Read Completed 2/26/24 | 2 stars
I really wanted to like this and it sounded so promising, but its ultimate downfall was a combination of plot and pacing. I understand the concept behind the style and how it was written to be a little disjointed as Sydney falls back into a cycle of addiction, but parts of it were hard to follow and the plot suffered as we spent time in Sydney's mind and didn't really get answers for most things.

The beginning of the book was very fast-paced and horrifyingly exciting as Sydney is ambushed in a burglary turned home invasion. She wasn't supposed to be home and fights off a man looking for something in her house. He ends up brutally murdered and the police think that Sydney did it but she has no memory of it. Great hook for the beginning!

As I kept reading, I got a little frustrating with the flashing back and forth because until I got the hang of it, I wasn't sure if one timeline was imaginary or real, or if they were supposed to be happening at the same time. It was a little jarring, but eventually I figured it out! I got a little bored in places and I almost DNFed twice and then it got interesting again. Sydney would find mysterious connections, odd patterns and symbols, and I got interested again. Sadly, none of that ever really panned out and we don't get a good explanation for anything. Yes, we find out what the connection IS in a sort of blurry info dump, but that doesn't really get explored beyond just telling the reader what it is. We don't really find out more about it afterwards.

I also don't really understand what the "seven visitations" were... Were those just the times when Sydney relapsed? This was categorized as horror but really once you find out what's happening, it's really more sci-fi thriller but with very little sci-fi. I expected a lot more horror and supernatural happening, but everything had a reason, even if the reason was not good.

Ultimately, I think this book just needed a little more focus and to clean things up a little bit. It is a book about addiction, tied in with another genre. What that genre was, I still can't really tell. I wish it leaned more into the horror side if it wanted to be horror, or more into the sci-fi side if it wanted to be sci-fi. The lack of direction and explanation ended up being confusing and left me -- and a lot of other readers -- lost and disappointed. The ending was even more confusing considering we don't get to talk about what this entity is and does, so while a good ending really could have helped, it just kind of fizzled out.

This was a strange novel that made it hard for me to put down. It could be confusing at times since the narrative jumps time throughout, and you don't know what is going on or who you can believe. This book is weird but interesting.
Full review on YouTube

Sydney Burgess had clawed her way out of poverty and degradation to a good life, she thought. She had been a junkie, strung out and living with a drug dealer, when she had her son, Danny. She managed to find the fortitude to leave that man and after a series of dead end jobs and lousy apartments, she had gotten a degree and a good professional job. She met Matt, a good man and together they bought a house and built a good family life. But that was before that day.

Sydney returns home early one day in time to walk in on a burglar. Rather than fleeing, he attacks her but she manages to get away and lock herself in a bedroom. When he starts breaking down that door with a knife in his hand, determined to kill her, she jumps out the window and runs to the neighbors. But in the hospital, the sheriff doesn't remember the incident the way Sydney does. He arrived at her house to find the invader dead, stabbed multiple times.

Sydney has no memory of fighting the man, much less killing him. But the sheriff is certain she has. Then Danny who is now eleven, starts to shy away from her, telling her that her face doesn't look right. Danny's father who she hasn't seen in eight years, now reappears. Her in-laws are determined to break up her and Matt. What is going on and why is her world starting to change so much? Soon, she starts to suspect Matt of doing things behind her back and lying to her. Is that valid? Is everyone really against her? Is she losing everything?

Andy Marino is known for his work in the horror genre. He specializes in lives that start out as ordinary and then are changed forever through no fault of the individual and that is definitely true in this novel. Sydney has spent so many years doing whatever she can to provide a good life for Danny and now sees it slipping away day by day. The horror of watching her lose more and more is chilling as is the visitation of something she cannot explain or ignore. I listened to this book and the narrator did an impressive job of building the suspense and horror Sydney is experiencing. This book is recommended for horror readers.

What happens when a man has entered your house and you catch him in the act? What happens when you wake up in the hospital with no memory of what came after you coming in through the door? And what if that is only the beginning of the story? The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess was on my radar for a while precisely for these questions and while some where answered, many others popped up. Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Addiction is a major theme in The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess. As I have no experience with it, I cannot quite speak to whether its depiction of the struggle with addiction is accurate, per se. What I can say is that it is described viscerally. Andy Marino takes no prisoners, describing both the lyrical highs and the oceanic lows of drug addiction in such a way that as a reader you can't help but follow Sydney through each. The lure of the escape that drugs provide is described in such a clear yet prosaic way that it gave me a whole new understanding of addiction. Yet The Seven Visitations should probably come with a warning for those that have or are struggling with addiction issues, as the theme runs consistently throughout the entire book and could be difficult to read because of that. While Marino in no way hides the despair of a come down or the devastating consequences, the descriptions of Sydney's memories of soaring high could be triggering.

Sydney came home when she shouldn't have and now she's lying in the hospital and a man is lying dead in her guest-bedroom. She can't remember killing the man, but she does know something is different. The cops don't believe her, as her past of drug addiction casts every one of her statements in a suspicious light for them. But then memories begin to resurface, along with strange happenings and voices. Flying back and forth across its timeline, The Seven Visitations tells a complex tale of love, addiction, possession, and the quest for your true self. Sydney is a complex character who makes for a very unreliable narrator at times. For the first half of the book you can't be quite sure she isn't just making it all up, but in the second half you wish that was the case. As Sydney keeps looking for answers, so a Lovecraftian atmosphere creeps into the narrative. What's inside of her? Is it just her own past that is haunting her or is something actually stalking her footsteps? The constant back and forth can be confusing, especially in an audiobook. A minute of distraction potentially means something important has been missed. And yet I loved the puzzle of The Seven Visitations, the way in which it slowly revealed itself in all its horror, not unlike the lock puzzle box in Hellraiser. Oh and this book features one of the worst mother-in-laws ever, I despised that woman.

Andy Marino does a brilliant job grounding the reader in harsh reality right from the outset. The first few chapters in which Sydney encounters the house invader and faces initial questioning are stunning in the way they immediately grip the reader by the throat. These opening chapters are also crucial because as the narrative becomes more ambiguous and disjointed, they form the cornerstone for the reader's investment in Sydney herself. As she makes her choices, for good or bad, we can't help but remember the fear of those first few chapters and feel for her. As we are solely seeing it all from her perspective, the other characters to some extent remain a mystery. What is their motivation? What do they know? These all add to the paranoia seeping through the pages and add to the confusion that rules Sydney. This means that The Seven Visitations is not a straightforward read or listen. It requires focus, a willingness to go on a tangent, to follow Sydney as she rushes from one fear to another, and a determination to see it all through to the bitter end. Christina Lakin did a great job narrating a very difficult book. The way she infuses her voice with warmth when Sydney thinks of her son, or with the harshness when the addiction is speaking, or quiet terror when it becomes clear something much larger is at play; it is all brilliantly executed.

The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess is not an easy read or listen. Full of difficult themes, damning questions and eldritch fear, Marino has created quite the story. I'd highly recommend this to any fan of Horror and of disjointed narratives.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart. It is an extremely graphic, violent, gory, gruesome, and disturbing work of fiction.

The narration style was extremely disorienting, probably done purposefully. It flips back and forth between lucid moments and then to nightmarish, almost hellish scenes. It makes sense as part of the story, but it was very confusing to read.

An intruder breaks into your home, you have no idea what happened, but next thing you know you are waking up in the hospital and the police tell you the intruder is dead. You killed him. This is the start of The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess, and then the story progresses from there. When I heard about this one, I just had to read it.

I was lucky enough to do a listen/reading combo and I adored the narrator. If you like audiobooks you will understand what I mean when I say I just clicked with the narrators voice. I went through audible to see what else she had narrated and added to my list. Her voice totally brought this story alive, and she kept my attention through out. I definitely recommend the audio version. The story does jump around timelines, but I didn’t find it to confusing, just keep with it.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t say too much. But if you like descriptive unique writing with a mix of sci fi, mystery, and horror then I think you will enjoy this one. I thought this book dealt with some tough issues in a very honest way. I don’t think this book is for everyone, but I did enjoy it, and I do think some of you will love it as well.

Thank you so much @redhookbooks @hachetteaudio for my copies!

A home invasion gone seriously wrong. Although, are home invasions ever right? But I digress. The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess kind made me think that this would be about ghostly possession. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Sydney Burgess surprises a home invader ransacking her home and winds up in the hospital. It seems that she murdered the burglar. In a most cold, calculated and personal way. Of course, Sydney has no knowledge of this. She only knows she tried to run away. But then how was she covered in blood and struggling to make the pieces of that night fit?
When the pieces do start to fit (Sydney is shown what happened in stops and starts) this former addict drowns the things she can't cope with in alcohol and cocaine. But that was the whole problem and leads to the biggest betrayal in her life from someone who is supposed to love her the most.
The end was sad and horrifying and completely what I expected from a horror novel.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the Hachette for this e-audio novel.*

**please note due to low rating I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.**

Narrator 5 stars

Story 2 stars

This story started out strong, but then it went no where fast. At about the 50% mark I absolutely lost all interest in it.

For most of The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess I either felt extreme anxiety or confusion - like I was tripping balls through Sydney’s really bad hallucinations. I’m still not quite sure what I listened to. I feel like this is an audiobook that may have been better for me to read instead and this is the first time I’ve ever said that.

For one, I had a hard time keeping up with the time frame - which jumped around a lot without warning - and trying to determine what the nature of the story is supposed to be. I’m still not sure if Sydney is actually possessed/taken over by ‘the swimmer’ or if she’s just circling the drain of drug addiction and hallucinating? It all felt fragmented and confusing, like there were whole chapters that were missing.

I'm really sorry that I didn't enjoy the story but I did enjoy the narrator, Christine Lakin. I'm very familiar with her work and she's a joy to listen to.

Thank you for the chance to review this audiobook.

This was a very unique and intriguing book and I have no idea how to rate/review this. The beginning chapters were immediately compelling and the whole atmosphere was the perfect kind of unsettling and mysterious for me. If people do not enjoy disjointed narratives or ambiguity, do not read this. If, like myself, you enjoy nonlinear and disjointed narrative styles, I think you will enjoy this. Some things were a little too ambiguous for me, and I wish I had someone to explain some things to me. But ultimately, I loved the creepy and vivid writing and interesting storyline.

Sydney returned home one day to find a strange man in her house. A battle for her life begun then. She awoke, days later, in a hospital bed, with multiple wounds across her body but, thankfully, alive and hopeful to make a full recovery. The same could not be said for the intruder. He had been stabbed multiple time and his flesh was carved away in deep grooves. Is Sydney responsible for this brutal killing and was it done in the name of self-defence? The police seem to think so and site Sydney's dark past as evidence of what exactly she is capable of.

This was such an intensely interesting read and I became immediately invested in discovering all the many mysteries it featured. Who was the intruder and what did he want? Did Sydney kill him and, if not, who did? Who knows the truth and what other secrets are they keeping? Events only continued to become more horrifying and sinister as Sydney worked towards resolving them.

Asides from this well-penned mystery, this also contained a focus on Sydney's past. She had worked hard to rebuild her life and become clean, after years of drug addiction and abuse. The police seemed determined to never let her forget this, despite the happy home she had built with her current partner and son. Faces from her past also continue to reveal themselves that lead her to also begin to believe that she was not as separated from the person she used to be as she thought.

The narrator, Christine Lakin, did a wonderful job of narrating this audiobook. It brought the story to life and had me hooked on every word it contained.

🔪 Book Review 🔪

🔪 The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess by Andy Marino

🔪 Publication Date - September 28th 2021

🔪 Possession is an addiction.
Sydney's spent years burying her past and building a better life for herself and her young son. A respectable marketing job, a house with reclaimed and sustainable furniture, and a boyfriend who loves her son and accepts her, flaws and all.
But when she opens her front door, and a masked intruder knocks her briefly unconscious, everything begins to unravel.
She wakes in the hospital and tells a harrowing story of escape. Of dashing out a broken window. Of running into her neighbors' yard and calling the police.
The cops tell her a different story. Because the intruder is now lying dead in her guest room—murdered in a way that looks intimately personal.
Sydney can't remember killing the man. No one believes her.

Back home, as horrific memories surface, an unnatural darkness begins whispering in her ear. Urging her back to old addictions and a past she's buried to build a better life for herself and her son.
As Sydney searches for truth among the wreckage of a past that won't stay buried for long, the unquiet darkness begins to grow. To change into something unimaginable.
To reveal terrible cravings of its own.

🔪 I am honestly going to say that this book was just not for me. I listened to this on Audiobook and the narrator was great, changing her voice to each character and putting in the right emotion but I still couldn't grasp the book. I will try again with a real copy and that may help for myself though.

🔪 The pretence of the story was something I was hoping would grip me from the start, I love a story where the main character is fighting some real demons but it just felt a bit too far fetched for me.

🔪 The narrative was quite fragmented which I believe is to convey Sydney's mind but instead of pulling me in more it seemed to just make me confused as to what was happening in the story.

🔪 Each section of the book is of one visitation - which I loved but as Sydney is on a downward spiral it seemed that the book was also on the same spiral downwards.

Ok, where to start with this one...

This book starts out as a thriller, which I was so here for. I love a good thriller. I also knew going in that it was in the horror genre, but on that front, it wasn't at all what I was expecting. I would also add here that it has a bit of a Sci-Fi aspect which is why it wasn't quite what I had envisioned in my mind going into this one.

Now I love a good genre mashup when executed well. This one was good, but was quite confusing at times. Don't get me wrong, it was interesting, I just don't think it hit the mark by trying to do too much. It felt disjointed and the flow was off. I think the author intended a lot of this, but it didn't quite work from a readers perspective.

If you look at the story as a whole, it was good. I enjoyed the characters and the thoughts that went through Syndey's head during these posessions. As a mother I could feel Sydney's love for her son. I know she was trying to do her best for him, but her possessions threw her off of all the hard work she had done and I felt so bad for both her and her son while I watched their life come undone.

The audiobook was done well. I enjoyed the narrator and felt Lakin did a wonderful job in creating character and feeling throughout the story.

Though this one didn't hit with me, I do think Marino is a talented writer and might be interested to see what may come later from him.

Thank you to Redhook Books, Hachette Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Uh. For me a sci-fi novel. But maybe for some lovers of sci-fi not enough. The seven parts were a mix from past and present and told by unreliable narrator Sydney and her Son and her boyfriend. I am not usef ti this kind of formations and was a difficult read. But interesting to try something new.

Thanks to Netgalley.com and Hachette Audio for this listening.

A terrifying home invasion becomes a nightmare of lost memories and accusations of murder in this tense thriller. Sydney has her life on track, good job, nice home for her son and a kind and decent boyfriend. That all goes up in smoke when she opens the door to a masked intruder who knocks her unconscious. When she comes to in the hospital, she’s told she escaped through a broken window and summoned help. Sydney remembers none of it. The police aren’t buying her story, all they see is a man dead in Sydney’s home, killed in a way that makes them suspect she knew the killer and that his death was no accident. All the while, Sydney proclaims her innocence, and the fact that she remembers nothing, but as her memory slowly returns, she begins to realize she might not be so innocent after all