I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Possession
by
Kat Richardson
urban fantasy in Hardcover edition that was published by ROC on August 6, 2013 and has 368 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Mean Streets, Greywalker, Poltergeist, Underground, Vanished, Labyrinth, Downpour, Seawitch, Revenant, Indigo
Eighth in the Greywalker urban fantasy series revolving around Blaine Harper, a private psychic detective who walks the Grey in Seattle.
My Take
This was terrifying enough even though I knew that Harper would win the day. Thank god for Chaos! Richardson’s descriptions of this chuckling little fuzz ball and his antics helped defuse the terror.
It’s a tightrope that Harper and Quinton walk as he tries to bring down his father while keeping Harper’s abilities from him. The last thing Harper wants is to end up on a slab in a government lab.
It’s a perfect plot with nothing that hangs together. At least not until we get deep enough into the book when the dangling, disparate bits do display their connections. It’s a hard task made more difficult by the riddles thrown out by the ghosts. Then the revelations from Carlos and Cameron about the extent of Harper’s family: the ones you can choose and those you can’t. It only makes the impossible worse.
It’s been so long since I last read a Greywalker novel that I don’t remember what happened to Phoebe. I do wish Richardson had given a few more clues on this.
No, I’m not buying Harper’s waffling about paying up her end with Carlos. Why wouldn’t she tell him? Then there’s Quinton’s comment about hoping his “sister’s a bastard, too, because having you for a grandfather — ” just doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t father have been more appropriate?
Why hasn’t Quinton done more to stop his dad if this is just one of the experiments he’s seen? I hate that Quinton leaves him alive. It makes sense why he does, but I don’t like it at all!
I dunno. I loved and disliked this one. It’s a horrifying story with a powerful government entity behind it, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next. The dislike part was all the buildup. Pages and pages of it only to have it all resolved, very easily, in the last few.
In some ways, it’s old home week as Harper makes the rounds visiting characters within the series. No, they’re not all here, for the Danzigers are still in Europe. I suspect we’ll be seeing them in Revenant, 9.
The Story
It’s when her sister, Julie, starts painting without being aware of doing it that Lillian Goss searches desperately for help. For Lillian knows that her sister is possessed. The signs are all there, and yet Father Nybeck won’t help her. She’s at her wit’s end until she hears about Harper Blaine.
It’s questions and curiosity that turn up more victims suffering from PVS, and a note written in his own handwriting that starts the timer counting down. The race is on to find and cure them before it’s too late for them, and for the city.
The Characters
Harper Blaine is a private investigator with a special ability to “see” and move through the supernatural after several brushes with death. Nothing normal for her, she’s on call for the uncanny as the go-between, the negotiator, the troubleshooter, a general fixer of all things. Chaos is her manic ferret, the carpet shark, LOL. Quinton, a.k.a., J.J., is her electronics genius of a boyfriend scrambling to thwart his father’s plans and continue to evade the NSA that wants him back.
Phoebe Mason runs Old Possum’s Books ‘n’ Beans, a used bookstore, and she’s one of Harper’s best friends. Family. Simba is one of the shop cats. Poppy Mason is Phoebe’s dad. Hugh is the oldest brother, and he shares the house behind the restaurant with his parents.
Lillian Goss is caring for her sister, Julianne, who is in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). At least she was. Eva Wrothen is one of the few private nurses who will stay on and help care for Julie. Richard Stymak is a medium trying to help.
Kevin Sterling is a tunnel engineer with Mary, his terrified wife, Olivia is his daughter, and a son. Rhiannon Held is the archeological site monitor on the project.
Jordan Delamar plays the banjo at Pike Peak Market and can make a banjo out of anything. Levi Westman is a computer programmer and Jody’s partner. Just not legally. Minty Canter, Ansel Fuso, and Nightingale and Whim Sonder are fellow buskers who try to help find Jordan.
The Ghosts
Mercedes runs ghost tours around Pike Place Market. Cannie Trimble is the first with a message. “Mae West“, a.k.a., Lois Brown died in 1995. Kikisebloo, a.k.a., Princess Angeline, is the daughter of Chief Sealth. Dr. Linda Hazzard was an infamous serial killer who took advantage of odd laws.
The Vampires
It’s been three years since Cameron Shadley, the vampire king in Seattle, ousted Edward in Labyrinth, 5. Carlos is both vampire and necromancer besides being Cameron’s chief adviser in his current role; he’s also the proprietor of Adult Fantasies. He terrifies Harper. Inman is a dhampir who works for Carlos.
James Purlis is Quinton’s dad, in name only. Quinton describes him as “a step away from Satan”. A spy, he’s been hunting down paranormals, experimenting on them in his NSA Ghost Division. He’s demanding Quinton’s participation and will do anything to ensure it. Limos is Hunger Incarnate.
Detective Sergeant Rey Solis is with the Seattle PD and has seen enough of what Harper does to become, well, less skeptical. Dr. Skelleher is Harper’s primary care doctor, and he has literally seen almost all. Harper thinks of the Guardian Beast as her boss in the Grey. Twitcher is/was one of the homeless guys.
The Cover and Title
The cover is cold with a shivering Harper huddled in her black leather jacket atop a building in Pike Place Market as the rain and lightning slash around her and ghostly hands reach out for her.
The title is simple and true, for it is a matter of Possession, and it’s not limited to the victims.
[…] Lillian Goss is caring for her sister, Julianne, who is in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). At least she was. Eva Wrothen is one of the few private nurses who will stay on and help care for Julie. […]