4 stars!

Ooo I really liked this. I’ve read some possession stories before but this is a new level. The writing was brilliant. The descriptions and the dive into the possession was so different to anything I’ve read before.

I would have loved maybe more from her life prior to the possession but still a great read.

This book was a ride. But. I'm not sure it's the ride I wanted. Like maybe i got into the wrong Uber and met the wrong ex-possessed woman from a different story. It was okay. Nothing super special. I don't regret reading it but I would have been fine had i not.

the cover is what drew me in and the description just added to it. I liked the idea of reading something that shows the aftermath of a possession. this was a wonderful read with great characters.

Thank you to both Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this title.

I'm not sure where to start with this review. This is not for the faint-hearted for sure, and there could be a case for putting multiple trigger warnings on it. It is true horror though and, to be honest, anyone who picks it up with that amazing cover will be aware of what they are getting into.

I liked the book. It liked the main character and the supporting characters. Not sure I followed the exorcism bits but that is intriguing in its own right. I would be careful who I recommended it to though based on the issues of STDs, lack of sexual consent, etc.

Goodness, where do I even start with this. I wanted to enjoy this because I sounded genuinely interesting and like a good story, but just...eh. I didn't like how the characters, especially the female characters, were written and how the story played out. I wished it had been more about the after effects of the possession, the seeing of the spirits, and Carrie wanting to help someone else before their life was ruined and less about the bondage and just sexual elements in general. I didn't like the resolution or the ending for the characters at all honestly, and just was very disappointed in general.

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews of this book. I understand where a lot of the criticism is coming from, but honestly didn't feel the same way. I enjoyed it. Yes, it had some... touchy topics, but that's part of what makes the whole possession thing so creepy and uncomfortable, isn't it? The idea of doing things you don't want to do, you wouldn't normally do, you shouldn't do. And to me, though there was obviously a lot of focus on sex in this novella, I didn't find it overly sexualised - which I was definitely worried about. It was quite matter-of-fact regarding the things that happened, not too detailed or anything. But, I will emphasise that I do see where the criticism is coming from and I can definitely understand that this book is not for everyone.
To me, this was a kind of quirky little story about the aftermath of Carrie's possession. It's something we just don't really hear a lot about and I thought it was a great idea. And it was really quite funny, too, in a dark way. There's kind of a zombie in it, and someone Carrie refers to as 'Binkertell' throughout the whole book because she doesn't know her name and thinks she resembles Tinkerbell (albeit, a more trashy version).
Overall, this was just an odd little read from a different perspective on possession. It was fun, it was kind of disturbing, and there was an intriguing plot twist when Carrie goes to accuse who she thinks got her possessed in the first place. 4 stars from me!

Carrie's body was overtaken by The Wishes, who use her body in a debauchery-filled few weeks.  After The Wishes are exorcised from her body, she teams up with an unlikely partner to try to save others from the same fate.          I'll start with what I liked:  I loved the ghosts and I wish there had been more interactions with them.  Other than that, I found the storyline a bit underwhelming.  The attempt at humor often fell flat, and after a while the constant barrage of one-liners became annoying and distracting.  The ending felt a bit rushed but I will say it was definitely unique and not something I saw coming.  In a nutshell, I would have preferred more ghosts and less STDs.

Carrie has been possessed by spirits and we see the tail end of that and the hideous self destruction it entails. Honestly, at this stage it was so saddening that I couldn’t tell if this was going to be a book about mental illness and was tempted to give it a miss rather than put myself through the turmoil but I’m glad I stuck with it.

Carrie loses pretty much everything as a result of the things she’s been doing while possessed, her friends gave up on her suspiciously quickly which was disheartening but someone she met during the possession takes her in and takes care of her while she works out what to do with her life.

There’s some gross body horror in this book. Including anti-possession razor testicles (it’s hard to explain, just read it for yourself and all will be revealed) and genital sores. It should also be noted that the consensuality of her sexual activity while being possessed is very dubious - if this may well be a trigger for some readers.

I loved Carrie as a characters and the plot itself, but my reservations were Daniel as a character – his motivations didn’t make a huge amount of sense, even if he does have a submissive personality, I wasn’t able to get a read on him to work out why he’d take in a complete stranger and clothe/feed/care for her on such an intimate level with sweet FA in return, and also that the solution to the mystery of how Carrie came to be possessed is cast aside really quickly.

The writing style is brilliant and the plot unfolds at a rapid pace, taking us from one unexpected event to another with some flashbacks to bring it all together.

I’d recommend this to horror fans but be aware of the sexual nature of some of the scenes and the consequences thereof.

So I got about 50% into this book and just couldn’t finish it. I hardly ever DNF books, like ever. I’m just someone who thinks they have to finish a book once they start it, but I’m trying to work on that because why waste your time on a book you don’t like?
So, I didn’t like this book. It made me feel uncomfortable, and not the kind of uncomfortable that’s thought provoking or making a statement. It just made me feel weird.

The story starts off with Carrie who is possessed by, what she calls, The Wishes. With no control over her body, they force her to have sex with random people. Like a lot of people. Including: men, women, and underage teens. Carrie is then exorcised and given back control over her body, but not without consequences. The Wishes have drained her back account, ruined her house, lost her her job, ruined her relationships, and even gotten her into legal trouble. With the help of Daniel, one of the men she had been forced to have sex with, she starts trying to piece her life together.

I’m a big fan of possession stories, I find them to be fascinating and I really thought this one was going to be a fresh outlook on the trope given the plot.
I like the idea that the majority of the book focuses on the aftermath of the possession. It’s not something I’ve seen and I think it could’ve been done really well, but it’s just the beginning of the book that ruined everything for me.
I found the first few chapters to come across very insensitive and off putting. I really don’t know why the possession had to be centered around rape. I’m not opposed to triggering ideas being written into books, but there needs to be a purpose for it. This felt like rape for no reason or purpose. If the rape had been exchanged for something else, I think it would’ve had the same, or even better, affect.
It also put me off that there had been non consensual sex with minors. It was all just too much for me.
I wanted to give the book a fair chance, so I kept reading, but I just couldn’t get into it. I think the rape had just really left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, I’m not going to tell someone what they can or can’t write about, horror is horror and authors should be allowed to write what they want. However, it should be handled with sensitivity and carefulness. This didn’t feel like that. As a woman, I just couldn’t stomach this and I don’t know if the author spoke to any women or let them read this beforehand. If not, it’s something I would highly encourage them to do in the future. Male authors who write sensitive topics from the perspective of women need to be talking to women. If they don’t, it comes across very poorly and uneducated.
I’m sure there will be people who don’t feel the same way, but this is just my personal opinion on this book and how it made me feel while reading it.

And interesting concept packed into a quick 295 pages. I had little to no knowledge of the book prior to finding it on netgalley and being so intrigued by the cover. I was so surprised by the concepts and honestly the twists were never expected

Not the Strangest but Strange

So, I’m not really sure where to begin. I enjoyed the premise of the book and while I love supernatural horror. This bordered on body torture, (in my opinion) and was a bit graphic. Once the story unraveled and you find out what happened to Carrie it begins to make more sense.

We get into the title … The Body Will Follow and what that means in conjunction with the story. We learn about Carrie and who she is. We find out how Carrie was possessed and that there are others. We learn that this wasn’t a random act and that someone did this to her. We learn about sheep (baaaahhhh!) and many other things that tie you into this story.

Carrie also finds a friend throughout this whole ordeal. I find David endearing as he cared for a complete stranger, and put his trust in her beliefs. He really proves to be her only friend and that’s part of the backstory. Which delves into … how much you really know about the people around you, and what you friends truly think of you.

The writing kept me engaged, the story was right to the point with details but not so much that you bogged down about every single nuance in the background. I enjoy a supernatural horror thriller, and this book kept me guessing till the end.

The Body will Follow is not for everyone by a longshot, but it’s entertaining for fans of a certain type of horror. While it’s not nearly as gruesome as some of splatter-punk or body-horror stories, it is in the same vein as some ‘classic’ pulp horror. (You know- the cheap paperbacks from the 70’s and 80’s with the eye catching die-cut and foil covers. My favorites!) Coming from a publishing house called Silver Shamrock, I got exactly what I was expecting. It was a funny horror novella for those that enjoy some gross content with their scares. Do you know what Silver Shamrock is referencing? Did you enjoy Halloween III? You'd probably like this one!

3 stars--I liked the book. 5 stars for the cover though--I really love the vintage pulp look. Trigger warnings for rape, STDs, possession/body horror.

This was a quick and surprisingly humorous book of body horror. In fact, I think it was a little too quick--we barely got to know the characters (but then again, could this breezy plot hold up to a longer narrative? Probably not). I think the book really wants to be edgy, but it's not really. If you set aside all the gross bodily fluids, a lot of this book is urban fantasy, where the narrator sees and tries to comfort ghosts and performs exorcisms using weird magic.

Occasionally the story veers into cringey "men writing women" territory, but overall I had fun.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Silver Shamrock Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book. Publish date: 14.9.2020.

On the whole, this book didn't really hit the mark for me. Individual parts of it were really good and I loved them, other parts just left a bit of a funny taste in my mouth.

To start off our story we meet Carrie, who is possessed by something she calls Wishes. At this point we have no idea how this possession came about and were thrown in at the deep end as she picks herself up after the Wishes forced her to have sexual relations that she cannot remember.

At this point, I really struggled with what the plot was... There felt like there wasn't one.

I also had issues with a lot in this story... This guy just let her in his house after they had sex that she can't remember giving consent for, she had sex with minors, who videoed it and shared it online! There are zero consequences for any of this and we were just expected to accept that this was all OK.

The Body Will Follow was quite a short story in page length, but it was so hard to read, I kept having to take a break and come back to it.

However, I will say that when the author wrote about the ghosts, the possessions and the corpse, it was written really well and piqued my interest. These parts were what a proper ghost/horror story should be about!

I was also really disappointed with the ending and the explanation that we got, it felt a bit rubbish and left me feeling unfulfilled.

Overall, I feel this book missed the mark a little bit. It could have done with less non consensual activities and more ghostly and horror aspects, as these were the best parts.

A gruesome horror story about the aftershock of possession. This is one part comedy, one part dead bodies, one part intense BDSM & another part descriptive gore.

It’s actually a “realistic” portrayal of post-possession: stds, jobless, lice, poor, no friends etc.

It was just... a lot...

I really did not enjoy this one.

I love horror novels, and a novella about a demonic possession seemed like the perfect way to spend a cold wintry evening. The cover of "The Body Will Follow" drew me in, but beyond that, it all stopped working. The characters and dialogue were flat and one dimensional, and the plot was awkward to say the least. Not something I would ever recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and Silver Shamrock Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

"The Wishes" have taken over Carrie's body and made a total wreck of her life. "The Wishes" are wishes you don't want granted and Carrie didn't invite these in. These are the ghosts that have possessed her body so that they can indulge on all of the goodness that the sensory organs of the human body enjoys such as food.....fatty, greasy, meaty food and sex....sex with anyone (and maybe even the furniture). The Wishes don't care if Carrie's body becomes a lice infested open sore.
During her possession Carrie is fortunate to cross paths with two good people and things start looking up, but not without some speedbumps, really close calls and big questions.
I loved this book. I was only halfway through when I downloaded a couple more books by Rob E. Boley. The first person view of possession was unique. I liked that this isn't the stereotypical demonic possession, but more of a ghostly gang takeover. There's plenty of humor too. I had to smile with the titles, "Sir" and "Gimp"(you'll have to read it to know what I mean).. A great ride! Thank you #netgalley #TheBodyWillFollow

Thank you to Silver Shamrock Publishing and NetGalley for this review copy.

One of my favourite things happening right now in current horror is this throwback to 60s and 70s style cover art. I’d like to think a big part of that recurrence is when Grady Hendrix published Paperbacks From Hell (2017.) Or maybe it’s the current upswing in mainstream arthouse horror films, tv shows, and the boom in Young Adult slashers.

I have to say that the first thing that drew me into this novel was the cover. It’s simple and striking and would be exactly the sort of book I’d not be allowed to read if my mom brought it home.

While the cover is a throwback, there is nothing retro about the possession/exorcism narrative in The Body Will Follow. Carrie doesn’t know what day it is. The Wishes have ravished her body, they have destroyed her home, left her friendless, jobless and on the lam. After a torturous exorcism she’s left trying to put her life back together and fill this new emptiness inside her.
A lot of reviewers are complaining about gratuitousness, but I found it to balance the grotesque with an incredibly charming narrator. Don’t get me wrong this book gets gross, oozing, itching, drippy gross, but it didn’t feel out of place with similar exorcism stories.

I’m happy to say this surpassed my expectations, and I look forward to reading more from Rob E. Boley and Silver Shamrock.

This is a fantastic novella that I almost passed on due to some of the low and/or tepid reviews. In case you haven’t read those reviews, there is some controversy surrounding the plot of this book—specifically the idea that a woman is possessed and the possessing spirits force her body to do things to which she hasn’t consented. This has been, obviously, triggering to some readers. If you are concerned about this aspect, as I was, let me reassure you that that is NOT the plot of the entire book; in fact, that element of the story is not treated in a lurid manner and ends after the first chapter. By the end of the second chapter, the possession itself is history. If you are thinking of skipping this one because of the reviews that emphasize this plot point, as I was, please don’t; you’ll be missing out on an excellent reading experience.

(Another reviewer has written with regard to The Body Will Follow, and I’m paraphrasing, “If you read horror and are upset that you are horrified, then maybe you should read something else.” It’s a fair point. I wonder how many of the reviewers who have been extremely angry about this have been just as angry about the exact same thing happening to a male character in the new Wonder Woman movie, a character who is possessed by the ghost of Wonder Woman’s love interest.)

(I also suspect that if the plot had been that the woman had been forced to commit gruesome murders by the possessing spirits, then there would have been no controversy at all—which, as always, says a lot about our society in general.)

So yes, that element is awful, purposely so. However, the seed is planted at the end of the first chapter that this is actually going to be a story of inner strength, of reclaiming one’s power and finding a new purpose for life, and if you continue reading you’ll see that that is exactly what happens.

I found this to be an extremely effective and scary novella. It is also surprisingly funny. So if you are having second or third thoughts about trying this, let me encourage you to go ahead.

This read like mediocre fan fiction with strange highlights of eroticism and porn like possession.

I would not recommend this book to anyone; and I don't think that I'll ever be a fan of Boley's work.

But I do thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this work. It made me realize that the topic of demonic possession makes for much better movies than books.