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Such Nice People
As members of the Nash family make preparations for Christmas, Tom Nash, the seventeen-year-old son of Anne and Cole, plans the murder of his whole family, a nightmare he has been secretly living for months
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
1 person is currently reading
1127 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Scoppettone
54 books77 followersAlso wrote as Jack Early.
Sandra Scoppettone first emerged as one of the best hard-boiled mystery writers using the name Jack Early for her first three novels that included A Creative Kind of Killer (1984) that won the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America for best first novel. She had started writing seriously since the age of 18 when she moved to New York from South Orange, New Jersey. Scoppettone in the 1960s collaborated with Louise Fitzhuh and in the 1970s wrote important young adult novels. The Late Great Me depicting teenage alcoholism won an Emmy Award in 1976. Her real name was revealed in the 1990s with the start of a series featuring PI Lauren Laurano. Scoppettone shares her life with writer Linda Crawford.
Sandra Scoppettone first emerged as one of the best hard-boiled mystery writers using the name Jack Early for her first three novels that included A Creative Kind of Killer (1984) that won the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America for best first novel. She had started writing seriously since the age of 18 when she moved to New York from South Orange, New Jersey. Scoppettone in the 1960s collaborated with Louise Fitzhuh and in the 1970s wrote important young adult novels. The Late Great Me depicting teenage alcoholism won an Emmy Award in 1976. Her real name was revealed in the 1990s with the start of a series featuring PI Lauren Laurano. Scoppettone shares her life with writer Linda Crawford.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
November 17, 2016
Ordinary People...now with added mass murder! Christmas is the holiest day of the year for WASPS and as it approaches everyone in the Nash family is worried about their diets, their careers, their sex lives, and their affairs except for young Tom who's worried that his deity, SOLA, will be unhappy if he doesn't shoot everyone in his family in the face. So many woolly sweaters, so many scenes of a kid shoving a toilet plunger up his butt while he weeps before his God, so many people shot in cold blood.
March 22, 2018
The Nashes are your typical modern WASPS circa 1979: they live in a nice house in an upper-middle class suburb and they have the white fence and likable kids. Cole Nash is a successful insurance adjuster; Anne Nash is a homemaker. Their eldest, Kit, is away at school and their other children are marching onward toward a moderate, unremarkable, comfortable living: just like their parents’. On the surface everything is pristine, perfect.
But their oldest son, Tom, has been losing his mind . . .
Such Nice People checked off all my boxes. As I’ve said many times, my favorite brand of horror is that which sneaks up on me: I don’t like blood and guts from the first page. I don’t like to be bashed over the head with how unlikable the characters I’ve reading about are. That bores me. If the author can make me sympathize with and understand the story’s players, I’ll have a much better time—and the scares will affect me much more. And Sandra Scoppettone does just that. This novel is the very definition of slow horror; in fact, it’s very much a character drama up until the last fifty pages or so. She takes her time developing each member of the family — as well as their various friends and lovers — and the end result is something of an underrated masterpiece. The concerns of the Nash family are normal, grounded in reality: sex, diets, pot, friendships, careers. Scoppettone has created the prototypical pre-Reagan middle class family and uses it to her own means.
I did not expect to be so deeply impressed with this little out-of-print title; it was cold water in my face. The climax is among the scariest I’ve read in some time — it is guaranteed to stay with the reader. And the journey leading up to it yields its own rewards. Highly recommended.
But their oldest son, Tom, has been losing his mind . . .
Such Nice People checked off all my boxes. As I’ve said many times, my favorite brand of horror is that which sneaks up on me: I don’t like blood and guts from the first page. I don’t like to be bashed over the head with how unlikable the characters I’ve reading about are. That bores me. If the author can make me sympathize with and understand the story’s players, I’ll have a much better time—and the scares will affect me much more. And Sandra Scoppettone does just that. This novel is the very definition of slow horror; in fact, it’s very much a character drama up until the last fifty pages or so. She takes her time developing each member of the family — as well as their various friends and lovers — and the end result is something of an underrated masterpiece. The concerns of the Nash family are normal, grounded in reality: sex, diets, pot, friendships, careers. Scoppettone has created the prototypical pre-Reagan middle class family and uses it to her own means.
I did not expect to be so deeply impressed with this little out-of-print title; it was cold water in my face. The climax is among the scariest I’ve read in some time — it is guaranteed to stay with the reader. And the journey leading up to it yields its own rewards. Highly recommended.
February 14, 2021
Tom Nash is a popular seventeen-year-old boy who comes from a middle-class family. Christmas is fast approaching and Tom is planning on killing his family.
This is a very character driven story and we learn a lot about each character as individuals and as part of the family dynamic. On the surface they are a very ordinary family but we learn that they each have their own secrets and personal demons that they are dealing with. There is a lot of social commentary here including themes of the traditional family unit and gender roles.
Towards the end of the book the tension is tightened with every page. The chapters are broken down by day and the countdown element was very effective. I loved that the author wasn't afraid to go to some wild and WTF places. Dark and disturbing, Such Nice People is well worth tracking down.
This is a very character driven story and we learn a lot about each character as individuals and as part of the family dynamic. On the surface they are a very ordinary family but we learn that they each have their own secrets and personal demons that they are dealing with. There is a lot of social commentary here including themes of the traditional family unit and gender roles.
Towards the end of the book the tension is tightened with every page. The chapters are broken down by day and the countdown element was very effective. I loved that the author wasn't afraid to go to some wild and WTF places. Dark and disturbing, Such Nice People is well worth tracking down.
April 17, 2018
Damn! I think I’ll have nightmares about this book...
January 6, 2023
Well this was traumatizing!
November 30, 2021
5 STARS! Since I finished reading this, I honestly haven't been able to stop thinking about the ending. And although it was somewhat of a slow burn, I never felt bored or restless with the story. However, a good friend of mine struggled through the beginning. It was almost too slow for her tastes. For me, the character examination and simple family drama that takes place in the book was enough to keep me engaged until the story really picked up and got crazy. In my opinion, there is great character development throughout the entire book. And the last 70 pages is when things really start to pick up! I really was on the edge of my seat by that point and even gasped at times while reading. There is a lot of hype around this one, and, for me personally, it did not disappoint.
December 9, 2022
Tom is the all-American golden-haired blue-eyed boy, the class president, the captain of the baseball team, loved by everyone. But lately the 17-year-old has seemed to be a little off, as if he's been preoccupied with something. It turns out he's been contacted by a purple-haired alien god called SOLA, who has commanded Tom to kill his family on December 22nd. It is now December 18th.
The countdown begins, and we meet the Nash family: Cole the forty-something father, who is a closed-up bundle of problems, a sort of a Mr. Darcy in the Pennsylvania suburbs. Anne the mom is having an affair, while Kit the eldest is a sensible young woman who has already left home and is studying psychology at the university. Tom is the 17-year-old conduit of SOLA, among other things, followed up by Sara, who has an eating disorder, Steven, who at 12 just loves to toke it up every chance he gets, and Max the youngest, after which the parents stopped having sex. Ostensibly they are all very nice people, well-established, relatively successful in their endeavours... but underneath there's a bit of Patrick Bateman in each one.
Every member of the family as well as some of the adjoining characters get their turn in the spotlight, as layers are peeled off one by one. We get a peek behind the illusion of the perfect family and find out they are anything but. Tom might be the nuttiest of the bunch, but Cole the father isn't far behind, with long-running problems dealing with people including his own children. Anne the mother on the other hand is ready to throw his children under the bus to avoid getting into trouble with Cole. There were emotional and psychological problems in the family way before SOLA came on the scene, implying that mental illness might be hereditary. Even young Max blacks out at one point and does something for no reason.
This Christmas novel is a very slow burn, but Scoppettone paces it perfectly. I read the novel in two sittings, completely enthralled by the drama that was being unveiled. Tom's increasingly psychopathic plans about how he will go about it and where he will acquire guns are sprinkled throughout, constantly increasing the tension that is pretty tightly wound from the beginning. It's also refreshing that none of the characters, despite their other failings, are idiots. Anne, Sara and even stoned Steven (in a rare misstep, his drug habit seems a little over the top for a 12-year-old) figure out pretty soon that there is something strange about how their son and brother has been acting lately. Tom's girlfriend Jennifer also realizes something is seriously off and plans to break up with him. Neither is Tom able to hide his enthusiasm for his upcoming transformation into the Grandduke of SOLA (for some reason, he is planning to spare his elder sister Kit, who in the new world order will become the Grandduchess), he's spilling the beans well in advance. But any attempts to intervene are too little and too late, sometimes because the family keeps their secrets. And even without Tom's SOLA-induced massacre the family unit would be irreparably dismantled, with Cole the father scheming to disappear entirely and Anne planning to divorce him for another man. All of the other big changes are, however, scheduled for after December 22nd.
There's relatively little actual violence in the story until the main event, but it's felt on every goddamn page. The Nash household is a powder keg and the fuse is lit. There's a sarcastic viciousness in the way Scoppettone dissects each family member, clinically, impassionately, with precision, touching just the right nerves that will hurt the most. The contrast between Tom's otherworldly visions and the mundane family drama strikes just the right chord. And the novel is very nasty at times, a true paperback from hell. There is a fantastically demented scene depicted from two angles involving a shed and a plunger that will be permanently etched in the reader's memory. But none of this nastiness takes anything away from the quality of the writing. This is a very well crafted book, with detailed characters and a nicely constructed structure. It's sad that the book has been out of print since its paperback edition. Such Nice People is a masterful novel and well worth its reputation — but maybe not the skyrocketing secondhand price.
Read all my reviews at mikareadshorrorfiction.wordpress.com
The countdown begins, and we meet the Nash family: Cole the forty-something father, who is a closed-up bundle of problems, a sort of a Mr. Darcy in the Pennsylvania suburbs. Anne the mom is having an affair, while Kit the eldest is a sensible young woman who has already left home and is studying psychology at the university. Tom is the 17-year-old conduit of SOLA, among other things, followed up by Sara, who has an eating disorder, Steven, who at 12 just loves to toke it up every chance he gets, and Max the youngest, after which the parents stopped having sex. Ostensibly they are all very nice people, well-established, relatively successful in their endeavours... but underneath there's a bit of Patrick Bateman in each one.
Every member of the family as well as some of the adjoining characters get their turn in the spotlight, as layers are peeled off one by one. We get a peek behind the illusion of the perfect family and find out they are anything but. Tom might be the nuttiest of the bunch, but Cole the father isn't far behind, with long-running problems dealing with people including his own children. Anne the mother on the other hand is ready to throw his children under the bus to avoid getting into trouble with Cole. There were emotional and psychological problems in the family way before SOLA came on the scene, implying that mental illness might be hereditary. Even young Max blacks out at one point and does something for no reason.
This Christmas novel is a very slow burn, but Scoppettone paces it perfectly. I read the novel in two sittings, completely enthralled by the drama that was being unveiled. Tom's increasingly psychopathic plans about how he will go about it and where he will acquire guns are sprinkled throughout, constantly increasing the tension that is pretty tightly wound from the beginning. It's also refreshing that none of the characters, despite their other failings, are idiots. Anne, Sara and even stoned Steven (in a rare misstep, his drug habit seems a little over the top for a 12-year-old) figure out pretty soon that there is something strange about how their son and brother has been acting lately. Tom's girlfriend Jennifer also realizes something is seriously off and plans to break up with him. Neither is Tom able to hide his enthusiasm for his upcoming transformation into the Grandduke of SOLA (for some reason, he is planning to spare his elder sister Kit, who in the new world order will become the Grandduchess), he's spilling the beans well in advance. But any attempts to intervene are too little and too late, sometimes because the family keeps their secrets. And even without Tom's SOLA-induced massacre the family unit would be irreparably dismantled, with Cole the father scheming to disappear entirely and Anne planning to divorce him for another man. All of the other big changes are, however, scheduled for after December 22nd.
There's relatively little actual violence in the story until the main event, but it's felt on every goddamn page. The Nash household is a powder keg and the fuse is lit. There's a sarcastic viciousness in the way Scoppettone dissects each family member, clinically, impassionately, with precision, touching just the right nerves that will hurt the most. The contrast between Tom's otherworldly visions and the mundane family drama strikes just the right chord. And the novel is very nasty at times, a true paperback from hell. There is a fantastically demented scene depicted from two angles involving a shed and a plunger that will be permanently etched in the reader's memory. But none of this nastiness takes anything away from the quality of the writing. This is a very well crafted book, with detailed characters and a nicely constructed structure. It's sad that the book has been out of print since its paperback edition. Such Nice People is a masterful novel and well worth its reputation — but maybe not the skyrocketing secondhand price.
Read all my reviews at mikareadshorrorfiction.wordpress.com
August 21, 2023
What the hell
May 21, 2019
Exceptional dismantling of middle class life and the conventions of Romantic genre fiction. The "lending library"-friendly cover art really gives no real inkling of the horrors that lie within. Kirkus Review were not impressed: "unimaginative sick-a-thon that's ultimately just exploitational and more than a little loathsome." Undoubtedly Scoppettone has great fun allowing her characters to be slaughtered in such a curiously resigned fashion, but like any moralist, seems to be serving a higher purpose. Parts of this book may haunt you.
March 11, 2022
This is one of those books that's for people who like books like The Girl Next Door or Let's Go Play at the Adams', because whoa nelly, is it dark. The title comes from those soundbites you hear on the news after one of those quiet neighbors does something terrible. Here, though, it's not just one person who is "such nice people'; it's everyone.
It's not quite horror, but it's not quite a thriller, either. In fact, it's more a character-driven novel than anything else, until you come into the final stretch of the book. There's nothing supernatural here, but there are scenes that will stay with you long after you finish it.
2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book set during a holiday
It's not quite horror, but it's not quite a thriller, either. In fact, it's more a character-driven novel than anything else, until you come into the final stretch of the book. There's nothing supernatural here, but there are scenes that will stay with you long after you finish it.
2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book set during a holiday
May 29, 2020
A decently written, slow burn Christmas story that juggles a lot of characters well, this book tells the heartwarming holiday story of someone who sets out to kill his family because an invisible entity named SOLA tells him to. SOLA also convinces him to stick a plunger up his butt at one point, so there's that too.
June 6, 2009
Very disturbing and I don't think it's being published anymore.
March 12, 2020
3.5 rounded up for Goodreads
November 27, 2023
🇺🇸 Set in a Pennsylvania home during Christmas (Dec 18 - 22) in the 1980s
POV: The story unfolds through the perspectives of various family members and peripheral characters in third-person narrative. We get particular focus on a 23 year old graduate student, a 17 year old high school senior, a 14 year old high school freshman, a 12 year old growing up fast, and their two parents in their forties.
Mood Reading Match Up:
-Elements of family saga with the tension of a true crime family tragedy
-Literary fiction horror set against the backdrop of Christmas with a nostalgic feel
-Themes include multigenerational trauma, repressed emotions, destructive perfectionism, family dynamics, true love, personal growth, mental illness, consequence, and societal pressures.
—
🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
✏️ Writing: The writing felt exceptional to me, blending literary fiction with character studies. Scenes that could be mundane are made interesting through a strategic combination of showing and telling. This was written in the 1980s but it does not feel that way at all. It could easily be a modern publication set in the 1980s. The writing style, perspectives, and challenges are still relevant (somewhat sadly) even today.
🫥 Characters: Each character is well-developed, introduced in a natural way that allows the reader to gradually get to know them. The different perspectives are distinct and give us a comprehensive view of the unfolding drama.
🗺️ Worldbuilding: The setting is built naturally through the characters’ actions and experiences, creating an immersive environment without overwhelming the reader’s imagination (or getting bogged down in details).
🔥 Fuel: The suspense revolves around Tom’s mysterious internal conversations and the gradual escalation of events within the family. The narrative builds tension around whether Tom can overcome his struggles and the impending life-changing events for each family member wrestling with their own personal struggles and plans for after Christmas.
🐢🐇 Pacing: The story dives straight into Tom’s experiences, then maintains a steady pace that kept me hooked. If you want fast-paced action, slasher, pure evil type narratives this could feel slow, even boring for you. I loved it for the slow build psychological and suggestive elements gradually gaining speed as we head into the culmination of the past four days.
🎬 Scenes: The narrative includes mini-tragedies and symbolic elements, with relatable family dynamics. This family was reminiscent of the “Home Alone” family to me. Despite all their faults and failures, they felt familiar, even likeable at times. I think most of us either had family dynamics like this or knew someone who did growing up. The horrors are definitely descriptive, but to the point and didn’t feel gratuitous.
🤔 Random Thoughts: This story offers a deep and thought-provoking exploration of morally grey characters, each dealing with their own baggage. It’s a true-to-life narrative that highlights the impact of everyday decisions, particularly on children. I think certain scenes will resonate more than others for different readers, so it would be an excellent book club pick if everyone can stomach some of the more terrifying scenes at the end.
—
“Such Nice People” is an intense and psychologically deep novel that effectively portrays the complexities of family dynamics and the ripple effects of personal actions.
Content Heads-Up: Mental illness (hallucinations, dissociation, psychosis). Body shaming. Fatphobia. Blood. Mass murder. Violence (gun, knife). Parental neglect (emotional). PTSD. Sexual violence/self harm. Infidelity. Loveless relationship. Alcoholism (recall). Sexual content. Attempted rape.
Rep: The story features a White American family, with gay, Jewish-American, and dark-skinned characters in peripheral roles.
Format: Digital scan via the Internet Archive. (Thank you Internet Archive! This book is almost impossible to find online for less than $70. I hope this gets re-printed or digitized for ebook readers🤞)
🥺 Possible fav of 2023
“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨”
POV: The story unfolds through the perspectives of various family members and peripheral characters in third-person narrative. We get particular focus on a 23 year old graduate student, a 17 year old high school senior, a 14 year old high school freshman, a 12 year old growing up fast, and their two parents in their forties.
Mood Reading Match Up:
-Elements of family saga with the tension of a true crime family tragedy
-Literary fiction horror set against the backdrop of Christmas with a nostalgic feel
-Themes include multigenerational trauma, repressed emotions, destructive perfectionism, family dynamics, true love, personal growth, mental illness, consequence, and societal pressures.
—
🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
✏️ Writing: The writing felt exceptional to me, blending literary fiction with character studies. Scenes that could be mundane are made interesting through a strategic combination of showing and telling. This was written in the 1980s but it does not feel that way at all. It could easily be a modern publication set in the 1980s. The writing style, perspectives, and challenges are still relevant (somewhat sadly) even today.
🫥 Characters: Each character is well-developed, introduced in a natural way that allows the reader to gradually get to know them. The different perspectives are distinct and give us a comprehensive view of the unfolding drama.
🗺️ Worldbuilding: The setting is built naturally through the characters’ actions and experiences, creating an immersive environment without overwhelming the reader’s imagination (or getting bogged down in details).
🔥 Fuel: The suspense revolves around Tom’s mysterious internal conversations and the gradual escalation of events within the family. The narrative builds tension around whether Tom can overcome his struggles and the impending life-changing events for each family member wrestling with their own personal struggles and plans for after Christmas.
🐢🐇 Pacing: The story dives straight into Tom’s experiences, then maintains a steady pace that kept me hooked. If you want fast-paced action, slasher, pure evil type narratives this could feel slow, even boring for you. I loved it for the slow build psychological and suggestive elements gradually gaining speed as we head into the culmination of the past four days.
🎬 Scenes: The narrative includes mini-tragedies and symbolic elements, with relatable family dynamics. This family was reminiscent of the “Home Alone” family to me. Despite all their faults and failures, they felt familiar, even likeable at times. I think most of us either had family dynamics like this or knew someone who did growing up. The horrors are definitely descriptive, but to the point and didn’t feel gratuitous.
🤔 Random Thoughts: This story offers a deep and thought-provoking exploration of morally grey characters, each dealing with their own baggage. It’s a true-to-life narrative that highlights the impact of everyday decisions, particularly on children. I think certain scenes will resonate more than others for different readers, so it would be an excellent book club pick if everyone can stomach some of the more terrifying scenes at the end.
—
“Such Nice People” is an intense and psychologically deep novel that effectively portrays the complexities of family dynamics and the ripple effects of personal actions.
Content Heads-Up: Mental illness (hallucinations, dissociation, psychosis). Body shaming. Fatphobia. Blood. Mass murder. Violence (gun, knife). Parental neglect (emotional). PTSD. Sexual violence/self harm. Infidelity. Loveless relationship. Alcoholism (recall). Sexual content. Attempted rape.
Rep: The story features a White American family, with gay, Jewish-American, and dark-skinned characters in peripheral roles.
Format: Digital scan via the Internet Archive. (Thank you Internet Archive! This book is almost impossible to find online for less than $70. I hope this gets re-printed or digitized for ebook readers🤞)
🥺 Possible fav of 2023
“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨”
December 20, 2023
This was mostly a win for me so I'll start with what I didn't like.
I didn't mind the slow pace, the story being told almost entirely through introspections, observations, and reminisces. What I minded was the snappy and repetitve prose. Despite being multi-perspective, everyone thinks in the same fragmented structure. The single-word sentences often just emphasize the previous statements. I wanted to take a red pen and cross out excess words like mad.
Another issue was the sudden and distracting headhops into other characters' perspectives. It's usually a really tight third-person bordering on first-person, but the headhops killed the immersion.
Otherwise, the dozen or so perspective characters are complex enough for how much time each gets and they feel like real, flawed people.
And their flaws have reasons. The wife is cheating on her emotionally-stunted ice sculpture of a husband, who, unbeknownst to her, fantasizes about disappearing on his family. The eldest girl is gorgeous but wants to prove her mental merits by getting a doctorate in something she doesn't care about. The youngest girl buries her emotions in overeating. The middle boy can't handle stress without weed. Incestuous yearnings, sex addictions, distrust, cheating, murderous and suicidal thoughts. They're messed up because real people are messed up.
And then there's the eldest boy, Tom, by all appearances the perfect son. Handsome, thoughtful, moral, smart. While everyone deals with thier own building problems and prepares for Christmas, they realize too late that perfect Tom is in the throes of a severe mental illness of the god-told-me-to variety, and plans to murder his family on December 22. The family first think his occasional escaped ramblings indicate a cult membership (logical, considering this came out right after the Jonestown massacre, when cults would have been a hot topic) but none of them realize how severe the problem is until it's too late. By the time you get to the third act, you might not like these characters, but you know them, and the slow crescendo builds up to tight tension as you find out who lives and who dies.
There's a scene in the book at the 200 mark that, without even reading any reviews, I'm going to guess is divisive. It's weird and nasty and you get it from multiple perspectives. Sexual in nature, it involves one minor and is seen by two. Several kids are also brutally killed in another scene, so if those are your red flags then stay clear.
3.5 rounded up
I didn't mind the slow pace, the story being told almost entirely through introspections, observations, and reminisces. What I minded was the snappy and repetitve prose. Despite being multi-perspective, everyone thinks in the same fragmented structure. The single-word sentences often just emphasize the previous statements. I wanted to take a red pen and cross out excess words like mad.
Another issue was the sudden and distracting headhops into other characters' perspectives. It's usually a really tight third-person bordering on first-person, but the headhops killed the immersion.
Otherwise, the dozen or so perspective characters are complex enough for how much time each gets and they feel like real, flawed people.
And their flaws have reasons. The wife is cheating on her emotionally-stunted ice sculpture of a husband, who, unbeknownst to her, fantasizes about disappearing on his family. The eldest girl is gorgeous but wants to prove her mental merits by getting a doctorate in something she doesn't care about. The youngest girl buries her emotions in overeating. The middle boy can't handle stress without weed. Incestuous yearnings, sex addictions, distrust, cheating, murderous and suicidal thoughts. They're messed up because real people are messed up.
And then there's the eldest boy, Tom, by all appearances the perfect son. Handsome, thoughtful, moral, smart. While everyone deals with thier own building problems and prepares for Christmas, they realize too late that perfect Tom is in the throes of a severe mental illness of the god-told-me-to variety, and plans to murder his family on December 22. The family first think his occasional escaped ramblings indicate a cult membership (logical, considering this came out right after the Jonestown massacre, when cults would have been a hot topic) but none of them realize how severe the problem is until it's too late. By the time you get to the third act, you might not like these characters, but you know them, and the slow crescendo builds up to tight tension as you find out who lives and who dies.
There's a scene in the book at the 200 mark that, without even reading any reviews, I'm going to guess is divisive. It's weird and nasty and you get it from multiple perspectives. Sexual in nature, it involves one minor and is seen by two. Several kids are also brutally killed in another scene, so if those are your red flags then stay clear.
3.5 rounded up
December 21, 2022
Such Nice People was originally published in paperback on July 12, 1981. Based on the premise of a son who is contemplating the murder of his entire family on Christmas. I simply had to pick up this book which is no longer in print. I purchased a copy off Ebay.
The book is incredibly dated and has a few problematic areas for contemporary readers.
1. Sister Sara is fat shamed by both her mother and her younger brother Steve. Honestly, it reminded me of some of the comments that I received in the 80s. Fat Cow. I'm with you Sara.
2. A teacher observing the son, Tom hypersexualizes him as "ramming the most beautiful girl" in the school. Seriously? Ramming? Yes it was 1981 but honestly I don't think teachers consider the sexual escapades of their students anymore today than they would've back then. The entire chapter was unnecessary.
3. Various characters are having affairs and dialogue exchanges constantly referenced "making love". It felt incredibly soap operatic. All we as readers needed was the voice of Scarlett O'Hara and a gasp of pleasure. (eyeroll)
Readers who want to pick this up for a December thriller read should know that there are only slight references to Christmas. Cutting the tree, meals, etc.
The best thing about this book was the author's ability to create that feeling of utter, impending doom. The book was incredibly character driven with the author shifting from every family member's POV so we get inside their heads. Meanwhile the author creeps readers out by experiencing what's going on in Tom's world. His perceptions of what is reality are completely off. It's a psychological mash up of fear. The book races to an intense conclusion with the reader wondering who will die.
This is a well written horror/slasher novel. It could be brought back into the realm of publishing with strong edits.
The book is incredibly dated and has a few problematic areas for contemporary readers.
1. Sister Sara is fat shamed by both her mother and her younger brother Steve. Honestly, it reminded me of some of the comments that I received in the 80s. Fat Cow. I'm with you Sara.
2. A teacher observing the son, Tom hypersexualizes him as "ramming the most beautiful girl" in the school. Seriously? Ramming? Yes it was 1981 but honestly I don't think teachers consider the sexual escapades of their students anymore today than they would've back then. The entire chapter was unnecessary.
3. Various characters are having affairs and dialogue exchanges constantly referenced "making love". It felt incredibly soap operatic. All we as readers needed was the voice of Scarlett O'Hara and a gasp of pleasure. (eyeroll)
Readers who want to pick this up for a December thriller read should know that there are only slight references to Christmas. Cutting the tree, meals, etc.
The best thing about this book was the author's ability to create that feeling of utter, impending doom. The book was incredibly character driven with the author shifting from every family member's POV so we get inside their heads. Meanwhile the author creeps readers out by experiencing what's going on in Tom's world. His perceptions of what is reality are completely off. It's a psychological mash up of fear. The book races to an intense conclusion with the reader wondering who will die.
This is a well written horror/slasher novel. It could be brought back into the realm of publishing with strong edits.
November 19, 2020
First off, shout off to Will Erickson of the Too Much Horror Fiction blog for plugging this on his "Top Reads" list of essential genre fiction. Erickson's blog has been a great discovery during this pandemic and even though I guess I am about three years too late to the pulp horror boom (at least judged by the skyrocketing prices on used booksites), I am super grateful that he has unearthed this classic.
The author, Scoppettone, appears to be a classic "working" author. She's written YA, one or two pulpy horror thrillers during the 80s boom, and a handful of mysteries. Based on this book, I'm interested to seek out some of her other stuff.
"Such Nice People" is an enjoyable work of slow-burn suspense, culminating in a genuinely horrifying climax. The basic building blocks of the story will be familiar--darkness lurking behind an idyllic suburban family façade. Scoppettone throws in enough dramatic material to fill three or four lifetime movies but the book never feels overburdened or ridiculous. Her depiction of Tom's mental breakdown and eventual violence is chilling and well-presented. Overall, I really recommend this somewhat obscure horror title. If you like Stephen King's Bachmann books, this will be right up your alley.
The author, Scoppettone, appears to be a classic "working" author. She's written YA, one or two pulpy horror thrillers during the 80s boom, and a handful of mysteries. Based on this book, I'm interested to seek out some of her other stuff.
"Such Nice People" is an enjoyable work of slow-burn suspense, culminating in a genuinely horrifying climax. The basic building blocks of the story will be familiar--darkness lurking behind an idyllic suburban family façade. Scoppettone throws in enough dramatic material to fill three or four lifetime movies but the book never feels overburdened or ridiculous. Her depiction of Tom's mental breakdown and eventual violence is chilling and well-presented. Overall, I really recommend this somewhat obscure horror title. If you like Stephen King's Bachmann books, this will be right up your alley.
August 7, 2023
@ page 145
One of the daughters in this book has the misfortune of being overweight and she does not exist for a single sentence without it being brought up and dragged out. It is annoying and offensive.
The "smart" daughter thinks sugar is evil and causing a lot of secret problems to the human body to the point she makes her boyfriend not eat it, which is eyebrow raising in the author's direction.
I didn't even hear the term WASP until like 2020, I'm shocked at it existing all the way back when this book was written. God, WASPs are unpleasant and boring people, huh?
Finished-
Man, okay seriously Sandra go fuck yourself about the Sara stuff. You're a rude ass piece of shit to make a character fat and have that, and how disgusting it is and how pathetic she is for it be the only traits she has in the book. You even trot it out again when you kill her. I liked the building on the characters who actually had dimension (Not Sara! Not Tom!) Why does all the stuff with Tom's girlfriend exist when the author forgets about her at the end? I thought that was part of Tom's thing. Also, he's not even gonna look for his brother he knows SOLA didn't permit to live? The shed scene was weird. The climax just sucked, I didn't think it was satisfying at all. I hate Kit and Noj.
One of the daughters in this book has the misfortune of being overweight and she does not exist for a single sentence without it being brought up and dragged out. It is annoying and offensive.
The "smart" daughter thinks sugar is evil and causing a lot of secret problems to the human body to the point she makes her boyfriend not eat it, which is eyebrow raising in the author's direction.
I didn't even hear the term WASP until like 2020, I'm shocked at it existing all the way back when this book was written. God, WASPs are unpleasant and boring people, huh?
Finished-
Man, okay seriously Sandra go fuck yourself about the Sara stuff. You're a rude ass piece of shit to make a character fat and have that, and how disgusting it is and how pathetic she is for it be the only traits she has in the book. You even trot it out again when you kill her. I liked the building on the characters who actually had dimension (Not Sara! Not Tom!) Why does all the stuff with Tom's girlfriend exist when the author forgets about her at the end? I thought that was part of Tom's thing. Also, he's not even gonna look for his brother he knows SOLA didn't permit to live? The shed scene was weird. The climax just sucked, I didn't think it was satisfying at all. I hate Kit and Noj.
October 16, 2020
First, I was on a mission to get my hands on this book. Since it’s out of print, the price range for it run anywhere from $40 up to hundreds. I was just resigning myself to having to shell out the cash when I found it in a digital library and I was able to check it out. Woo hoo!
This book is so excellently written. The character development is just phenomenal. Quite a few times while reading, I would have to take a break because of the overwhelming feeling of dread in my stomach, a permeating anxiety that I couldn’t shake.
Yes, that’s how good this book is. I actually wish it had continued on for several more hundred pages, or atleast the author had written a sequel. The ending didn’t bring me closure.
This book is so excellently written. The character development is just phenomenal. Quite a few times while reading, I would have to take a break because of the overwhelming feeling of dread in my stomach, a permeating anxiety that I couldn’t shake.
Yes, that’s how good this book is. I actually wish it had continued on for several more hundred pages, or atleast the author had written a sequel. The ending didn’t bring me closure.
March 2, 2024
Plunger. That's the word that comes to mind most prominently.
So I didn't love the style this was written in. The overuse of sentence fragments was distracting to me. But overall the cast of damaged characters and the dreadful trudging toward the inevitable kept me turning the pages. SOLA demanded it, I guess. If you want to read about a WASPy family who is about to quite literally implode, this is definitely for you.
So I didn't love the style this was written in. The overuse of sentence fragments was distracting to me. But overall the cast of damaged characters and the dreadful trudging toward the inevitable kept me turning the pages. SOLA demanded it, I guess. If you want to read about a WASPy family who is about to quite literally implode, this is definitely for you.
March 20, 2021
Wow. Great book from 1980! A slow burn leading to a nightmare ending. Not "scary" but disturbing in the sense that someone so close to you could be suffering such delusions without your even knowing until it's too late.
June 20, 2022
Perfect example of '80s horror/thriller. It was dark and bleak, but well put together. I was surprised that this author wrote one of my favorite books from when I was a young teenager, The Late Great Me...I still own my paperback copy.
December 26, 2022
If i hadn't stumbled upon Grady Hendrix's instagram post, I wouldn't have been able to read this underated piece of gem. I was so engrossed in each of the character's stories I almost forgot that this a horror genre and it's not going to end well for them.
September 26, 2025
Personally it’s was very Stephan King-y. Especially felt like Carrie. I felt like parts of it really dragged on and there was a bit too much tiptoeing around the plot. I had to skim the last 50 pages cause I just had to get it over with.
August 30, 2018
An uninteresting and unsatisfying book.
February 3, 2019
Read this as a teen and it left a lifelong impression on me. Terrifying, unsettling, disturbing.
December 7, 2022
An absolutely brutal holiday book about a family in crisis. It’s scary and nasty and full of tension.
December 22, 2022
Truly not how I thought the book would end, what a time
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