A review by chuckstafer
Possession by Katie Lowe

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think this novel was at times a bit too slow, but overall the story was very compelling and it painted a very vivid portrait of how nasty internet trolls can be. The fad of podcasts is all the rage and this story played on a well-used trope nowadays: the true-crime podcast that exposes new evidence to either help release a wrongfully convicted felon or expose the real killer. This novel set out to do just that and it was surprisingly effective. 

The main character was broken, unreliable, and at times, volatile and you did start to doubt her innocence at times during the story. The problem with this MC is that for every instance she was hot-tempered, she was equally spineless and there were so many times I was yelling at her in my head to grow a backbone! 

The story was a very twisty one, chock full of different characters that kept you guessing up until the very end. There were also many, many times where the author did a phenomenal job portraying the emotional abuse that people suffer at the hands of internet trolls and many times made you wonder and think about the emotional strain that people go through that are the subject of these true-crime podcasts/documentaries. 

The novel itself was very compelling and good, but as a side note, the audiobook almost ruined it for me (but that's a different review altogether). 

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