Gorgeous Gruesome Faces

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is a thrilling, creepy, K-pop infused novel about friendship, identity, and the mysterious and haunting forces that follow members of a popular band after tapping into supernatural powers. Sunny, the protagonist, is desperate for answers after the chilling death of her bandmate, Mina, and she knows that Candie, the third of the trio, can provide that information. Through “then” and “now” timelines, the reader learns that Candie is a descendent of a powerful and beautiful goddess and is able to compel people to follow whatever direction she provides. While this power comes in handy (saving the band after a stalker infiltrates their space, for example), the dark side of accessing the goddess is apparent as the storyline progresses. Sunny attempts to reconnect with Candie through a K-pop superstar talent contest, and the depth of the darkness begins to come to light.

The alternating timeline—which is clearly labelled at the beginning of each chapter—builds the characters of Sunny, Candie, and Mina, the trio who made up the band Sweet Cadence after starring in a hugely popular television series together. Mina is endlessly patient and kind and acts as the mediator of the group whose untimely death shatters any prospect of a continuing friendship between Sunny and Candie. Candie is the most popular member of the band, with a large social media presence, but her backstory is clouded and turns out to be laced with magic and loneliness. Sunny is the youngest member of the crew and desperate to be taken seriously by the public, a task that is made more difficult by her mother’s desire to make sure Sunny is famous. After Mina dies in a way that Sunny is sure is connected to Candie’s powers, Sunny wants answers, but Candie wants nothing to do with Sunny.

All three characters are interesting, their backstories play into their decision making, and the characterizations help fuel the mystery and horror that is unleashed into the world after Candie opens up about her family history. The reader is in a position to question Candie’s intentions and innocence while witnessing more and more tragedy unfold in the talent contest. The competitive nature of the K-pop world makes it hard to distinguish whether the repeating instances of competitors being injured and removed from the program are strategic or dark magic until Sunny gets wrapped up in trying to track down the source of the mishaps and ends up once again entwined in the power of the goddess.

The horror aspect of Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is more “uncanny valley” in nature—as the faces of the girls in the K-pop camp affected by the goddess begin to shift to something reminiscent of human, but not quite right—with a dash of gore than a novel that intentionally tries to make you nauseous or upset. It is creepy enough to grab a moderate thriller reader but also accessible for a young adult reader who maybe wants to try branching out into this genre. Any knowledge of K-pop is not a prerequisite—I started the novel with a very basic understanding of K-pop, and did not feel like I was missing any key pieces of information as I read. The end of the novel creates a setup for the continuation of the storyline without feeling forced, and I think many readers will be eager to see how Sunny and Candie face the world in future novels. Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is a fast-paced read with a good amount of creepy and thrill.