Book Review: "A Head Full of Ghosts" by Paul Tremblay

Review: A Head Full of Ghosts 

By: Paul Tremblay

Summary: The lives of the Barretts, a normal 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. - From www.amazon.com

Review: I decided to start with this book because of the aftershock I experienced after reading it. I read a fair amount of books, but there are a select few that leave me with deep questions of why? who?… that I will never have answered. The second reason is because I wrote to the author on Good Reads after I read it and he wrote back his appreciation! (I’m kind of a nerd.)

The story goes back and forth between past and present, and does so seamlessly. There is not much confusion, which can sometimes be the case in books written this way.

I really felt like I knew the characters throughout the book. By the middle of the book, I felt I had “figured it out.” By the end of the book, I had so many questions. But not so many questions in that there were plot holes… no, not at all…. so many questions about humanity, right/wrong, why did this person do that, who did what? Emotional. Roller coaster.

Since I typically read a lot of mystery and thrillers, one thing that I find annoying is a story that is far-fetched, or could never happen in real life. This could totally happen in real life.

“A Head Full of Ghosts” was by far the best book I’ve read this year.

Read Date: March 18, 2016
Acquired From: Purchased from Amazon.com