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A Head Full of Ghosts

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A Head Full of Ghosts

By: Paul Tremblay
Narrated by: Joy Osmanski
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About this listen

A chilling thriller that brilliantly blends psychological suspense and supernatural horror, reminiscent of Stephen King's The Shining, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist.

The lives of the Barretts, a suburban New England family, are torn apart when 14-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to halt Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend. Fifteen years later a best-selling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls the terrifying events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories begin to surface, and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed.

©2015 Paul Tremblay (P)2016 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Ghosts Horror Suspense Thriller & Suspense Haunted Scary Exciting Fiction Mental Health

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Critic reviews

" A Head Full of Ghosts scared the living hell out of me, and I'm pretty hard to scare." (Stephen King, best-selling author)
"Terrific.... Generates a haze of an altogether more serious kind: the pleasurable fog of calculated, perfectly balanced ambiguity." ( The New York Times Book Review)
All stars
Most relevant  

Would you try another book written by Paul Tremblay or narrated by Joy Osmanski?

Not likely. It was a fairly good story I just thought it was not in the same league as the Exorcist.

Would you recommend A Head Full of Ghosts to your friends? Why or why not?

No. Lack of good scares let the listen down for me. I felt there were moments that could have been so much more intense and gripping. Though the characters were all empathetic, the setting was believable, the format was creative, the story, for me, lacked suspense.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Joy Osmanski?

She would not put me off. This story needed a female voice and she did a fair job. Joy was especially good at the two sisters. The blog bits were good.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

I'dbiy it on DVD perhaps.

Any additional comments?

I maybe sound a bit harsh, especially since it wasn't a bad listen but I bought it expecting horror. Plus I listened to the Exorcist two months ago and that book did so much more than this one. I'm a Constant Reader and recognised Stephen King's influence on the author, so other fans of his might enjoy this. The author did do some creative things with the narrative. But not a scary book.

Entertaining but where were the scares?

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Really enjoyed this but I just have to say that it isn’t remotely scary- I say that because if like me you don’t like scary stuff then the description of this could easily put you off as it almost did me.
Give it a go though as it’s a really interesting and enjoyable read.

Enjoyable

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I loved the story, its creepy and like a modern day exorcist, what I didnt enjoy was the narration, honestly I'd get more emotion asking Alexa to narrate for me.. the entire first half is monotone, there's no effort with character voices.. other than that, great book.

good story bad narrator

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The story was OK, not scary, sad, if anything. It's a slow burn, with all the shocks coming right at the end.
But I really couldn't stand the narration. The male voices were comical, which is not the mood of the book at all. And I hope the reading of the blog posts was intentionally so irritating... The narrator also mispronouced some words, which shakes the listener out of the story somewhat.

Awful narration

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I'd been recommended Paul Tremblay as an author as I'm a fan of horror and when this and another of his books were in my wish list as well as an audible credit BOGOF deal I jumped in! I start off this review with a couple of negatives, but purely personal views and shouldn't prejudice against a great 'read' so pls read all my (again, personal) thoughts.

To get the first monkey off my back, I have to say I wasn't a fan of the narrator when she did 'male' voices. As limited as they were they came across as comical and took the edge of some moments unfortunately. That said, Joy Osmanski did an excellent job of the female characters, even the different voices for the same people i.e. through the ages.

The second monkey was that although I really enjoyed this book, i didn't find it scary. I enjoy reading and watching horror, but although they never really give me the frights they hold my suspense, while perhaps feel they lose something for me personally in the audio format. This held me, but if you are similar to me you aren't in for a horrific time... unfortunately.

But this was still a great book as you can see from my score. So classing this as a psychological thriller, it holds it's own as we care about characters, what they're going through and how they themselves feel at any given moment. If flits between a 'now and then' storyline but they aren't that far apart (less than 20 years) so we have contemporary view to the situation which makes a nice change for this 'Exorcist' type setting rather than the old, Victorian gothic or mental wards and horrendous medical practices of yesteryear i.e. digital technology, mobile phones, clued up teenagers and a progressive view of mental health.

For fans of the horror genre part of the premise may seem overdone, possessed young girl needs an exorcism, but the great thing is the author Paul Tremblay more than eludes to this in the book, almost debunking his own storyline as we go as we follow the perspective of the possessed younger sister as a child and adult. But it never detracts from what he trying to convey.

It is a very clever book, well researched and written and never feels like a carbon copy of anything you may have read or watched before. Tremblay's blogging character who reviews the TV show the possession is based on, ironically The Possession, has a great knowledge of films, both horror and filming techniques (which as a media student I appreciated but it didn't go into boring detail) and the classic stories to refer to. Clever, not just in terms of factual detail but how the possessed girl thinks, what she knows, what she makes you think & feel as well as twists along the way.

I don't want to give much away, but thoroughly enjoyed it and have The Devils Disappearance lined up in my queue for a soon to be listened to experience. Glad I gave Tremblay a go - thanks audible!

A very clever 'haunting'. Pls read whole review...

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I went into this not hoping for much and the only thing I can say is that I wish I'd bought it sooner. brilliant story and brilliant narration.

fantastic

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Really enjoyed this unique take on the possession genre. I will not give anything away or spoil anything, but in the end, the ambiguity leaves many chills and questions. It is left with an ambiguity that lingers...

Ambiguity that lingers

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From the very beginning I was hooked. A wonderful story with twists and turns. This is the second novel I've listened to by this author and I will definitely be listening to more. Well performed too.

Wonderful story.

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I really enjoyed this spooky story and the narration is great. I will be searching out more by the author and the narrator.

Great listen!

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This is well done and gets you thinking. I felt a little confused and let down as it was pitched to me as a horror, which it most definitely isn’t.

Interesting, not scary.

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