“The title just kind of popped into my head one day,’’ said Grady Hendrix of his new book, “My Best Friend’s Exorcism,’’ which he describes as “sort of like ‘Beaches’ meets ‘The Exorcist.’ ’’

Set in the 1980s, the novel centers on two high school girls who become convinced, in tune with one of the era’s most prevalent fears, that one of them is possessed by Satan and needs an exorcism. “They sort of try it on their own, which doesn’t go well,’’ Hendrix said.

“The exorcism stuff was actually pretty easy to research,’’ said Hendrix, who once worked as a reporter. “The much harder part to research was the ’80s part.’’ In an earlier draft, which Hendrix said his wife warned was a failure, he added, “I had sort of ripped off other people’s imaginations. The idea of the ’80s and the idea of high school are such well-worn tropes now: the big hair, the Day-Glo colors, the mean girls, the jocks. I was basically writing a John Hughes movie.’’

Sitting down with his and his wife’s diaries and letters from their own teen years in the ’80s helped. “It all sort of started falling into place,’’ he said. “It’s just such a difference to write something from reality rather than to write something from pop culture.’’

Which is not to say Hendrix has anything against pop culture. He first made his name curating a series of Asian horror movies, and his last book, “Horrorstör,’’ a novel set in a haunted Ikea, is currently in development as a television series, attached to some big Hollywood names. “I’m pretty psyched,’’ Hendrix said, sounding like the ’80s kid he rediscovered for the new book.

Hendrix will read at 7 p.m. Thursday at Jabberwocky Bookshop, the Tannery, 50 Water St., Newburyport.

Kate Tuttle, a writer and editor, can be reached at kate.tuttle@gmail.com.