A page-turning psychological mystery that will keep you reading to the wee hours! I want to avoid any spoilers here, so tempting to comment on the story itself - but just read it. Well fleshed-out characters that will keep you engaged and what you think is going on, may or may not be reality. The mix of reality and games the mind can play is well done - you really won't be sure of anything until the end.

I thought that Possession was a very intense thriller with an intriguing storyline. Hannah’s first husband was murdered 10 years ago. Hannah has moved away from the memories, but a true-crime podcast is about to bring all of those memories back. Hannah is an unreliable narrator, and I loved how throughout the whole book, I got a sense of her holding back information or being cagey. The book kept and caught my attention early.

Possession is about how a true-crime podcast about her husband’s murder 10 years ago threatens to upturn the new life she has built. Hannah starts to question the truth and whether the person behind bars is truly her husband’s murderer.

Possession started off really strong and I enjoyed it, but the plot started to get convoluted, riddled with many plot holes to the point I got so confused. The pacing was so slow due to the fact that nothing really happens in the first half of the book. Hannah kept going on and on about Graham’s death, to the point it got repetitive and boring.

Additionally, I felt that there were too many storylines going on at once. The actual murder mystery, the mental health storyline, the catfishing storyline and the ghost storyline. It was too convoluted and hard to keep up with.

Hannah was an interesting character. She was written as someone unlikeable and annoying. This was an interesting take because I didn’t know whether I should root for her or not. Was she is guilty or not? I liked the direction Lowe took with Hannah’s characterization because it blurred the lines between fact and fiction.

Overall, this was a solid read but had the potential to be better. I still enjoyed it regardless.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

As a fan of Serial, Dirty Doctor and other true crime podcasts, I was thrilled to hear about the plotline of this book. It started off with a chill:

It’s the sound of my husband’s blood on the floorboards that wakes me.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Soft little splashes on the bedroom floor.

Oh, how spine-tingling! Unfortunately, the book just couldn’t hold my attention past this.

Hannah can’t remember the events leading up to this moment, when she finds her husband stabbed to death in their bed. The police look at her suspiciously, but leads are gathered, an arrest is made and the home intruder responsible for the murder is conviceted. But was he really the killer? That is the premise of the podcast Conviction, which will upend Hannah’s life 10 years later. Was the intruder framed? What about the family secret Hannah hides about her grandmother? Is Hannah slowly losing her mind? Quite early in the book, I found myself not caring. There were so many side stories and misdirections, it was just confusing and the story didn’t flow. The characters are well-developed, but they were unrelatable and downright unlikable in some instances. You do feel for Hannah, whose life is turned topsy-turvy by the podcast. In the end, though, the story just didn’t deliver and was a disappointment.

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Possession will grip you from the start. Hannah is a Psychiatrist who has tried to move on from her past life, she moved from bustling London into a cottage in a small town with her daughter and had even found love again. She has settled into what seems to be a peaceful existence, except she seems to be timid most of the time and continually apologetic for everything, even if there is no reason for an apology. She is haunted constantly by her past, glimpses of her ill mother, a lost patient and the murder of her husband. The book opens with the murder and Hannah is there standing over him with no feeling, the police interrogate her but she insists she doesn't remember anything, she has no idea how he was murdered or who did it. The police come to her and tell her that they found the murderer, a young man and he is convicted. Fast forward 10 years later and a True Crime Podcast decides to dig into the murder because they feel the accused man is innocent. The podcast trashes Hannah and all of her husband's friends and family speak ill of her, so you think wow maybe she did murder him especially since she can't remember anything. But Hannah just seems so detached and cold and always apologizing. I started to get annoyed with her because I couldn't understand how this Psychiatrist who counsels young women about being strong etc could not be strong herself and allowed the podcast and her family and her friends believe what they were hearing about her. But boy was I wrong about her, and everyone else and did not expect the story to develop how it did. The beginning I felt ahh ok this is what this is about and I slowly read, but once there was about 100 pages left I was on the edge of my seat and could not get to the end fast enough. I felt ill and angry at times. The story was extremely well written and had me at the edge of my seat until the very end. This is the first book I've read anything by Katie Lowe but look forward to reading other books by her. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this gripping Psychological Thriller.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Hannah's husband was murdered many years ago. On that night Hannah has no memory of what transpired. A man was put in jail for the murder. A podcast called convictions wants to reopen the case. They don't believe that Hannah has no memory of that night. This book had many twists and turns.

Brief Synopsis:
We're following Hannah Catton, a psychiatrist, who killed her husband, by stabbing him in the neck with a kitchen knife. In addition to Hannah murdering her husband, she somehow managed to get away with it by condemning an innocent man in prison. Don't worry, this is not a spoiler. Fast forward 10 years, now living with her beau Dan and daughter Evie, she soon comes to realize that her past has come back to haunt her when a podcast called Conviction: "The Murder of Graham Catton" is soon to be aired. Furthermore, Hannah soon learns that this is only the beginning of a never ending nightmare.

Quick Eval:
While this story definitely started with a bang, I would have to say that there were some details that could've been left out, without affecting the plot of the story. However, Lowe did a fantastic job in providing enough suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat. There were many instances where I was left with an uneasy feeling unsure of what to expect next.

My thoughts:
Even though I previously mentioned that some details could've been left out, they were very much so minor details. I can say without a doubt that I did not foresee that plot twist which led me to not be able to put this down once the events started to unravel. With that being said, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading psychological thrillers with an ending that you will not see coming.

Trigger Warnings: Emotional/Mental Abuse, Suicide and Mental Illness

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Well-written, although painfully redundant at times.  This book should have been shorter by about a third.  Light formatting issues and at least one page that was an exact repeat of the previous page.  I did not expect the ending and did not guess the twist.  Good work, Author. 

Finally, the title made NO SENSE.  Conviction or Obsession maybe, but not Possession.

Following the trend of true crime podcasts is the trend of books featuring true crime podcasts, and I am here for it! In Possession, we hear the the crime podcast Conviction cover the murder of Graham Catton. Ten years ago, his wife Hannah awoke to find him bloodied and dead, and another man was convicted of killing him. But the evidence was scant, and Conviction spins the story that Hannah may have gotten away with murder...

This book was twisty and suspenseful without being too ridiculous - my kind of thriller! Hannah was a good unreliable narrator, and her boyfriend and daughter filled out the character list well. I really liked the podcast element - it's an effective way to give flashbacks and multiple perspectives without bogging down the narrative, and the different topics covered in each episode helped build suspense. I thought I had everything figured out 90% of the way through - WRONG. I loved the twists and turns at the end, and I think other thriller lovers will enjoy this book as much as I did!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Possession or The Murder of Graham Catton is a complex mystery/crime/psychological thriller that completely gripped me from the start. In 2008, Hannah's husband Graham is brutally murdered and Hannah cannot remember exactly what happened. The police find a suspect and convict him and she moves on with her life. Ten years later, a popular true-crime podcast with a history of overturning convictions chooses Graham's story for its latest season. Not only does it dredge up everything that happened but Hannah and her now teenaged daughter, Evie, are at the centre of public speculation and backlash that tears their lives apart leaving them changed forever. The themes in the novel were incredibly interesting, particularly that of manipulation and 'reality'. Hannah's work as a psychiatrist allows for a brilliantly constructed narrator that both recognises the warning signs but also falls in despite herself. The story is tightly constructed so that by the end you are fully satisfied. Halfway through I was thinking there was a little bit too much going on all at once, but Lowe masterfully brings all the threads together in a hugely satisfying and engaging way. The last hundred pages or so I basically HAD to read in one sitting. I really, really enjoyed this book. I would give it trigger warnings for eating disorders, domestic abuse and violence, however, just so people know what sensitive material is used here.

I do wish we could have got a final confrontation/conversation between Hannah and her friend Sarah as Sarah was such a compelling character and their relationship was so believable and then she was mostly gone from the narrative, her subsequent plot points occurring offscreen and with no right to reply. This is just a minor point though, generally, this novel was expertly crafted and hugely engaging. I loved it.

I honestly wasn’t sure about this book, even as far as 2/3 in. It seemed to be a pretty straightforward story of a woman who killed her husband and felt haunted by him. Ooh, was I wrong! I’m happy that I stuck with it because it was the mother of all twists! Basically, the whole story came together in one fell swoop and I was truly blown away! This turned out to be one helluva story and the author managed it flawlessly. This was the best book I’ve read in a very long time! Very highly recommended!

Katie Lowe is one talented author!!

This is one gripping and twisted psychological thriller with a true crime podcast, Hannah trying to move on 10 years after her husband's death and Hannah's dead husband haunting her. Old abandoned mansion. Characters keeping secrets.
You never know what is going to happen next.

This has to be one of my favorite reads this year, I couldn't put it down and found myself wanting more of this story. While there are a lot of side stories going on, I found it very easy to keep track of and made it all the more interesting to keep reading on!
I love a good psychological thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Possession is a twisted psychological thriller about a crime coming back to haunt a woman when a true crime podcast decides to look into her dead husbands murder from ten years earlier. Hannah says she doesn’t remember what happened that night and a stranger was convicted of the crime. Now, a podcast famous for getting old verdicts overturned is looking into what really happened claiming the police framed the man in prison and Hannah is keeping secrets. Hannah thought she got away from the past when she left London behind. What really happened that night? Why doesn’t Hannah remember? The story is filled with plenty of suspense to keep readers guessing. The writing is solid and fast-paced. Be prepared to be on the edge of your seat throughout! Highly recommended to anyone looking for an unpredictable psychological thriller. Be sure to check out Possession asap!

Ten years ago, Hannah’s husband was brutally murdered in their home and she claims she doesn’t remember a thing that happened that night at least that’s what she tells the cops. She is cleared of the crime and the police charged and convicted someone else that she didn’t know for the crime. Afterword she takes her six-year-old daughter Evie and leaves London and everything behind. But 10 years later a true crime podcast called Conviction which is known for getting cases reopened and convictions overturned decides to turn its attention to her husband’s murder for their new season. They start digging into the case and say that the cops framed the guy convicted for the crime and that Hannah’s memory loss is suspicious and she needs to be looked at more closely. She is now living in Hawkwood, a small rural village with her teenage daughter Evie and her longtime boyfriend Dan. She is practicing psychiatrist who works with clients who have eating disorders and this just blows up her peaceful happy life.

This was a really interesting read. I liked how once the podcasts starts dropping new episodes that we get a chapter dedicated to it and the fallout for Hannah with her job and the increased media scrutiny which is slowing making the people closest to her doubt her innocence. It got kind of convoluted with how much her mental state was deteriorating throughout the book on what was actually fact and what was her delusion and if it all was a delusion. The ending though was just oh man did not see that coming and it was so crazy who was really behind everything. I couldn’t put it down once I started, I just had to keep reading to figure out what was going on. Just a really good read and really interesting integrating a podcast in the narrative of the book.

Thanks to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

I really wanted to like this as it is just the type of story I love, but for some reason I could not get into it. It was hard to feel for the characters and connect with Hannah. She was kind of boring and I just could not care one way or another what happened to her. I hate to say I didn’t even finish this one.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is narrated from the POV of Hannah. At the beginning of the story her husband has died. He's been stabbed. Hannah doesn't remember what happened. She's cleared of the crime, and a man is sentenced for robbing and murdering his victim. 10 years later Hannah is moved to Derbyshire with her teenage daughter and husband. She's practising as a psychiatrist, dealing with eating disorders. Her life is thrown off balance when a true crime podcast beginning investigating the death of her husband and they're convinced the wrong man got arrested...

This had a great premise, but unfortunately the execution fell flat for me. I found the dialogues a bit too try hard, and overall there was too much happening. Regarding the unreliable narrator part of the book I guessed Hannah's secret so I wasn't too surprised by that twist, although there were other reveals that left me surprised. Overall this was a convoluted story that doesn't quite deliver.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This psychological thriller was impossible to put down. The ending was unexpected but satisfying.

A book that involves both a haunting and a true crime podcast? It's as if this was made with me in mind! Possession is the story of Hannah who may or may not have killed her husband ten years ago. She can't remember. Or maybe she can. But her life is happy until Conviction, a true crime podcast, decides that the death of her husband is the focus of its next season. Throw in that same husband beginning to whisper to her, and you get an atmospheric thriller.

Hannah's continuous doubts about her own guilt leave the reader questioning what is real. Is she being haunted? Is she crazy? Did she murder Graham? I have to say the last third of the book consumed me. I could not stop until I knew the shocking truth.

This was exactly what someone would need to get out of a book slump. I won't lie, some parts lost me and I got bored but it picked up shortly after I had those feelings. This will be the thriller of the winter and I can't wait to see the reaction from the public. The writing was fantastic and the story more complex than you could imagine. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

This was a very intelligent book, was she an unreliable narrator, being driven by guilt over a murder she committed, brought back to life by a podcast, in which everyone believed she got away with it? was it a ghost story, were there multiple unreliable narrators, almost no one to be trusted, this is a story both of the far past, of her grandmother and her sanity and murders she committed, the past of her relationship with her former husband and the present. was this a ghost story, a haunted house, and the ghost of her former husband still tormenting her