This Is Not an Exorcism by Ivy Fang is a darkly funny, visceral debut about a Chinese American con woman posing as an exorcist, until one job becomes terrifyingly real.

Laurel Meng calls herself an exorcist, but she’s never performed a real exorcism. All she needs to secure her paychecks—spread ever thinner in the face of her mother’s mounting medical bills—is her white clients’ overactive imaginations and boundless ignorance.

So when Annie Shaye-Matsuda calls, convinced her late son Taika’s restless spirit is haunting her quaint bed and breakfast, Laurel is relieved to have found a new mark. But when voices in the walls warn her to leave, she begins to suspect something far worse than Taika lingers in the bones of Poppy Creek Bed and Breakfast. And that something is intent on trapping her there.

Confronted with the real deal—crawling specters made of dirt, doors that lead nowhere, blood running through the plumbing—Laurel can’t fake her way out of this one. She must ally with a ghost to perform a real exorcism if she hopes to uncover the truth and escape with her money in hand. But secrets are buried amidst the flowerbeds of Poppy Creek, and if Laurel’s not careful, she’ll end up just like them.

For fans of Yellowface, Pet Sematary, and The Eyes are the Best Part, This Is Not an Exorcism is a novel about love, loss, and the horror that grows from them.