Nobody Panic! immediately won me over with the 1980s suburbia nostalgia. Add the Satanic Panic, missing women, and the crazy PTA politics and you have a perfect hit.

Janet Morgan joins the PTA in Somerville mid-summer and she starts noticing that local women are disappearing, while their husbands seem strangely unconcerned. When Janet’s best friend vanishes too, she dives into her true crime knowledge and starts asking around.

With the help of two other misfit moms and a coroner’s apprentice, Janet begins investigating. What starts as a mystery involving missing women quickly expands into something much darker, that may put the entire town at risk.

I loved the setup here. Janet is exactly the kind of amateur investigator I enjoy following because she is curious, and underestimated, but not so weak that its hard to root for her.

There is a great mix of humor, horror, and small-town suspicion. Nobody Panic! is weird, funny, and very entertaining. It has missing Stepford wives, terrible husbands, and PTA drama. That is a pretty great combination.

Publication date: April 20, 2027

#NobodyPanic #CJVick #SourcebooksLandmark #NetGalley

I am so thrilled that I was able to read an early version of Nobody Panic! I absolutely LOVED the reverse Stepford Wives feel. I couldn't put it down and stayed up WAY past my bedtime to finish. Its a perfect blend of camp, horror, and heart, and I've already recommended it to several friends. Also-- the cover is incredible, and it perfectly encapsulates the creeping suburban dread X eldritch nightmare X 80's nostalgia that is this book.
I can't wait to see what this author writes next!

A horror masterpiece, Nobody panic will have you on the edge of your seat. It’s perfect read for the upcoming fall and Halloween season. I couldn’t put it down

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and C.J. Vick for the advance copy of Nobody Panic!, in exchange for an honest review prior to its release on April 20, 2027.

The year is 1986, the country is in the midst of the Satanic panic, and women in the town of Somerville are disappearing. A group of PTA members are determined to find why it is happening, and who is responsible. What they discover is beyond what any of them expected, but they are determined to put an end to it.

Readers, like me, who appreciate books with strong female characters, with even stronger friendships, will love this book as much as I do. The pacing of the plot is balanced, and the theme is accurate for 1986. I grew up during this era and Vick’s description of the societal expectations of women during this time is spot-on. The chapter titles made me nostalgic, and if there isn’t already a Nobody Panic! playlist, there should be!

Nobody Panic! follows Janet, a housewife in a small Midwestern town in the 1980s, as she attempts to solve a string of murders and disappearances involving several women from her PTA circle. With its supernatural elements, small-town setting, and deep roots in ‘80s pop culture, the novel immediately reminded me of Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. Both feature ordinary housewives stepping up to confront forces far beyond the scope of their everyday lives, while using their stories to explore the expectations placed upon women to constantly fix the problems of their families and larger community.

If you’re a fan of 80s’ nostalgia, this book certainly delivers. The chapters are each named after thematically relevant, iconic songs from the decade, which had me humming along to the lyrics as I read, and the novel is filled with enough cultural references to make its time period and setting feel very authentic.

Despite this strong sense of time and place, I found Nobody Panic! to be driven much more by its characters and their relationships than its world building. Janet, Maggie, and the other women in the novel feel genuinely multidimensional, with their relationships containing both affection and conflict. I also found it interesting to see how the women used the limited positions of power afforded to them (such as the PTA) to exert influence over those around them.

Throughout the novel, I found myself questioning whether the real villain was a supernatural entity, or simply the ordinary men who so readily dismissed their wives’ concerns. The story’s exploration of generational patterns adds another layer to this idea, particularly in the way Janet’s sons begin to mirror some of their father’s behavior towards her.

Overall, I really enjoyed Nobody Panic! and would definitely recommend it, particularly to readers who enjoy Grady Hendrix, supernatural horror combined with social commentary, or stories centered around women navigating the expectations placed upon them. Fans of ‘80s nostalgia and Satanic Panic-era horror will also find plenty to enjoy here. It’s a book I could easily see myself rereading.

Nobody Panic! is a fun, nostalgic horror romp through the 1980s of PTA meetings, Jane Fonda workouts, satanic panic, and casual misogyny, with chapter titles like Sunday Bloody Sunday, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, and Hungry Like the Wolf.

Main character and neighborhood outcast Janet joins the PTA with her friend Maggie to try to fit in better and chaos ensues. PTA members are disappearing and turning up dead. Weird scratch marks are showing up outside Janet's home and under her children's window. There are strange moths everywhere. And of course, her husband Hank is completely useless with his long hours and increasing frequent poker nights with the boys. Thankfully, Janet teams up with fellow weirdos Linda and Gail to try and figure out what's going on in Somerville and how to stop it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

An advanced review of Nobody Panic! (Deluxe Edition) by C.J. Vick—a highly anticipated debut horror novel scheduled to hit shelves from Sourcebooks Landmark on Tuesday, April 20, 2027.


Nobody Panic! is an exceptionally fun, deviously clever, and bloody debut that marks C.J. Vick as a thrilling new voice in contemporary transgressive horror. It perfectly utilizes retro horror tropes to dissect real-world societal pressures, making it a mandatory upcoming release for fans of satirical horror and domestic thrillers.

Nobody Panic! was such a fun, creepy read. The 1980s setting, Satanic Panic, disappearing women, and a group of PTA moms trying to figure out what the hell is happening made for the perfect mix of horror, mystery, and dark humor.
I loved the retro atmosphere and all the little ’80s details, but the women were easily my favorite part. There’s something incredibly satisfying about a group of women who are constantly underestimated deciding they’re done being dismissed and taking matters into their own hands. The friendships, messy relationships, supernatural elements, and suburban chaos kept me hooked. It gave me major The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires vibes while still feeling like its own story. Creepy, campy, nostalgic, and just unhinged enough to make it ridiculously entertaining.
Definitely a perfect fall/Halloween read. I flew through it and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes horror with strong female characters, small-town secrets, and a healthy dose of “maybe we should actually listen to the women.” 👀