Wow. I just finished this one and am almost left wondering about what just happened. This is a dual timeline, unreliable narrator and a podcast thrown in type of thriller. The beginning started off slow and didn’t hook me in right away. The middle of the story picked up and sucked me in; then the ending spat me back out again. It felt a little messily done and I wish I liked it more.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin Press for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

POSSESSION
Katie Lowe
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN-13: 978-1250200280
Hardcover
Mystery/Thriller

Be advised that POSSESSION by Katie Lowe is a slow-boil of a book, so much so that one --- I for one --- was at one point in the early days of the book tempted to remove the kettle, so to speak, and go elsewhere. I ultimately did not and am glad for it. POSSESSION saves its numerous surprises, twists and turns for the last third or so of the book, while along the way it almost improbably puts a new spin on tried, true, and somewhat overused “unreliable narrator” plot element. The result is a story that you won’t be able to get out of your head.

Hannah Catton, the narrator of POSSESSION, has a memorable though unenviable backstory. A decade or so before the present of POSSESSION Hannah’s husband Graham was stabbed to death in their home. A man was charged with the murder, tried, and convicted. Hannah has moved on, raising Evie, her daughter, started a new job with the assistance of a friend, and acquired Dan, a new love interest, who is almost too good and understanding to be true. Everything is fine, at least until an enormous popular British true crime podcast focuses on the circumstances of Graham’s murder and using a combination of inverted pyramid research and confirmation bias leads its audience down a cattle chute toward the conclusion that the wrong person was tried and convicted of Graham’s killing and that Hannah is the person who should have been charged. Each episode of the podcast, which revisits the investigation and the relationship between Graham and Hannah, causes Hannah’s life to spin further out of control. The new, unofficial investigation leaves no stone unturned, interviewing Graham’s friends, Hannah’s friends, co-workers, relatives, and the police investigators who apparently made a rush to judgement. Hannah’s internal dialogue, meanwhile, doesn’t do her any favors. She became aware of Graham’s unfaithfulness during her pregnancy, something which continued after Evie was born. Hannah herself has memory issues. Things get worse. One by one, the people in Hannah’s life seem to doubt her as well. The man originally convicted of Graham’s murder is released from prison on the strength of the new evidence revealed by the podcast. Hannah and Dan both lose their jobs. Worst of all, Hannah doesn’t seem entirely sure of her own innocence and is plagued by self-doubt, even as she becomes a pariah within her own community. It seems as if she can’t sink any lower, but that isn’t true, particularly when it is discovered that Hannah’s grandmother was accused of killing her husband as well. Just when things are at their absolute worst, Hannah receives assistance from an unexpected corner. It may, however, be far too late and far too little.

As much trouble as I had with POSSESSION initially, I was compelled to read it a second time just to appreciate what Lowe did with the story. It’s a dark tale, for sure, one which will cause a sensitive reader to question their trust in their loved ones, but the meticulous plotting here makes the emotional upheaval worthwhile. POSSESSION is not a book to have fun with but it will leave you spellbound.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2021, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Every once in a while, less frequently than I’d like, I start reading a book that I find it very difficult to put down, that I want to read as quickly as possible, because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! Possession by Katie Lowe very much fits that description.

Possession moves through several time periods in the life of narrator Hannah. At the beginning of the novel, I wondered if I really wanted to read about a woman who killed her husband and then somehow managed to get away with it, especially since Hannah seems to doubt her own recollection of what happened. The image of blood on her hands. Telling her little girl to be quiet. Does she really not remember what happened or is she leading us, her readers, on?

The death of Hannah’s husband Graham is suddenly being revisited by True Crime podcast, Conviction. In tandem, Hannah’s life begins to unravel as the case of Graham’s accused killer unravels. Likewise, thanks to social media, Hannah’s daughter, Evie, feels the effects of having a mother who falls under suspicion.

As the novel progresses and author Lowe takes us on a labyrinth of plot, I was captive. There were twists and turns that had my readerly head spinning. And who was this old acquaintance, Darcy? Whoever, she was going to turn out to be, I didn’t trust her from the beginning.

Like many mystery/thriller novels (and movies and TV, for that matter), there is always those moments of wondering how the narrator could be so silly. In Hannah’s case, since she is a relatively smart, psychiatrist, why is everything with her a big secret? Why doesn’t she share more with the utterly lovely Dan whom she’s in love with? But, as we explore Hannah’s life through the years, we begin to appreciate her as a complex character.

In the midst of the mystery, there is a sense of Hannah being haunted, which is extremely well done and which is why I had to stop reading one night. Voices of her dead husband–whom she may or may not have killed–in a dilapidated mental hospital surrounded by woods? Yep, evocatively written. I believe that in one respect this is the possession referred to in the title. Although, with all of the different discoveries in Possession, I believe the title can refer to several aspects besides ghostly possession.

The novel was well-paced, until the ending which seemed to roar by. So many revelations. So many duplicitous people.

Possession mostly worked for me and kept me engaged. There were scenes I thought could have been done in a different manner or perhaps with a little less heavy hand. I would think that many readers of mystery thrillers would find that Possession works well for them.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Possession is the new novel by the author of the much-buzzed-about The Furies. I thought it looked interesting, and I’ve been seeing a fair number of suspense/crime novels that feature a true-crime podcast at its centre. While I haven’t listened to many, my partner loves My Favorite Murder and a couple of others, so I thought it might be interesting to see how Lowe incorporates that cultural phenomenon into the novel. Turns out, the author does it very well. I enjoyed this.

I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t spend any time detailing the plot: it’s one that parses out details gradually, as we get to know the characters involved, and also to build tension. The novel alternates between the past and the present. The former details events of Hannah’s life with Graham and leads up to the death at the heart of the plot. The present-day chapters detail Hannah’s attempts to handle the fact that the death of her husband is at the centre of a new podcast season. Not only that, she’s terrified that they’ll actually uncover the truth — the way it played out back then was strangely fortuitous. What have the podcast hosts uncovered? Who have they managed to get to talk, to air their concerns and doubts about the case? What will this mean for Hannah’s new life?

Lowe does a fantastic job of showing us the creeping sense of dread and increasing anxiety Hannah feels, as she listens to the podcast episodes, recalls the events of that awful day, and tries to balance her current, content life with this part of her past. Her sense that it could all be snatched away from her grows as the novel progresses is well done.

Well-written characters, good prose, and an engaging plot. If you’re looking for an enjoyable suspense/crime read, then I think you should give this a try. It’s well-paced and quite well-written. (If you like the true-crime podcast as a plot device, I’d also recommend Denise Mina’s Conviction.)

Well written with good character development but very predictable to me. Typical story a woman is accused of killing her husband. Did she really do it? Didn’t she? Why does she keep hearing voices after the fact? I just couldn’t get into it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

“It’s another lie. Once the series begins, I know there’ll be no escaping the past. The things I might have done. The things I know I’ve done. All my failings, out there, for the world to see.”

On the new podcast Conviction, a long since “solved” murder is revisited when it is believed that the murderer was wrongfully convicted. Hannah was home when her husband was stabbed to death, blood dripping on the floor tap tap tap. But, she remembers nothing. When the host of the podcast unearths a conspiracy that seems to show that Michael was framed for the crime, Hannah begins to descend into the madness that runs in her family...hearing voices and questioning her own memory and mind. Could she have killed her own husband with her young daughter in the next room?

I really enjoyed this book and found myself wanting to get back to it whenever I put it down. BUT, and it’s a big but, there was just so much going on here. I believe if the author had focused more on Hannah and maybe one side character this book could have been on the level of The Silent Patient. But there were just too many things going on to keep them all straight or to have the ending have any sense of shock value. And with the level of buildup in this story I was definitely geared up for a shocking ending that, unfortunately, never materialized.

Overall great potential, but just a bit much.

Thank you to @netgalley and @hatpercoklins for this arc in exchange for an honest review. Available now!

As I sit here writing this review, I am a little at a loss for words. I truly did enjoy this read but trying to explain the story without giving away too much is proving to be hard. My friend Simon says I should just say it was good because insert spoiler here and you should go read it. When I read an author for the first time, I try to give a solid review without giving too much away. Ten years ago, Hannah McLelland’s husband Graham is murdered. Her name has since changed and she is doing the best she can to move on with her life. She has even moved out of London and is now living in Hawkwood. Everything seems to be going well for Hannah and her daughter Evie. She is in a stable loving relationship and is trying to make the best of it given her circumstances. Then it all comes crashing down when Conviction comes knocking. A podcast that works to exonerate the wrongfully committed. You see while police did suspect Hannah of the murder a young man was convicted for the crime. The story unfolds as Hannah starts to remember things that took place ten years ago and it slowly starts to tear her life apart. Did she do it? Did someone else do it and why? So many questions and they are all answered by the time you reach the last page.
One of my favorite parts of this read is the dark atmosphere that the author puts together. I as the reader found myself feeling sorry for Hannah and at the same time in parts I felt bad for her dead husband. Is she hearing voices is she going crazy? I found this a hard one to put down and will continue to read books by Katie Lowe. I read the synopsis for The Furies and it seems to have a dark feel just like this book so I will be going back to read that as well as I wait for something new in the future.

I really enjoyed this thriller.

Just like many other thriller lovers, I'm obsessed with true crime podcasts. After reading the synopsis of this book, I knew I needed to pick it up.

Hannah's husband was murdered ten years ago, in their bed, while she was in the house with their young daughter. Fast forward to the present, things are going well for Hannah. She has a wonderful boyfriend, a stable job, her teenage daughter is doing well, and her late husband's killer is in jail. When Conviction, a popular true crime podcast, takes a look at the case, questions are brought up, and every clue and bit of evidence points to Hannah.

While reading, I was hooked on the drama. There were secrets, twists, intrigue, and of course murder. It kept me guessing and changing how I felt about everything I thought I knew about the characters and story.

If you like true crime podcasts, I recommend you give this one a try!

Grateful to have received a complimentary ARC copy to honestly review.

Possession was like riding in a car moving really really really slowly, then suddenly the driver floors it and the car goes flying down the highway, swerving crazily. Meanwhile, you're hanging on for dear life, trying to figure out what's happening.

Hannah's husband was murdered years ago, and his killer was convicted and put in prison. But when a podcast decides to revisit the case, Hannah has to face the fact that she can't remember at all what happened on the night of her husband's murder, and that she sometimes feels like she might be the guilty person.

Switching between past and present, the book verrrryyyy slowly gives the reader pieces of the puzzle. The end is really a LOT - I did guess one reveal and some of the twists depend on a lot of coincidence.

But this was interesting and did a good job keeping me in suspense as to whether Hannah was guilty or just being gaslit.

This started out promising, but it didn’t last. A psychological thriller of main character Hannah, a woman whose husband was brutally murdered during a burglary. She has no recollection of the night it happened. We jump 10 years to the present day, where Hannah has moved to a small town with her now 16-year-old daughter and her fiancé. Her calm days are crumbled when a popular true crime podcast called Convictions, decides to investigate this crime, where the host claims that the young man arrested has been wrongly convicted. There were twist and turns that kept me intrigued and wanting to reach the end of the book. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.
Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Author for the eARC.

What really happened the night Hannah's husband Graham was killed? She claims not to know but now a pod cast is pulling the case and her life apart. She's got a new love in Dan, her daughter Evie is a teen, and she's working for her friend Sarah as a psychiatrist at a clinic for women with eating disorders. And its all tumbling down, with the only safety net being Darcy, another physician who plans to renovate an abandoned asylum. How reliable of a narrator is Hannah? You will be asking yourself that but know that this one gets wild. Also know that Lowe does give clues along the way which I, for one, only recognized after the fact- bravo to her for that. These are great characters starting, well rounded and pretty much sympathetic even as you question yourself about Hannah. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This could have gone so many trope-y ways and it doesn't. It's a page turner. Highly recommend.

Possession by Katie Lowe is a psychological thriller that opens the novel with an eerie scene of Hannah standing above her dead husband's body. Hannah has a murky memory besides her recent discovery of her husband's affair. Soon after a brief investigation occurs and with Hannah's disjointed memory and a stranger conveniently charged for the murder, Hannah and her baby return to their normal life. However the story does not end there as "Conviction" a new true crime podcast unearths suspicions on the case and in turn, Hannah's questionable past.

The introduction of the book is gripping and provides an interesting premise to hook the reader. The chapters are short and easy to read, making this a very easy read to binge. I absolutely love any book that involves a true crime podcast and found this to be an interesting perspective on what happens when old cases are dredged back up and the lives of those people. The novel is fast paced with a variety of twists and turns that are hard to predict making it a compulsively readable novel. Hannah, the main character, is an unreliable narrator at its finest and you oscillate between feeling bad for her due to the online bullying and being disgusted or scared of her. Overall I enjoyed this read and recommend this for individuals who like a gothic, atmospheric thriller novel with an unreliable narrator.

Many thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I LOVED this book. I just did a podcast about a man accused of killing a 12 year old boy, this is similar to the case I did because of the is he guilty or is he innocent? I like how the case was brought back up after many years because the podcast host believed Hannah was hiding secrets, and there were many secrets indeed.

I finished this book in four days because I couldn't put it down! It's definitely the type of book that I recommend to others as well.

Thank you to NetGalley, Katie Lowe and St. Martin's Press for letting me read this book! I will definitely be checking out more books by the author!

I really liked this book but I had some problems keeping with it - lots of characters, lots of then and now, but on the whole,entertaining. I’m feeling like COVID affected my enjoyment. Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s press and Katie Lowe for allowing me this early arc!

Riveting and fast-paced, this psychological thriller employs the growing popularity of true crime podcasts to explore what really happened the night Hannah's husband died.
A psychologist, Hannah realizes how too-convenient it is that she can't seem to recall what transpired the night her husband, Graham, is murdered. When it's determined that a young man is the guilty party, Hannah quickly packs up and moves on, eager to leave it all behind her. However, ten years later, the events surrounding Graham's murder are called into question on a new podcast.
This is one thriller where the less said, the better. Even the smallest of details come into play in the explosive ending (and those last two chapters will have your head spinning). I became suspicious of nearly every character at some point or another, never fully trusting any of them or their recollections. Hannah's heightening tension as the podcast affects her new life in the countryside with her now teenaged daughter and new husband grew with every chapter while also serving to highlight her potential guilt and keep the reader off track. It's not often I'm surprised by an ending, but this one succeeded, so for that alone, I give it four stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary advance copy. This did not impact my review.

Here is a classic thrill ride. Classic in that characters who have settled into a life over shadowed by a horrific incident know sooner or later the truth comes back to haunt. So is the case of Hannah, who found her husband murdered, a man sentenced and she holed the case was done. Fast forward and a podcast has opened the Pandora’s box that was her life. Hints and supspicions lead to an “do not read at night” end Iwill not spoil. Happy reading.

“In the end, the only person you can’t outrun is yourself.”

Thank you to Katie Lowe, St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the e-ARC of Possession in exchange for an honest review!

Ten years ago Hannah’s husband was murdered in their bed. And she can’t remember what happened. The police charged a stranger with the murder, and Hannah packs up her life and flees London with her young daughter to start a new life.

But now the popular true-crime podcast Conviction has decided to make Hannah’s husband’s murder the focus of their next season. Conviction is convinced that the man convicted for the crime is innocent… and that Hannah did it.

Katie Lowe’s writing of Hannah’s unravelling as each podcast episode airs is masterful. You can just feel Hannah’s grip on reality and who she can trust slipping. From the very beginning we know that Hannah has a secret about that night and as the book progressed I found myself questioning Hannah’s guilt or innocence right along with her.

If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers with an unreliable narrator, then I would recommend picking this one up.

cw: domestic abuse; emotional abuse; psychological abuse/manipulation

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Love the cover. It immediately caught my eye and pulled me in. I love unreliable narrators. Where the reader is constantly guesses and questioning what’s really happening. This book definitely doesn’t disappoint. Great writing, engaging storyline, eye catching cover. I will buy and recommend this book to all thrill seekers who enjoy an unreliable narrator. Be prepared all lots of twist and turns. Thank you for the arc NetGalley

I dare you to read the first line and not be intrigued. Dare ya. Here, I’ll help you out: “It’s the sound of my husband’s blood on the floorboards that wakes me.”

See, I told you.

So, Hannah wakes up, and her husband is dead. Don’t worry, the police arrest a dude, and the bad guy goes to prison.

But wait...there’s more.

Fast forward ten years, and a true crime podcast that specializes in cases that led to wrongful convictions starts investigating the murder of Hannah’s husband. Uh oh.

Could the police have arrested the wrong person? Perhaps.

Is Hannah now a suspect? Likely.

Does Hannah have some crazy murderous familial skeletons in the closet? You betcha.

Is there a Gothic-style asylum thrown into the mix? YESSSSSSSS!!!!!

Engrossed! Is there a stronger word than engrossed? If there is, that’s what I was with this book. This has everything I love in a story. Reading it felt like watching one of those old black and white movies, like Hitchcock’s Rebecca, the ones where the black and white seems silvery and surreal, and there’s a haze that is somehow always hypnotic, inviting, and threatening. This is my preferred brand of storytelling. I want more, Katie Lowe. Give me more!

There, now that I have your attention, off to the bookstores you go.

"It's the sound of my husband's blood on the floorboards that wakes me."

So begins the wild ride of Possession by Katie Lowe. This psychological thriller grabbed me from the first line and twisted me in knots as I stayed up until after the sunrise to find out the truth of this murdered husband.

The wife, Hannah, is one of the most unreliable infuriating protagonist ever. As she tells us her story, she is doubtful of her own truth. She wakes up to find her husband, Graham, stabbed in the throat and her head banged up. She has no memory of the murder. The police tell her they found the killer. It is a robbery gone wrong even though nothing was stolen. He goes to jail and Hannah takes her 6 year old daughter out of London to a sleepy country town and starts over working in a psychiatric hospital.

Ten years later a popular podcast, Convictions, tells the story of Graham's murder but they have a different view and Hannah finds herself the victim of social media bullying and the new suspect in Graham's murder.

In between, we deal with a creepy gothic abandoned insane asylum that once held Hannah's grandmother for killing her family, the ghost of Graham suddenly haunting Hannah, a suicidal patient, an old acquaintance offering a lifeline and cops with their own agenda.

As crazy as all this may sound the reveal explains all and I have to say except for one plotline I had no clue to the outcome. Nothing is what it seems but as the cloud of lies dissipates I gasped with shock and glee. This novel is one ride that gives all the chills, goosebumps, and WTF moments that fans want from their thrillers.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.