rounded up~

This book was sooooooo much fun! I loved the depictions of female friendship, ESPECIALLY adult female friendship. This book made me laugh, it made gag (I blame the vivid descriptions of all the smells), and it also made me wanna go drink some cheap wine with my besties around a fire pit!

The whole time I was reading it, I could not stop making comparisons between this book and the show "Santa Clarita Diet". If you loved that show even half as much as I did, then you will also eat this book up!

The only reason I'm giving this book a 4.5 and not a 5 is because I felt like the end was a bit rushed, but other than that I LOVE LOVE LOVED IT !