Review: Cackle

Cackle by Rachel Harrison

Published By: Titan
Publication Date: October 5, 2021
Date Read: October 12, 2026
Genre: Adult – Horror
Source: Loaned by Kobo Plus
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 291

Add to Goodreads | Add to Storygraph

A darkly funny, frightening novel about a young woman learning how to take what she wants from a witch who may be too good to be true, from the author of The Return.

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.

Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?

Cackle is a book that has bounced around on my TBR for such a long time. It’s no surprise to anyone that I am a witchy book lover. So when I heard about this one I immediately requested an eARC via Netgalley. Then I heard that it was actually a horror book, and at the time Horror was a big no-no for me. Then as I’ve started to read a bit more Horror in recent months, I decided to finally dive into this one. Honestly this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I did enjoy Cackle, but there were a lot of elements that just didn’t really work for me.

Cackle follows the story of Annie. A young girl who after being heartbroken after a breakup, moves to a small village upstate for a fresh start. It’s the sort of place where everyone knows everyone. Here she meets the enigmatic Sophie, a strange but beautiful woman who Annie finds herself inexplicably drawn to. But while Annie enjoys every moment of her new unlikely friendship, she can’t help but notice some things are not quite as they seem. Is Sophie actually as perfect as she seems? And why does the rest of the village seem to be frightened of her?

I’m so glad that I finally got around to reading Cackle. This was not my first Rachel Harrison book. I read Kiss Slay Replay earlier this year and loved it, and I couldn’t wait to start reading some of her older books. I will say, for me, Cackle doesn’t hold it’s own next to Kiss Slay Replay. It is still a very enjoyable read but I think I possibly went into this one will too high expectations because of how much I loved Kiss Slay Replay. I really liked the premise of Cackle. Considering this is a horror book, it felt really fun and light-hearted throughout the whole thing. I definitely feel like this would fall into the ‘cosy horror’ category and I did really enjoy how funny and light it felt. It would definitely be a good intro to Horror read.

Now what I wasn’t crazy about… I don’t know if it was intentional or not but I really couldn’t get away with Sophie as a character. I really did not feel the allure towards her that Annie definitely felt. Sophie is intense and creepy and I was just pulling faces every time she did something strange… which was ALL THE TIME! I remember messaging my friend who had already read this book saying: “Am I supposed to like Sophie? Because I really don’t!” I feel like this really affected my connection to the characters, because every time Annie was going on about how wonderful she was, I was rolling my eyes and getting frustrated. I ended up feeling so sorry for the villagers who were trying to help Annie, and when she just dismissed them I remember sitting there going: ‘Oh Annie, you idiot!’. This really did affect my enjoyment of this book because 90% of it I was just face-palming and hoping Annie would just get a bit of sense knocked into her.

Cackle was a fun premise, and I would definitely recommend it for people just wanting to dip their toe into Horror a bit more. It’s definitely a good intro to the genre. I can definitely see how much better Rachel Harrison has become in her storytelling as I thought her more recent release was far superior. I am still going to be working my way through Rachel Harrison’s backlist, but this one is not one that I would re-read personally. I’m glad I finally gave it a go but it was a little bit lackluster for me.