Hedgehog Book Review

by Catalina Bonati

2/5 stars ★★☆☆☆

Hedgehog by Maggie Koons (to be published March 2027) is a horror novel that revolves around two young women: Riley Kilkenny and Irina Lebedev. Riley is a well-off writer of daily news briefs for influencers, and who is struggling to come to terms with the breakup of her girlfriend Markie, which happened almost a year ago. She finds a new coping method consisting of the killing and torture of animals, which she begins to upload to the internet. Irina is the daughter of a mother in prison and an alcoholic father, who spends her time gaming and working in a struggling gym. She meets Amy, a gory camgirl, and finds herself beginning to spiral.

The core theme of this novel is finding oneself but getting incredibly lost in the process. Both Riley and Irina are unlikeable, and Riley specifically is unbearable to read about. The animal cruelty is completely gratuitous, and although for some reason it is necessary to her to explore her boundaries, most of these torture scenes do not have a direct motive and are only there for the disturbing and shocking effect and not for any plot-building reasons. Animal cruelty is triggering and sadistic, and its incorporation as a character study is disappointing to read. Irina is a bit different, a bit more naïve and childish, yet by the end of the story she has become both a victim of circumstance and a perpetrator of bad behavior and general unpleasantness. Although both of these main characters, as well as their friends, have backstory and trauma that they deal with, they come across as flat and distant. No one has any clear motives to do the despicable things that they do, and they never change, grow, or acquire any new perspectives throughout the story, making them dull to read about.

Both Riley and Irina contend with increasing alcoholism and substance abuse—yet, they do not truly grapple with it or with the reasons behind their growing addictions and neither do their friends, making this only a detail and not a compelling plot device. The ending of this story is very underwhelming as well—nothing has been considered, nothing has been solved, no personal growth has been achieved. Amy uploads her videos as a camgirl to a site called GoreTube, and Riley begins to upload her animal killing videos as well. This becomes detrimental to their lives and is a direct causation of the breaking of important relationships. The internet is forever, as Amy tells Irina, and the eventual dropping of the ball is the real push that the story is geared towards.

Overall, this book is disturbing only because of shock value and not because of any depth in themes or real darkness. Characters are shallow and there is no real plot. The perils of the internet might be considered to be the only implied discussion. This book is not really recommended, but maybe readers of LGBTQIA+ horror might find some value in this sapphic novel.