when her condition worsened, and events more sinister and inexplicable occurred, her unemployed father turned to the church in desperation. when marjorie began acting erratically, her parents sent her to a psychiatrist and she was put on medication. it cuts between merry-now and merry's immersive recollections of the events that destroyed her family.

The book is mostly told through the eyes of merry - now twenty-three years old - meeting with a woman who is writing a book about marjorie and the family's experiences. on the one hand, this rests firmly in the canon of possession lit, and all the expectations are met: the voices, the vomit, the levitation, the inappropriate sexual acts, but there's a cheekiness to it at all times - a little wink as it slightly adjusts these elements so that they are present, but slightly 'off.' this isn't played for horror, more for unease and a sort of evaluation of the possession genre itself. your attention, i have it, yes? this is both a horror novel and a psychological suspense novel, but then it goes the extra step into self-referential metafiction in a way that is natural and not gimmicky-annoying, probably because that part involves a delightful character named karen brissette. This book is about a fourteen-year-old girl named marjorie, her eight-year-old sister merry, and the events leading up to marjorie's exorcism. Paul tremblay interviews me, or 'me' here: As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface-and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.įifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight.

Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help.

To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's descent into madness. The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.

A headful of ghosts