Thursday 9 December 2010

Possessions by Nancy Holder


September 2009, Razorbill 
318 pages, Paperback 
Review copy from UK Book Tours 

Young Adult, Paranormal 

American boarding school, school girl cliques, snowstorms, lots of suspense, seriously creepy supernatural goings on, tragedy, friendships, not for those who scare easily, teen romance, 

Book blurb 
New girl Lindsay can't figure out what's going on with popular Mandy and her followers. And what Lindsay doesn't know can hurt her. Long ago, someone at Marlwood made a grave mistake - and girls died because of it. Now spirits who were silent for two hundred years have woken up. These spirits need to take possession.  And they must have their revenge. 

Nayuleska's thoughts
Right now I've emailed a friend saying something along the following lines: I need chocolate. I need to watch Disney movies. Now this could be seen as a normal day for me. However, it's after 5pm, it's dark, and I'm majorly freaked out. Yup, it's the book. *shudders*. It started off really good. I love Lindsay because she is a misfit at a private school, full of rich girls who probably abuse their father's credit cards. She manages to make the odd friend, but she stumbles across a strange sight involving Mandy. Mandy is the one that all the girls flock to. She's the one girl who is fawned over, the one who can make a girl feel smaller than an ant.  As the story progresses, strange things happen, but Lindsay can't say anything to anyone. Well, she could, but since she's at the school because she had a breakdown, few people would take her seriously. Only when events take a definite turn for the worse does she realise what's going on. That's right near the end of the book. 

I could deal with the earlier goings on. I have seen a few dramas which got spooky. I do read paranormal books. But what happens at the very end has me really freaked out. The book doesn't have a happy ending - the story isn't over. No way will I read the next book. It's going to take a lot of time and nice fluffy things to get this book out of my head. I'm hoping I won't get nightmares. I'm now more nervous of the dark than I used to be. Somehow I can deal with books involving murders and evil psychos (who aren't always murderers). But some aspects of the supernatural aren't for me. I guess I'd sum up by saying this is a really good read because I'm this spooked. It's fun in places, with a lot of typical high-school behaviour. 

Final conclusion
The level and build up of suspense through the book is phenomenal. Please do not read if you get scared easily. 

So far I'm not sure of a book which is this scary. No, wait - try Michael Grant's Gone. That is spooky but in a way that is easier for me to manage. 

3 comments:

Bookish in a Box said...

This book really freaked me out too!

Gina said...

Really? It freaked you out that bad? Well to each their own...though it was quite a spooky read, I enjoyed it very much. Don't suppose you'll be checking the sequel out then huh? (Been there, read that...spooky though perhaps spookier.) ^_^

Nayuleska said...

Bear in mind I find the wood scene in the first HP film scary. I scare easily (and this is why I don't watch much tv/many films apart from anime now!)

No way! Will DM you a question about the sequel though :)

Glad I'm not the only one scared by it.