Book Review | Reprieve by James Han Mattson

In 1997, four contestants take part in a full-contact escape room in the Quigley House. The premise is simple: go through six terrifying challenges, collect all the envelopes, and win a huge cash prize. The downside is the house is infamous for physically and mentally tormenting its participants, with only one group winning so far. But Bryan, Jaidee, Victor, and Jane are willing to put their bodies and minds on the line to win. Yet something shocking happens during the game, leading to a courtroom trial and a reckoning for them all.

…but something had happened, and he couldn’t take it back, and moments like those, moments where behaviors effectively erased purported values, were forever defining, he knew, and there was nothing he could say or do now to make it go away.

Reprieve is a gripping social horror that explores fear, racism, fetishism, complicity, and capitalism in 90s America. Quigley House, the haunted house/escape room attraction that pulls horror fans from across the states, is the center of everything. The book opens with the courtroom transcript of a witness to an incident in one of the rooms, where something had gone wrong. Aside from the transcript, there are scenes during the competition and flashbacks from before.

The characters are varied and vastly interesting. Kendra is a horror-obsessed teenage girl who decides to get a job at the house. Jaidee is a gay university student from Thailand who moves to the US for a distant dream. Leonard is the lonely manager of a hotel connected to Quigley House. There is also Kendra’s athletic cousin, Bryan, and the mysterious owner of Quigley House, John Forrester.

The escape room scenes are creative and gory, pure adrenaline rush! Scary monsters with weapons are allowed to touch the contestants, hunting them in blood-drenched rooms with horrific images. I thought these scenes are well-described, bringing a jolt of adrenaline every time they appear. But true horror lies in the characters’ behaviour, such as internalized racism, misogyny, and manipulation. There’s the nightmare of a homophobic, racist society, and self-imposed oppression that arose from being an outsider in an unwelcoming world. There’s greed, obsession, and desire, all mingling to create a whirlwind of conflicts. I thought the juxtaposition between the thoughtful character study and hectic, violent challenges was entertaining to read.

The intricate storyline takes some time to show its hand but when it does, it’s a bombshell. Could the themes be more subtle? Perhaps, because there were certain conversations that felt too on the nose. But I understand why the characters make the choices that they do. Yet as the book shows, every action has consequences, a ripple effect that reaches out in ways they never expected. The question is, can they live with it?

Reprieve is an unnerving exploration of what it means to yearn for something at the expense of yourself. Highly recommended.

CW: racial slurs, homophobia, sexism, physical violence

About the author: James Han Mattson

Cover photo by Andy Li