Listen to Your Sister: A Harrowing Family Horror

Listen to your Sister, by Neena Viel.

Psychological, “cabin in the woods” horror, with a generous helping of race relations.

Book review by Carmilla Voiez.

Released in February of this year, Listen to your Sister explores the strained family dynamic between Calla and her two younger brothers. Calla is the legal guardian of the youngest sibling, Jamie. Middle child, Dre, pressured her to accept this responsibility and promised they would share it, but when Calla needs Dre’s support, he’s always somewhere else.

Calla is only 25 and trying to build her career and enjoy her life, but Jamie’s antics make both goals unattainable. She’s stressed, tired and close to giving up. Even worse, she’s plagued with nightmares of her brothers dying, and neither sibling will take her fears seriously. They treat her as if she’s crazy while taking her strength and love for granted. By the start of this novel, the pressure is taking its toll.

Early reviews of the book are mixed, but for me, Listen to your Sister is an amazing debut novel. It deals with trauma, dysfunctional families, racism, misogyny noir and the powerful magic of love. Honestly, if I could write a story that moved people as much as Viel’s novel moved me, I would die happy.

The three siblings share narrative responsibility, which allows Neena Viel to explore different perspectives on the same events, and in this story, the internal landscape is as potent as the external.

The sister and her brothers had traumatic childhoods. Although they are very different from one another, they care deeply about each other, even when their combative interactions would make it easier to pull away – give up.

Horror permeates every page. What resembles psychological horror at first, bleeds into and shapes the reality of each sibling as personal demons take physical form. Whether or not it was Viel’s intention, the effect shines a light on inherited trauma.

The shifts between the overtly political hyper-real and dreamlike surreal begin subtly. What feels chilling and discomforting at first, builds to a chaotic crescendo – the stuff of nightmares. By the climax, I was terrified for Calla and what she might lose, but I couldn’t stop turning the pages. I needed to know the truth, however painful. I was trapped inside Calla’s skin, fearing the worst.

Listen to your Sister is not a casual or easy read. Instead, it grabs you by the throat and squeezes. It takes significant skill to write such a mind-bending story, dancing on a knife-edge between what’s real and what’s impossible, while ensuring the reader connects with the characters – cares deeply about them, needs them to be okay. Neena Viel has that skill. She left me breathless and envious, and I’m eager to find out what she writes next.

Listen to your Sister, by Neena Viel

A razor-sharp, breathlessly harrowing novel of siblings, the nightmares that haunt us, and the deep, powerful love that can tie a family together, perfect for fans of Grady Hendrix, Isabel Canas and T. Kingfisher.

Twenty-five-year-old Calla Williams is struggling since becoming guardian to her brother, Jamie. Calla is overwhelmed and tired of being the one who makes sacrifices to keep the family together. Jamie, full of good-natured sixteen-year-old recklessness, is usually off fighting for what matters to him or getting into mischief, often at the same time. Dre, their brother, promised he would help raise Jamie-but now the ink is dry on the paperwork and in classic middle-child fashion, he’s off doing his own thing. And through it all, The Nightmare never stops haunting Calla: recurring images of her brothers dying that she is powerless to stop.

When Jamie’s actions at a protest spiral out of control, the siblings must go on the run. Taking refuge in a remote cabin that looks like it belongs on a slasher movie poster rather than on an Airbnb listing, the siblings now face a new threat where their lives-and reality-hang in the balance. Their sister always warned them about her nightmares. They really should have listened.

Further Reading

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