Review of A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

 I have not sought out novels depicting exorcisms, but seem to have stumbled upon many of them. 

After enjoying My Best Friend’s Exorcism, I thought this might be up the same alley. It was. But Tremblay’s tone is his own.
The most striking aspects of the writing emerge during the scenes between the two sisters. Seldom have I read more convincing dialogue between children. Convincing is a mighty good adjective to use when describing the scenes in this novel. Though the density of information is fairly low, I found that the scenes accomplished much. The author plays with predictable tropes and shoehorns in a frame story. I was not crazy about the blogger perspective. The sections felt very contemporary in my mind. Much more satisfying were the family scenes, uniformly told through the lens of the young Mary. The ordeal she undergoes builds in a typical, cinematic fashion toward the climax and even more horrifying dénouement.
A common approach for these types of stories is to have the possessed person speak in ways that inspire fear. Tremblay does that in several ways. He has her change voices and mention many things she could not know. Not only that but he has characters analyze the voices and fact-check the abstruse references.
The book takes a dim view of religious salvation, as expected. The skeptics are similarly dismissed here. The book exists on the liminal margin between belief and publicity hoax shock value. The documentary stylings were appreciated. A throwback to nineties and early oughts primetime slop. Ghost hunters, anyone? The interior monologue was bloated in the first scenes, but smoothed out midway through. It felt like establishing the voice took too long.
The audiobook version was consummately read by the twee-voiced Joy Osmanski, a real-life actress I would never recognize. Whether or not I make it through the remainder of Tremblay’s novels and stories will depend upon whether he can sustain this level of polished dialogue and the balance of scene impact. I don’t care for blatant social commentary, but he worked it in well enough to pass.