The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy sounded like an interesting book. A young woman, Edie, acts as a body for those who want to connect with their lost loved ones. She takes a pill and for a short amount of time, she lets the spirit of the dead she is connecting with to inhabit her body. She doesn't know what goes on in these meetings because when someone takes over her body, they take over. She ends up meeting Patrick Braddock and channels his wife, Sylvia. After this she can't seem to get Sylvia out of her mind.
Question - Have you ever read a book, and you kept thinking something was about to happen, and then you finish it and nothing has happened? This was how I felt after reading this book. A lot happened, but nothing really happened. I'll explain below.
1 - A dead body is found. The body is named "Hopeful Doe" and she has been murdered. Edie and a few of her coworkers follow the case. They find out who the girl is, but nothing happens. It seemed to be put into the book as an afterthought. In fact, everything seemed to be put in here as an afterthought.
2 - Edie has a deep dark secret, but one we find out what it is, it isn't deep or dark. Also, the writing was frustrating as she was telling the story of this "deep, dark secret." It took forever and she never once said, "this is what I did when I was 12, I just had this problem and my parents didn't know what to do."
3 - Edie has a dead sister we never learn anything about.
4 - Patrick is one of the most boring men I've ever read about in a book. I don't even remember what he looks like, or how he was described in the book. He has almost no personality. I mean, if he is there to reconnect with his dead life, I wanted more from him about how he loved her, or how he hated her, or anything. Even in the end he was so totally boring.
5 - So much happens, then it ends and is never discussed again. One body, Ana, quits and we don't know what she is going to do. We learn who the killer of "Hopeful Doe" is, but this is anti-climactic. Edie has another secret at the end of the book, but again, we don't have any reason to care.
None of the characters are developed. None of the characters have anything interesting about them. We don't get all of the details. The author tried to do too much in one book and it wasn't successful.
Now, I want to say this was also a debut book. I don't know if this author will develop better stories in the future, so I am not going to say I will never read her again. I'd be interested to see what her next book is about. I thought the premise of this was interesting, just not well executed. I'd skip this book and wait to see what she has next.
Question - Have you ever read a book, and you kept thinking something was about to happen, and then you finish it and nothing has happened? This was how I felt after reading this book. A lot happened, but nothing really happened. I'll explain below.
1 - A dead body is found. The body is named "Hopeful Doe" and she has been murdered. Edie and a few of her coworkers follow the case. They find out who the girl is, but nothing happens. It seemed to be put into the book as an afterthought. In fact, everything seemed to be put in here as an afterthought.
2 - Edie has a deep dark secret, but one we find out what it is, it isn't deep or dark. Also, the writing was frustrating as she was telling the story of this "deep, dark secret." It took forever and she never once said, "this is what I did when I was 12, I just had this problem and my parents didn't know what to do."
3 - Edie has a dead sister we never learn anything about.
4 - Patrick is one of the most boring men I've ever read about in a book. I don't even remember what he looks like, or how he was described in the book. He has almost no personality. I mean, if he is there to reconnect with his dead life, I wanted more from him about how he loved her, or how he hated her, or anything. Even in the end he was so totally boring.
5 - So much happens, then it ends and is never discussed again. One body, Ana, quits and we don't know what she is going to do. We learn who the killer of "Hopeful Doe" is, but this is anti-climactic. Edie has another secret at the end of the book, but again, we don't have any reason to care.
None of the characters are developed. None of the characters have anything interesting about them. We don't get all of the details. The author tried to do too much in one book and it wasn't successful.
Now, I want to say this was also a debut book. I don't know if this author will develop better stories in the future, so I am not going to say I will never read her again. I'd be interested to see what her next book is about. I thought the premise of this was interesting, just not well executed. I'd skip this book and wait to see what she has next.
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