WINNER OF THE 2015 BRAM STOKER AWARD FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVELA chilling thriller that brilliantly blends psychological suspense and supernatural horror, reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Shining, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist.The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old … suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.
To her parents’ despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight. With John, Marjorie’s father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.
Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface—and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.
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Paul Tremblay knows his horror. This book is an authoritative homage to the genre almost as much as it’s an engaging, sad and truly frightening possession story. One that might have left me with more questions than answers. But still, at its end, I felt deposited on the shore by expert hands, different now and maybe not in a good way. Great horror writing does that. Eight year old Meredith is crafted as so lovable, funny and interesting that her dimming light became my own.
The new successor to King and Straub. About goddamn time.
The structure, the questions about truth and reality, about creation and experience. . . oh, such a good read. And scary, too, although – and maybe it’s just me – I found the structure softened the terror of a possession story. Highly, highly recommended.
This was first book I read from the author and it was so good I went onto reading other of his books.
OMG. This book was just creepy as hell. No words. Just messed up in a good way
Another amazing book by Tremblay.!! Made me doubt, made me believe and at the end it surprised me!
Definitely not your typical haunted house/ possession tale!
Wow. This was an incredible book. I loved the entire thing. I’m going to make extra sure that I do NOT include any spoilers because the book is best consumed without that extra knowledge.
The story involves the Barrett family who are going through some hard times. John, the father, has been out of work for over a year. The oldest of two daughters has regular doctor visits for her schizophrenia, doctor appointments that are draining the family’s resources. Both parents don’t agree on the treatment. After finding some peace with a local priest, the family settles on a unique solution.
I know, I’m giving away less than the back cover but trust me, just starting reading the book and you’ll be hooked. Tremblay provides depth and dimension to all of his characters. The entire story played through my mind like a movie or a TV series. Tremblay uses a method that makes the whole story so incredibly believable. And then he’ll take a chapter and rip apart everything he just did so you don’t know what is real and what is not. Those chapters are incredible all by themselves for their depth and analysis. And then, then he slips in one jaw-dropping reveal after another. I literally had to stop and re-read sections after a couple of those moments. And if that wasn’t enough, the visuals at the end had me in tears. It fit perfectly but at the same time was so sad to have it revealed. This was easily the best book I’ve read in a while. Don’t miss it.
This book read fast and I enjoyed the commentary on religion, social media, patriarchy, etc. within the story. The blog posts were a bit jarring and confusing to me but towards the end, I was fine with them (though I’m not quite sure what they added other than extra pages recapping what I just read). The story itself wasn’t quite was I was expecting and it didn’t quite live up to the hype I’d been hearing, but I still liked it overall despite being left with a bunch of unanswered questions.
Great read, it has a couple pretty interesting twists and turns and in the reality TV age its a little heavier for how easily it could happen.