Tatiana Schlote-Bonne’s sophomore novel The Mean Ones (Creature Publishing) sounds relatively straightforward from the summary: a young girl survives a ritual sacrifice in the woods at summer camp, from which she suffers intense PTSD, and upon finding herself in the woods as an adult she’s faced with familiar horrors. In reading the book, though, the experience proves not quite so simple.
Schlote-Bonne puts the reader inside narrator Sadie’s mind, opening with the line, “The dead raven on the doorstep is not a good sign.” When her boyfriend steps outside, our narrator is relieved, “Oh good. He sees the dead raven, too.” Throughout the book, we watch Sadie’s post-traumatic hallucinations of an “Other Place” in which things are backward, bleeding and otherwise wrong. We experience her wrestling with decision-making as she tries to figure out how a “normal” person would act in her position.
Her triggers are unpredictable and constant, so it makes sense that, more than anything, Sadie prioritizes calm and predictability. Sadie likes having a boyfriend who makes decisions for her because it cuts down on her potential stressors. While he isn’t the kindest man in the world, we understand what attracts Sadie to him. He loves her and, with him, Sadie has basically achieved everything she wants in life: friends, partner, routine and strength.
It’s worth noting how normal Sadie was as a child, before she came in contact with monsters. I expect that most readers will identify with the 12-year-old who felt outcast among her friend group. I was surprised to find that the cultural references within the 2006 timeline were incredibly grounding. The language the young girls use and references to MySpace and The Simple Life could have been out of place in another novel, but here Schlote-Bonne uses them to world-build for an audience who was there.
As a reader who is always trying to find out how a book “works,” The Mean Ones is a decadent treat. Schlote-Bonne layers homage and detailed descriptions on top of complicated interpersonal dynamics, and everything is filtered through a narrator who doesn’t trust herself. A weaving of dual-timelines effectively raises tension and, though 2006 and 2023 Sadie speak differently, their narration mingles together in a way that realistically depicts a mind in crisis. Each of these elements being executed effectively speaks to Schlote-Bonne’s finesse as a writer.
The Mean Ones is not what I expect when I think of horror. It’s unsettling and interior. It’s interested in creating an immersive experience more than jumpscares or keeping me up at night (although I did stay up late to finish it). The only content warning I feel would be necessary is for gore, which permeates this book to such an extent as to be almost ambient. Otherwise the book is creepy, provides atmospheric discomfort and acts as a threat to people who don’t think their actions have consequences.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s October 2025 issue.
