A Head Full of Ghosts

Title A Head Full of Ghosts
Author: Paul Tremblay
Genre: Horror
Source: Library Hardback
Rating: 3 out of 5 paws


The Barretts seem like a normal suburban family.  Soon their perfect life begins to crumble, dad loses job and the oldest daughter begins acting strange and saying things a 14 year old girl shouldn't say.  There are signs of schizophrenia, but dad believes their is something more sinister happening.  With the help of Father Wanderly, they come to the conclusion Marjorie is possessed.  If life with a possessed daughter wasn't hard enough a production crew is ever present in the house as they film a reality show "The Possession."  This could be the answer to all their prayers.  Years later, a writer interviews Merry, the youngest sister about the events that happened during the show.  Secrets and painful memories are brought back to life as Merry relives everything the family went through.  But the question an avid horror blogger poses is....was it all real or was it all fake?

I picked up this novel as an attempt to step outside of my reading comfort zone.  I have only ever really read 2 or 3 horror novels and know it is not a genre for me, but I decided to give this one a shot and see if Paul Tremblay could win me over.  Unfortunately, he didn't.  I found the story to be a little bland.  While it was interesting and I did finish the book in about two days, it seemed to really drag on and didn't have much that was actually scary.  If you want scary and demon possessed story check out Seven X by Mike Wech.  Now that was one I didn't want to read at night.  I digress....


I couldn't find myself really relating or caring about the characters all that much, they were just....there.  Merry while she was 8 seemed to think and talk in a way an 8 year old wouldn't yet she was still obsessed with childlike things like a playhouse and children's picture books.  From the beginning, I felt like there was something a little bit...off with Merry.  There was more to her than we actually see in the novel because the primary focus was always on Marjorie.  We learn virtually nothing about any of the characters including Merry who is supposed to be the main character.


Then we have the blog posts which made no real sense to me other than to explain what was happening in the house during the show and attempts to debunk what we see.  The writer of this blog I feel is revealed a little too early.  I think it should have been held back or not even used at all, it didn't shed light onto anything within the story.  I would think Merry would have been a little more traumatized to witness some of these events even if her sister claimed she was faking.  Almost nothing added up for me and I felt a little let down.  I wanted to be scared. 


There were a lot of references to pop culture items such as The Exorcist, but only to point out all the similarities and how much alike it was. Was this to make the readers feel like it was all fake?  It was an okay book for me and I would recommend it to others who like this genre, but don't expect it to actually be scary or even creepy.