Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison - dark and atmospheric cult horror / Books Teacup and Reviews

Black Sheep is haunting, dark, and atmospheric cult horror with a powerful exploration of rebellion, identity, and the cost of blind faith.

Black Sheep

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

Publication Date : September 19, 2023

Publisher : Berkley

Read Date : October 3, 2025

Genre : Horror

Pages : 304

Source : Many thanks to Publisher for eARC via NetGalley.

Synopsis

A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.

Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly…something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.

Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.

When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.

Review

Black Sheep is an atmospheric and gripping cult horror that follows the story of 23-year-old Vesper, raised in the Hell’s Gate Satanic cult in Virgil, New Jersey. She escaped the community at 18 and now works as a waitress, determined never to look back.

Hell’s Gate had one unbreakable rule: once you’re out, you’re out. No returns, not even for weddings or funerals. So when Vesper receives an invitation to her ex-boyfriend’s wedding with her best friend and cousin Rosie, she’s shocked.

Against her better judgment, she goes back… and what she finds is far darker than she could ever imagine. A world-shattering secret about her family and herself turns everything she believed upside down.

The writing is smooth, immersive, and pulls you deep into Vesper’s world. The first half builds tension beautifully, while the second half explodes with revelations. The plot is dark, atmospheric, and twisty, layered with themes of complex dysfunctional family, secrets, betrayal, belongingness, belief, deception, self-identity, and nature vs. nurture. The characters are as complex and layered as the story itself.

Vesper is a sharp-tongued cynic — blunt to the point of being unlikeable — but she’s hardworking and fiercely independent. Her past clings to her, though; she’s never truly escaped the shadow of the cult or her fractured family.

Raised in community that treated her like princess, by a mother who was a famous scream queen but cold as ice, and a father who vanished when she was young, Vesper’s struggle with belonging and identity runs deep.

Her mother, Constance, is one of the most difficult characters to understand — cruel, indifferent, and emotionally barren. Yet by the end, I could at least see why she became that way. The only warmth in Vesper’s childhood came from her father and aunt, and even that comfort unravels when she returns for the wedding. Everything she thought she knew about them and herself collapses.

When Vesper leaves Hell’s Gate for the second time, her choices are selfish. The horrifying fallout that follows is both shocking and symbolic of her transformation. I admired her for rejecting her parents’ twisted faith, refusing to conform, and clawing her way out of the literal and figurative hell of her upbringing.

The first twist I saw coming a few chapters ahead, but the second twist hit like a truck. The intensity leading up to that reveal was suffocating, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. What her family and community did was horrifying. It was a brutal portrait of blind faith and moral decay.

I loved how Vesper finally seized control of her life, defied everything she was told to be, and embraced her true identity that was different from her parent and community. The ending was wild, chilling, and deeply satisfying.

Overall, Black Sheep is haunting, dark, and atmospheric cult horror with a powerful exploration of rebellion, identity, and the cost of blind faith.