Warning—Spoilers Ahead

One_1egged_Duck recommended this novel to me during a stream when we discussed our favorite books.

When the book starts, it feels like you are jumping into the middle of a story already in progress. The narrator describes herself as unreliable and confused. You receive the story from three perspectives: Merry (8), Merry (23), and Karen (blogger). These are all the same person.

Merry (23), the sole survivor, is being interviewed by author Rachel Neville, who is writing a tell-all book aimed at separating truth from urban legend and the portrayal of the edited TV show based on Merry's family.

Sometimes the story is being relayed by Merry (8) as she is living through the events. In others, Merry (23) is recounting her story to an author who is writing a book about the family’s experience. The rest of the story is being relayed via a blog written by Karen. She is reviewing the TV show filmed while things were happening with the family.

The issues I have with this work all stem from its storytelling style. Our three narrators are all the same person with different levels of information. They will even contradict each other. Merry (23) will say she isn’t certain events she is recounting are from her memory, scenes from the TV show, or some combination of the two.

The central theme of this novel is the demonic possession and subsequent exorcism of a 14-year-old girl named Marjorie. Marjorie is the eldest daughter of the Barrett family and the older sister of Merry.

The story begins with the family's father, John Barrett, losing his long-time job at a local toy factory. Although Sarah Barrett, the mother, is employed, the family is experiencing financial difficulties. According to Karen, this signifies the patriarchy’s downfall and heralds subsequent events.

The story then jumps to Marjorie returning home from a visit with her psychiatrist. The appointment has made Sarah stressed out for reasons not yet revealed. We recognize her stress because she resumed smoking after quitting the habit.

The Barrett children have a distinct way of entertaining themselves. Marjorie will write stories, and they will add drawings to a children's book that Merry owns. The stories are very short and happy affairs, suitable for a young child.

It is soon revealed that Marjorie is receiving psychiatric treatment for schizophrenia. These appointments seem to have been ongoing before we joined the story. John expresses his dissatisfaction with the efficacy of the treatment. He uses his free time, now that he is unemployed, attending services and seeking guidance from a local Catholic Church.

John pressures the family to make religion a larger part of their daily lives. This drives a wedge between John and the rest of the family. He soon also begins attempting to persuade Sarah to abandon Marjorie’s medical treatment and instead seek spiritual treatment for her ailments.

John has been communication with the local parishioner, Father Wanderly. The good Father and John decide Marjorie is not experiencing mental illness, but is possessed by a demon. This approach to their daughter's care outrages Sarah and further divides the family.

With financial pressures mounting and John seeming to have lost all interest in finding gainful employment, he works with Father Wanderly to set up a TV show. The network will pay the Barrett family for the rights to their story. They plan on performing an exorcism and broadcasting the entire event on television.

The show hires actors to play each main character in the story. These actors recreate the events of the actual Barrett family that preceded the filming process. The producers of the show have also installed many cameras and several production team members in the Barrett family residence.

Marjorie becomes more violent and bizarre as things unfold. She tells scary stories to Merry. She even includes real-life mass tragedies in her tales. Each story gets darker and more twisted. Merry refuses to speak with Marjorie any longer and grows scared of her older sister.

Marjorie will sneak into Merry's room while the younger sister is asleep. She uses these opportunities to perform strange acts. She even seems capable of entering the room when it should be impossible. Marjorie will re-arrange items in Merry's room and draw things on her little sister. Marjorie also claims that her own room will be arranged differently when she wakes up.

When the first episode of the show airs, the family becomes ostracized by their community. Children at school torment the girls, and soon Marjorie stops attending school altogether. The show becomes a tremendous hit for the network. As their notoriety grows, the Barretts become the target of hate groups. The primary group that sends protesters to their residence is an unnamed Baptist organization (read Westboro Baptist Church) that pickets their road with signs stating that God hates them.

Marjorie describes what is happening to her to Merry. She says that she hears voices and things move around by themselves in her room. She expresses her fear of events, and some of her actions as described in the book do sound otherworldly. Any time Merry becomes frightened or demands Marjorie stop scaring her, Marjorie will always say that she was only kidding and it is all pretend.

The family makes it through the exorcism rite. During said exorcism, Marjorie appears to escape from her bonds and reveals that the crew members have planted mechanical devices to increase the drama. After the "exorcism”, Marjorie professes to Merry that everything was fake. She was only acting so she could get help for their father, who was mentally ill.

The last bit of the story reveals John had poisoned the entire family, but somehow Merry survived. Merry tells her interviewer that she was the one who administered the poison, not her father. Rachel says that the physical evidence only supports the official version of the story. The only fingerprint on the poison bottle was John’s.

Ultimately, we must question the possession’s existence. Was Marjorie only pretending the entire time? Also, it is unclear who administered the fatal dose to the family.

I found this story to be very entertaining, and it forces you to consider all facets. I can recommend this book if you don't mind a tale that ends in ambiguity. The way the author develops the characters and builds the tension is top-notch. I would rate it 7 out of 10.

Thanks for reading my thoughts. If you have read this book, please let me know your thoughts as well.