Possession (Diary of a Haunting #2): Book Review

 

• Author: M. Verano  
• First Published: 2016  
• Genre: Horror   
• Rating: ★★★☆  

Do you remember what it's like to be a teenager? Full of life a vigor? What were your passions? What did you want to be when you grew up? Maybe a singer like Laetitia? How about possessed and tormented by evil? Or is it something evil?

The way that M. Verano set up this book, doing it in blog and diary form I thought was an interesting style choice - and as someone who writes a blog, I'm a bit partial to this choice. It allowed for a sort of stream of consciousness that, given that this is all supposed to be taking place to a 15-year-old in modern times, was very appropriate. It also allowed for more of the raw chaos, panic, and emotion to show through as a bystander, which added to the intrigue of the story. With the writing itself my only complaint would be that I felt that at times there were events or characters added that, to me, added no real value and could have been left out or replaced with something more substantial.

As for the events of the story - yes! At times, I was confused about what was happening to Laetitia, but this isn't a bad thing! I genuinely think that being befuddled along with her as all of these things that shouldn't have been possible were happening, and viewing her struggles to make people understand what's happening to her added to the enjoyment of the novel. I also felt like the events happening within the community taking place at the same time as what was happening to her, and her reactions to it all, was a good representation of what it's like to be a youth in America right now - constantly struggling and feeling hopeless about what they can do to solve social and political issues.

The reason I didn't rate this book higher is that I wanted more. I wanted more detail surrounding her possession, characters directly linked with her possession, and her progress towards the end of the book. I felt that the ending was quite rushed, and that the beginning with her singing and droning on about her aspirations was a bit too repetitive. I also would have liked the Church to be a little less of a focus. Yes, I know, demonic possession and the Church go hand--in-hand, but the approach of it to me was a bit much. Personally I like how other narratives, such as the movie Constantine dealt with those crossovers; very different stories, I know, but I feel like religion and paranormal happenings is handled with a bit more of a balance. This imbalance does however, play into the plot of the story a bit, but to me that wasn't an element that held too much value, although I can understand how it might for some.

All-in-all, this is definitely a book I would recommend because you can get so much out of it. It's also a very quick read, with me having finished it in a day, in large part because the blogging style makes it easy to start and stop whenever you like.

Do you like books about possession? Does this book sound like something that would interest you? Do you believe in spirits and possession?

Cheers!