Head Full of Ghosts

One sign of a successful book is how much you think about it after turning its last page. On that count, Head Full of Ghosts is a resounding success. I've thought of this book many times since finishing it... often on rainy dark nights, when I wonder how in the world the author wove such a believable young narrator in with a story that seems straightforward at first, but becomes increasingly creepy and meta. So yeah, I still think about this book, but no, I'm not scared. (Well, maybe a little.) Recommended By Bart K., Powells.com

A chilling thriller that brilliantly blends domestic drama, psychological suspense, and a touch of modern horror, reminiscent of Mark Z. Danielewskis House of Leaves, John Ajvide Lindqvists Let the Right One In, and Shirley Jacksons The Haunting of Hill House.

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.

To her parents despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjories descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts plight. With John, Marjories father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.

Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjories younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface—and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.

“Paul Tremblays terrific A Head Full of Ghosts generates a haze of an altogether more serious kind: the pleasurable fog of calculated, perfectly balanced ambiguity.” New York Times Book Review

“…progressively gripping and suspenseful — (Tremblays) ultimate, bloodcurdling revelation is as sickeningly satisfying as it is masterful.” NPR Books

“Tremblay expertly ratchets up the suspense until the tension is almost at its breaking point.” Kirkus Reviews

“[B]rilliantly creepy.” Library Journal

“The novel is stylishly written and well-conceived.” Booklist

“Gripping and truly scary, this book feels of the moment in a way few thrillers do.” B & N Reads

“[A] scary story, indeed.” BookPage

“A mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising disturbing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.” Buzzfeed

“[A] creepy, interesting read, great for horror fans.” SFRevu

“Crackling with dark energy and postmodern wit...[this] superb novel evokes the very best in the tradition—from Shirley Jackson to Mark Z. Danielewski and Marisha Pessl—while also feeling fresh and utterly new. Deeply funny and intensely terrifying, its a sensory rollercoaster and not to be missed.” Megan Abbott, author of < i=""> The Fever <> and < i=""> Dare Me <>

“Loved it. Highly recommended for anyone who loves engrossing literary horror-undertones of The House of Leaves (but far more accessible) and The Exorcist, and redolent of Shirley Jackson.” Ellen Datlow

“Dark, brilliant, and impossible to predict, [this] is more than a perfect horror story. Its a smart and savage look at American culture in all its madness, and the price girls are forced to pay by a society obsessed with spectacle and sin.” Cara Hoffman, author of < i=""> So Much Pretty <> and < i=""> Be Safe I Love You <>

“A genuinely scary, post-modern homage to classic horror that invokes Stanley Kubrik and Shirley Jackson in equal measure, but also manages to innovate on nearly every page. [It] is unlike any horror novel youve read, and yet hauntingly, frighteningly familiar.” Sara Gran, author of < i=""> Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead <> and < i=""> Come Closer <>

“A Head Full of Ghosts doesnt end just because you close the book. Some horror, it bleeds through the pages, gets onto your hands, stays with you. Youll be thinking about this one long after youve read it.” Stephen Graham Jones, author of < i=""> Demon Theory <> and < i=""> Ledfeather <>

“Paul Tremblay is an astonishingly talented writer, but even better, hes twisted, and fun. A Head Full of Ghosts is mind-bending—scary, sad, sweet, funny, sick. ... . Terrifying, hilarious, smart, and satisfying.” Stewart O'Nan, author of < i=""> The Speed Queen, The Night Country, <> and < i=""> A Prayer for the Dying <>

“A Head Full of Ghosts is the literary lovechild of Shirley Jackson and William Peter Blatty, a novel thats as disturbing as the worst nightmare you ever had as a kid, and as impossible to forget.” Elizabeth Hand, author of < i=""> Generation Loss <> and < i=""> Available Dark <>

“Part psychological thriller, part demonic possession horror, this book is a juicy, fast-paced genre bombshell that just happens to be one of the smartest novels youll read this year.” The Life Sentence

“A Head Full of Ghosts is one of the best novels released this year. ...Paul Tremblay confirms what we already knew: hes one of the greatest horror writers today.” This is Horror (UK)

“This will easily be remembered as one of the most powerfully disquieting and deeply unsettling novels of the year, and may mark something of a turning point in the mainstream horror genre.” < i=""> Shock Totem <>

“By turns horrifying, very funny, melancholy, ironic and, with each page, dazzlingly original, A Head Full of Ghosts is a one-book rocket ride through contemporary society where, if Evil doesnt actually exist in a Biblical sense, were just the folks to invent it on our own.” < i=""> The Day <> newspaper

“Tremblay paints a believable portrait of a family in extremis emotionally as it attempts to cope with the unthinkable ...Whether psychological or supernatural, this is a work of deviously subtle horror.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

WINNER OF THE 2015 BRAM STOKER AWARD FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL

A chilling thriller that brilliantly blends psychological suspense and supernatural horror, reminiscent of Stephen King's The Shining, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, and William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist.

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.

To her parents despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts plight. With John, Marjorie s father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.

Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.

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Paul Tremblay is a multiple Bram Stoker Award finalist and author of the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland. He has served as the president of the board of directors of the Shirley Jackson Awards, and his essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and numerous year's-best anthologies. He has a master's degree in mathematics and lives outside Boston with his wife and two children.