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Head Full of Ghosts, A

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, 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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Published May 10, 2016

320 pages

Average rating: 6.47

53 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

heatherdeiters
Sep 13, 2025
1/10 star
The dialogue is stilted, awkward, and full of weird, distracting details, and the narration collapses under its own weight. There is a clunky phrase on every page and the constant use of names in conversations makes everything feel forced. The blog interludes are more of the same irritating, awkward, and immersion breaking pros; sure, a horror publication hired this woman to write for them, she's so clearly skilled. Her habit of making spoken word-like asides and the gimmick of crossing out phrases add nothing but irritation. Everything we’re told is filtered through the narrator’s adult hindsight and obsession with horror media. That could have been powerful, but instead it gets buried under grating voices, bad dialogue, and tonal confusion. There are bursts of shocking and visceral horror that feel real and immersive, but they’re surrounded by prose that often feels like it was written by a child trying to impress adults. I loved one of the author's other works, The Cabin at the End of the World. I was frankly dismayed to learn the same author wrote both works. The contrast makes A Head Full of Ghosts feel even worse. If the entire novel had been written in the stripped-down style of the short story at the end, I probably would have enjoyed it. As it stands, I hated this one.
Bairdy
Jul 14, 2025
8/10 stars
This was a quick 3 day read for me. The feeling of uneasy tension builds and builds throughout the decline of the main character’s sister, Marjorie. The author seems to be leading you to a predictable outcome but pulls the rug out from under you in the end. Eerie and captivating with interesting reprieves from the main story line due to the insertion of present day blog posts written by Meredith.
desiree anderson
Sep 29, 2024
7/10 stars
This book brings everything we think we know about exorcisms and turns it on its head. It is a in depth look at what mental illness can do to a family and to individuals within that family. You find yourself really caring for the characters and wanting them to have a happy ending ever as we know throughout the novel that this ultimately doesn't happen. You want that for them all the same.

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