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marilynw's review against another edition
3.0
Possession by Katie Lowe
Possession could have a lot going for it but so much is thrown into the mix that it feels like a muddled mess. Still, a muddled mess can work in the book's favor since the main character, Hannah, is a muddled mess. She's a massively unreliable narrator, it seems she doesn't even know how to put one foot in front of the other, at times. Even ten years after her husband is murdered she has his emotionally abusive words running through her head, night and day. She thinks that she feels his physically abusive hands on her, from the grave. And now, after enduring accusations that she murdered her husband ten years ago, after finally having the peace of a loving live-in partner, Dan, and knowing her sixteen year old daughter can't be taken away from her by late husband Graham, a podcast is going to blow the entire case open again.
Mike, the guy who was finally charged with the murder of Graham, has been released from prison after being wrongly framed and convicted. Now eyes are again turned on Hannah, as the moderator of a weekly podcast has built a strong case against Hannah, full of evidence and witnesses. Hannah, who had always been on shaky mental/emotional ground, is now thinking that she killed Graham. She can't remember what happened that night, she knew she wanted to kill him and had a knife in her hand and now even her fiancé and her daughter are looking at her with suspicion.
I wanted to love this story and instead, I had a hard time with it, almost the entire way. The cops seem to be extremely inept, when they weren't being crooked, in both timelines. A certain someone has the most awesome ability to do incredible things with blood, clothes, weapons and personal banking info that doesn't belong to them. Hannah seems flat out mentally ill while working as a psychiatrist, she has a grandmother that may have killed her family, two dead or missing patients on her resume, a zillion enemies and and just a few friends who might as well be enemies. I finished the story because I wanted to know what happened that night, ten years ago, but it was a long and arduous journey before I could find out the answer.
Publication: Feb 9, 2021
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.
Possession could have a lot going for it but so much is thrown into the mix that it feels like a muddled mess. Still, a muddled mess can work in the book's favor since the main character, Hannah, is a muddled mess. She's a massively unreliable narrator, it seems she doesn't even know how to put one foot in front of the other, at times. Even ten years after her husband is murdered she has his emotionally abusive words running through her head, night and day. She thinks that she feels his physically abusive hands on her, from the grave. And now, after enduring accusations that she murdered her husband ten years ago, after finally having the peace of a loving live-in partner, Dan, and knowing her sixteen year old daughter can't be taken away from her by late husband Graham, a podcast is going to blow the entire case open again.
Mike, the guy who was finally charged with the murder of Graham, has been released from prison after being wrongly framed and convicted. Now eyes are again turned on Hannah, as the moderator of a weekly podcast has built a strong case against Hannah, full of evidence and witnesses. Hannah, who had always been on shaky mental/emotional ground, is now thinking that she killed Graham. She can't remember what happened that night, she knew she wanted to kill him and had a knife in her hand and now even her fiancé and her daughter are looking at her with suspicion.
I wanted to love this story and instead, I had a hard time with it, almost the entire way. The cops seem to be extremely inept, when they weren't being crooked, in both timelines. A certain someone has the most awesome ability to do incredible things with blood, clothes, weapons and personal banking info that doesn't belong to them. Hannah seems flat out mentally ill while working as a psychiatrist, she has a grandmother that may have killed her family, two dead or missing patients on her resume, a zillion enemies and and just a few friends who might as well be enemies. I finished the story because I wanted to know what happened that night, ten years ago, but it was a long and arduous journey before I could find out the answer.
Publication: Feb 9, 2021
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.
ettaenni's review
4.0
Graham Catton oli arvostettu kirjallisuuden professori, isä ja aviomies, joka löydettiin kymmenen vuotta sitten murhattuna sängystään. Vaimo Hannah Catton ei omien sanojensa mukaan muista murhayöstä mitään ja lopulta teosta tuomitaan vähäisin perustein Mike Philips, perheelle tuntematon mies.
Kymmenen vuotta myöhemmin toimittaja Anna Byers tarttuu tapaukseen tunnetussa true crime -podcastissaan, joka on ennenkin saanut tuomioita muutettua ja suljettuja tapauksia avattua uudelleen. Kuka todella tappoi Graham Cattonin ja miksi? Eikö Hannah tosiaan muista yöstä mitään?
***
Tää oli niin mukaansatempaava kirja! Koko kirjan ajan rakennetaan epäilystä ja jännitystä tekijästä ja murhan tapahtumien kulusta. Ja mitä pidemmälle mennään, sitä epäluotettavammalle kertoja alkaakin tuntua. Kuka on oikeessa?
Kymmenen vuotta myöhemmin toimittaja Anna Byers tarttuu tapaukseen tunnetussa true crime -podcastissaan, joka on ennenkin saanut tuomioita muutettua ja suljettuja tapauksia avattua uudelleen. Kuka todella tappoi Graham Cattonin ja miksi? Eikö Hannah tosiaan muista yöstä mitään?
***
Tää oli niin mukaansatempaava kirja! Koko kirjan ajan rakennetaan epäilystä ja jännitystä tekijästä ja murhan tapahtumien kulusta. Ja mitä pidemmälle mennään, sitä epäluotettavammalle kertoja alkaakin tuntua. Kuka on oikeessa?
anna93_'s review against another edition
2.0
book of two halves!
Unfortunately, I found the first half of this book really difficult to get through. The second half picked up considerably.
The book tells the story of a woman who's husband was murdered and she doesn't remember anything about it. A true crime podcast starts that talks about the case and seems to convince all of Twitter that she did it.
The story then progresses with her being 'haunted' by him and slowly losing her mind. This is what makes it difficult to read, as she rambles and repeats a lot of things. It begins to pick up pace after 'episode 5'.
I'm glad I persevered with the book to find out what exactly happened to Graham, her husband.
Unfortunately, I found the first half of this book really difficult to get through. The second half picked up considerably.
The book tells the story of a woman who's husband was murdered and she doesn't remember anything about it. A true crime podcast starts that talks about the case and seems to convince all of Twitter that she did it.
The story then progresses with her being 'haunted' by him and slowly losing her mind. This is what makes it difficult to read, as she rambles and repeats a lot of things. It begins to pick up pace after 'episode 5'.
I'm glad I persevered with the book to find out what exactly happened to Graham, her husband.
stabaquail's review against another edition
2.0
This book is so repetitive throughout, with so little happening. It’s a neverending cycle of people wondering if she killed her husband, her wondering if her fiance and daughter think she killed her husband, her flashing back to her husband being a dick, and then her lying to her fiance a bunch and overall making herself seem more suspicious. I did predict the big twist for the most part so, while the end was more interesting, it still wasn’t that redeeming. I only give 1 star to books I really hate, so this gets 2 stars for just being boring.
Also, while I won’t mark the book down for this since it’s not the author’s fault, the audiobook was not....great. The narrator of the audiobook is fine when she’s narrating the main character, but her male character voices are comically low pitched, like when I’m trying to imitate a bear, the podcast host sounds like an old British witch, and Darcy’s voice is just insanely irritating. It was a little distracting, since it sounded more like she was making fun of the characters rather than reading a book about actual murder.
Also, while I won’t mark the book down for this since it’s not the author’s fault, the audiobook was not....great. The narrator of the audiobook is fine when she’s narrating the main character, but her male character voices are comically low pitched, like when I’m trying to imitate a bear, the podcast host sounds like an old British witch, and Darcy’s voice is just insanely irritating. It was a little distracting, since it sounded more like she was making fun of the characters rather than reading a book about actual murder.
purplepaste's review against another edition
4.0
I found this to be a very stressful read which gave me nightmares past the end of the book. The premise was interesting and there are loads of clues throughout the book. I just would not call this a "beach read" so much as a "prepare to clear your schedule" read.
dhall58's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
karenreads1000s's review against another edition
3.0
Yikes! This book had me feeling super paranoid. The power of the Conviction podcast was maybe the creepiest part!
monsieurmarple's review against another edition
4.0
‘It’s the sound of my husband’s blood on the floorboards that wakes me’
-
I just KNEW I’d love this one! I love authors that have used the true crime podcast phenomenon as a plot point, as a fan of both books and true crime podcasts it perfectly aligns everything I enjoy, and this one in particular made me open my eyes to a whole new perspective on them!!
-
Everyone says Graham Catton was the perfect husband, professor and father.
Why would someone murder him?
His wife, Hannah Catton, tells the police she remembers nothing from the night of the murder.
Why would she lie to them?
Evidence against the accused, Mike Philips, is minimal and he protests his innocence throughout the trial.
Why would they convict him?
Journalist Anna Byers has overturned numerous prison sentences with her popular podcast CONVICTION and she believes the wrong man is behind bars.
What will she do to help him?
Someone knows more about the murder than they’re telling. It may have been Hannah’s husband who was killed, but listeners are about to become judge, jury and executioner on this season of CONVICTION.
-
One of the things I loved about this book is that it gave insight on what it would be like to suddenly find yourself as the topic of a true crime podcast and what some damning accusations from such an outlet can do to your life, career and mental wellbeing. A brilliant read throughout, that kept me on the edge of my seat and dying to know what the next episode would reveal and what was going to happen next in Hannah’s life!
-
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC! Out in the UK 10/6/2021!!
-
I just KNEW I’d love this one! I love authors that have used the true crime podcast phenomenon as a plot point, as a fan of both books and true crime podcasts it perfectly aligns everything I enjoy, and this one in particular made me open my eyes to a whole new perspective on them!!
-
Everyone says Graham Catton was the perfect husband, professor and father.
Why would someone murder him?
His wife, Hannah Catton, tells the police she remembers nothing from the night of the murder.
Why would she lie to them?
Evidence against the accused, Mike Philips, is minimal and he protests his innocence throughout the trial.
Why would they convict him?
Journalist Anna Byers has overturned numerous prison sentences with her popular podcast CONVICTION and she believes the wrong man is behind bars.
What will she do to help him?
Someone knows more about the murder than they’re telling. It may have been Hannah’s husband who was killed, but listeners are about to become judge, jury and executioner on this season of CONVICTION.
-
One of the things I loved about this book is that it gave insight on what it would be like to suddenly find yourself as the topic of a true crime podcast and what some damning accusations from such an outlet can do to your life, career and mental wellbeing. A brilliant read throughout, that kept me on the edge of my seat and dying to know what the next episode would reveal and what was going to happen next in Hannah’s life!
-
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC! Out in the UK 10/6/2021!!
elizmiller06's review against another edition
4.0
This book started out really slow for me and was hard to get through because of that it did pick and hold my interest in the last 15 chapters...