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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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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)
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A good, old-fashioned spooky story which leaves you wondering what to believe and what will happen next after every chapter. Stephen King states this book ‘scared the living hell’ out of him: I wouldn’t go that far but it’s a solid story with an ending I wasn’t expecting.

A solid ghost story

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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 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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every horror book I've read with a Stephen King quote on the cover calling it "the scariest book ever" has been shit, which leads me to believe he is doing it on purpose , and y'know what, I appreciate the hustle, Stephen.

it was okay

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