SYNOPSIS
1998: Lily Lawlor and Drake Morgan form a punk band. Drake inspires faith in some. Fear in others. Lily is a believer.
2010: At the height of her stardom, Lily walks into a police station and confesses to a murder.
Now: The band has refused to talk to the press about their riotous past, Lily’s confession, or anything else. It’s been over a decade, but Lily has finally agreed to an interview. And the band is following her lead.
What follows is a story of prophecy, death, and apocalypse. A story about love found and love lost. A story about the antichrist. Maybe it’s all true. Maybe none if it is.
Either way, this is their story. And they’re sticking to it.
REVIEW
Thank you Orbit Books for sending me an ARC of My Ex, The Antichrist to read and review. All opinions are honest and my own.
My Ex, The Antichrist really hit home for me. In my early 20’s I was in a little punk rock band that made some waves in the local scene. Life got in the way and that has since ended. Reading this book brought back tons of memories and I can’t thank Craig DiLouie enough. Not only was this a kick-ass book, it also reminded me of some of the best years of my life.
DiLouie really nails the band dynamics and what it feels like to play and write music. He puts you directly in the room with this band and you feel like you’re watching history unfold. Which is even more incredible considering this book is told entirely in interviews.
This style really elevates the story for me. DiLouie captures the voices of the band members beautifully, using only dialogue to establish who they are. The voices are so distinct and true to who the characters are that at a certain point, I didn’t even need to look at the names to know who was talking.
While the characters and music steal the show, there is plenty of horror to go around. The shows with the titular Ex are visceral and terrifying as described by The Shivers and concert goers/Craig DiLouie. The further into this book you get the more the horror and gore amps up and it is wild, fun and horrifying.
The biggest credit I can give this book is that almost right away it felt real. This may be an odd comparison but it made me think of the Andy Samberg/The Lonely Island movie Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. Like that movie, My Ex, The Antichrist presents its fictional musicians like they’re real and in our world, making you believe it. I am now nostalgic for a band that never existed. And then something horrific would happen and remind me I’m reading a novel but it never took me out.
Of the three Craig DiLouie novels I’ve read, this is definitely my favorite. Like a great pop-punk song, I can’t get it out of my head and while I’m glad the events of this novel never happened, I wish The Shivers did.
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