The story is narrated by Laetitia, first as she writes entries in her very popular blog, then as she changes those posting to private. She had lofty ambitions to be a famous singer, but all that changes as she loses her singing voice and begins to have very realistic dreams about being tortured in which she actually feels the pain. She begins vomiting up weird things. These same symptoms happen over and over which makes the story drag. She stews about what's wrong with her for a long time before we ever see any action towards figuring out what is happening. Although Laetitia has serious problems, they don’t seem to progress or get any worse until the very end.
There is a side story about the trial of a police officer for shooting a black teen that doesn’t add anything. There are several bits of the story that seem just thrown in and not fully explored. There's a kid she has a crush on who is involved in the protesting, but all she ever does is "wonder how he is." There are two episodes where she apparently brings an animal back to life. Her friend Angela who gets mad at her in the middle of the book and suddenly appears at the end and they make up. All of this feels incomplete and therefore unnecessary. The ending, written as a very short editor’s note, was anticlimactic and so quick it didn't have any emotional impact.
There are photographs and reports from various medical and legal professionals that add an interesting element. Mom, Gramma, and Miss Pierre’s magic are the highlights of Possession. And while I found it repetitive and somewhat boring, die hard fans of stories about possessions will relate to the vivid and horrid dreams and the other gruesome symptoms Laetitia exhibits.
Possession is the second book in the Diary of a Haunting series, but it isn't necessary to have read the first book.
Published by Simon Pulse, August 30, 2016
ARC obtained from School Library Connection Magazine
340 pages
Rating: 2.5/5
