Possession is a psychological thriller that follows Hannah as her past comes back to threaten her future. Ten yeas ago, Hannah's husband was murdered in their home but Hannah doesn't remember anything from that night. She is, understandably, the main person of interest in the case until the police end up charging someone else with the murder. Hannah takes her daughter and moves on with her life until a popular true crime podcast dedicates a whole season to her husband's murder. The podcast casts doubts on the case, Hannah's memory loss, and unearths other troubling parts of Hannah's past.
The part of the book I was most worried about ended up being my favorite - the podcast. Despite loving to read thrillers and watching all sorts of police procedurals on TV, I have yet to fall in love with the true crime genre. I've tried a book here and there, but didn't like them mostly because I found the writing pretty dry and I felt the story leaned too hard on the 'this is all true' aspect to pull the reader into the narrative. I know true crime podcasts are very popular and I haven't tried any of them out yet. That being said, I know how popular true crime podcasts are and incorporating true crime podcasts into thriller novels is a bit of a recent trend. Before reading this, I was worried it would come off too heavy handed or would be used as an excuse for an exposition dump. I was pleasantly surprised that neither of these options ended up being true. I think the podcast angle really worked well for me because it was set up as the antagonist in the story. Hannah is not a part of the podcast and she listens every week just like the rest of the audience. We don't get any perspectives or behind the scenes from the podcast host so the reader sees the podcast as an outside force coming to ruin Hannah's life. I loved getting Hannah's reactions as she listened to the podcast episodes and it was a constant source of tension in the novel since the episodes are released weekly.
I think Lowe did an incredible job writing the slow psychological breakdown of Hannah. Psychological thrillers, from a reader perspective, can be tricky to get just right. In this case, the gradual but consistent disassembly of Hannah's life and what she thought was true was incredibly paced and explored. The story is told in first person so we are in Hannah's head and there is a lot going on in there. Hannah is a psychologist and is therefore a bit hyper-aware of her actions and thoughts but that doesn't stop her from doing things that she knows maybe she shouldn't. These sorts of contrasts grow in magnitude throughout the book and give the reader a really good view into Hannah's mental descent. While the podcast is the main antagonist in the story, much of the tension and emotion in the book comes from Hannah internally. Sure, once a few episodes are aired, the community starts whispering about Hannah and there are more external consequences but the majority of the story is Hannah and how she's dealing with finding out these missing parts of her husband's murder. The way the narrative style changes during the story is also incredibly well done and so gradual that I really didn't notice it was happening - which is exactly how I like it! It is really fun to go back to the first few chapters and compare them to the last few and compare the style of both sections. Lowe did a great job getting the reader into Hannah's head and keeping them there all the way through to the ending.
The relationships Hannah has with the other characters were handled really well. I think each character - Dan, Evie, Darcy, and Sarah - all give us one particular part of Hannah's life and the reader can use that relationship as a lens to see how Hannah is coping. Sometimes, with side characters, I can get them confused if they don't show up often enough or aren't distinct enough from the other characters. For example, if a main character has three friends, all three better be distinctive from each other and each serve their own purpose in the narrative or else my brain is going to just squish them all together. In this case, each of the side characters were very distinct and Hannah is different with each of them as well. Hannah has different masks that she puts on and since the reader is in Hannah's head, we can see her choose her words or actions carefully with each individual person she is interacting with. I think this is really true for most people - I know I'm not the exact same with my fiance as I am with the cashier at the grocery store - and as a reader, these different relationships and versions of Hannah we get really deepen the narrative as a whole. (As a side note, Hannah and Dan's dynamic reminded me of Joyce and Bob from Stranger Things.)
The one part that irked me was the ending. I had to take a few days to figure out exactly how I felt about the ending and why I felt that way. No spoilers, obviously, so this is going to be a bit vague. First off, I thought the ending was really well done from a technical aspect. There were twists, turns, and more twists. All the pieces were falling into place and some of my guesses from earlier in the book were paying off which I really enjoy in a thriller. My guesses were only 50% accurate which was really fun to see how Lowe took what I was thinking and then went three steps further with it. The ending also plays on reader expectations, in general. Most readers expect in most books for the main group of characters to 'win' the story, come out on top, beat the bad guy, be somewhat happy in the end. Plot armor is a phrase that exists for a reason which is why stories like Game of Thrones are so fun for a lot of people to read (or watch) because there is that constant threat of 'maybe this character won't make it out alive' to engage the reader. This ending, without giving too much away, played on my expectations that the main group of characters we'd been following for the past 300+ pages were going to 'win' and when the ending came, it wasn't as cut and dry as I was expecting it to be and it felt like I had lost. The only similar feeling I can think of is when you're watching your favorite sports team almost win and then the other team scores right near the end of the game and ends up winning the whole thing. There's a sense of disappointment there because the game had been so good but the ending just didn't go your way. I know the endings to thrillers can make or break a book for most people and I'll admit when I first finished the book, I was a little mad at it. But after thinking it over for a few days and reflecting on the overall reading experience and plot as a whole, I decided while I didn't have to like the ending, I do respect it from a craft perspective and other readers who maybe didn't get as attached to certain characters might actually really like the ending.
I loved the way the flashbacks were presented and integrated into the book. We get more and more of them as the book progresses, which lines up with Hannah remembering more as the podcast uncovers some dirty laundry each episode. I've read a few thrillers where the reader knows more than the protagonist and while it is fun to see a character discover something the reader already knows, I do prefer to discover along side the main character. Watching Hannah figure out what really happened 10 years ago at the same time her current life is falling apart was heartbreaking but in the best possible way because we are rooting for her the entire way. Also, the big reveal at the end in which the reader gets a sort of flashback over the recent events to show how everything was connected was really great.
Overall, this is a very well crafted psychological thriller. The podcast elements are incorporated well into the storyline, interesting and complex character relationships, and while the ending stung a bit all the story lines came together perfectly in the end.
352 pages
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC - release date is January 26, 2021.
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