Possess - Gretchen McNeil
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her over-protective mom, by Matt Quinn, the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, the voices are demons—and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. Literally.
Terrified to tell her friends or family about this new power, Bridget confides in San Francisco’s senior exorcist, Monsignor Renault. The monsignor enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession, but just as she is starting to come to terms with her freakish new role, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. And when one of her oldest friends is killed, Bridget realizes she’s in deeper than she ever thought possible. Now she must unlock the secret to the demons’ plan before someone else close to her winds up dead—or worse, the human vessel for a demon king.
Do you remember the Friends episode where Joey is reading The Shining and he gets scared and puts it in the freezer? I felt the need to do that with this book. I was actually tempted to stuff it in the back of the freezer, behind all the food that never gets eaten, where it would naturally ensure that I woudln't be attacked by demons in the middle of the night. Seriously, these were the thoughts running through my head reading this book. It was so freaking scary.
So Bridget has the ability to exorcise demons, to speak to demons. Which means, there are a lot of really scary demons in this book. I read it in the middle of the day and felt the need to turn on all the lights (books like these are probably bad for the environment...or at least damaging to the electric bill) and convince myself that no, I did not just hear scratching. No, there are no phantom demon cats here.
Nothing in this book is sugar-coated. The demons are there, and they're mean - but I think what makes them that unforgettable, monsters in your closet, kind of scary is the vivid and incredible places they show up. I think this is where the genius of GretchenM McNeil lies. She's able to put Bridget into demon situations, with the right aprropriately creepy backgrounds. The houses in this book come to life - they breathe and shudder. Even places where you'd associate with safety begin to make your skin prickle. There's a doll shop - I don't think I need to explain more about that. Then there's the cathedral in which just has the feeling that it's waiting to be filled by something sinster. The whole attitude of the book is dark, but these settings just push it over the top into terrifying.
Then there's this whole element of trust. You don't know who's telling the truth because everyone is accused of lying or not being trustworthy. By the end, you just suspect everyone is lying. My only annoyance with this book is the tagline on the cover that says "There's only one rule of exorcism: The spirits lie." Well, in the book there are FIVE rules that she follows. That's just a little thing, but I bring this up because it's ingrained before you even open the book that there's some truth-telling issues. This, along with all the things that could potentially possess you in the middle of the night, make it difficult to sleep easy after finishing this book.
So if you like scary stories, this is a good one. It's sensational AND substantial (I know I didn't really get into substance here because there's so to talk about in the sensation side of it, but I promise it's there. Grief and moving on are a big component of this book). As far as I know there isn't a sequel coming out - but there should be! I want more. Gretchen McNeil does have another book coming out in Fall 2012, called Ten which is also horror, but of a serial killer nature. I discovered Gretchen through the YA Rebels YouTube channel. She vlogs every Monday, and she's wonderful. Something to definitely check out! Here's her latest YA Rebel post.
Possess - Gretchen McNeil
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her over-protective mom, by Matt Quinn, the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, the voices are demons—and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. Literally.
Terrified to tell her friends or family about this new power, Bridget confides in San Francisco’s senior exorcist, Monsignor Renault. The monsignor enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession, but just as she is starting to come to terms with her freakish new role, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. And when one of her oldest friends is killed, Bridget realizes she’s in deeper than she ever thought possible. Now she must unlock the secret to the demons’ plan before someone else close to her winds up dead—or worse, the human vessel for a demon king.
Do you remember the Friends episode where Joey is reading The Shining and he gets scared and puts it in the freezer? I felt the need to do that with this book. I was actually tempted to stuff it in the back of the freezer, behind all the food that never gets eaten, where it would naturally ensure that I woudln't be attacked by demons in the middle of the night. Seriously, these were the thoughts running through my head reading this book. It was so freaking scary.
So Bridget has the ability to exorcise demons, to speak to demons. Which means, there are a lot of really scary demons in this book. I read it in the middle of the day and felt the need to turn on all the lights (books like these are probably bad for the environment...or at least damaging to the electric bill) and convince myself that no, I did not just hear scratching. No, there are no phantom demon cats here.
Nothing in this book is sugar-coated. The demons are there, and they're mean - but I think what makes them that unforgettable, monsters in your closet, kind of scary is the vivid and incredible places they show up. I think this is where the genius of GretchenM McNeil lies. She's able to put Bridget into demon situations, with the right aprropriately creepy backgrounds. The houses in this book come to life - they breathe and shudder. Even places where you'd associate with safety begin to make your skin prickle. There's a doll shop - I don't think I need to explain more about that. Then there's the cathedral in which just has the feeling that it's waiting to be filled by something sinster. The whole attitude of the book is dark, but these settings just push it over the top into terrifying.
Then there's this whole element of trust. You don't know who's telling the truth because everyone is accused of lying or not being trustworthy. By the end, you just suspect everyone is lying. My only annoyance with this book is the tagline on the cover that says "There's only one rule of exorcism: The spirits lie." Well, in the book there are FIVE rules that she follows. That's just a little thing, but I bring this up because it's ingrained before you even open the book that there's some truth-telling issues. This, along with all the things that could potentially possess you in the middle of the night, make it difficult to sleep easy after finishing this book.
So if you like scary stories, this is a good one. It's sensational AND substantial (I know I didn't really get into substance here because there's so to talk about in the sensation side of it, but I promise it's there. Grief and moving on are a big component of this book). As far as I know there isn't a sequel coming out - but there should be! I want more. Gretchen McNeil does have another book coming out in Fall 2012, called Ten which is also horror, but of a serial killer nature. I discovered Gretchen through the YA Rebels YouTube channel. She vlogs every Monday, and she's wonderful. Something to definitely check out! Here's her latest YA Rebel post.
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her over-protective mom, by Matt Quinn, the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, the voices are demons—and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. Literally.