We Are All Completely Fine is a novella by Daryl Gregory.
Finished on: 25.12.2024

Plot:
In a group therapy for people who are convinced that they experienced something supernatural, yet have grown certain at the same time that they must have imagined the supernatural part, five very different people come together under the guidance of therapist Jan Sayer. In these sessions, they make some disconcerting discoveries though. 

We Are All Completely Fine was an exhilarating, often genuinely scary read with interesting ideas and characters. I definitely wouldn’t have minded to get more of it (an entire novel, maybe), but what I got had my eyes glued to the book and my heart beating fast.

Many years ago, I read Gregory’s first novel Pandemonium, and I was floored by it. I remember nothing of it anymore, except the feeling that I really want to read more of what he as written (another of his novels sits on my shelf). Somehow I never got around to it, but We Are All Completely Fine gave me that same feeling all over again.

The novella is populated with vivid characters, and the therapy setting – which often makes me cringe in books, especially because I’m a therapist myself – worked really well for me. In particular because it gave us the chance to learn about the backstories oft he characters in a rather organic way.

And what backstories they are! Gregory gives us inventive villains (the scrimshander will stay with me for a while yet) that have enough creep factor for quite a few horror movies and ties it all together in equally inventive ways. In fact, most of the backstories could have probably been developed into their own novella or even novel, which might be why I would have liked to read more about all of the characters (from what I gather, Gregory did write a prequel for one of the protagonists here, Harrison).

Amid all the creepiness and the horror, Gregory still finds some space for a sense of humor and for honest connections between the characters that make them feel so much more vivid and vibrant. It made the book that much more addictive – because I honestly cared about what happened to these characters. And that is the best thing that can happen with a book.

Summarizing: really good.