- Mass Market Paperback: 339 pages
- Publisher: Leisure Books (2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0843951710
- ISBN-13: 978-0843951714
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #830,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Horror Stew,
By Douglas (Charleston, S. C. United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Possessions (Mass Market Paperback)
What would you get if you took Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and gave them the fearless personalities and physical toughness of the hard-boiled detectives of 30's and 40's pulp novels and mixed them up in one "Weird Tale" with H. P. Lovecraft's Old Ones, John Carpenter's "The Thing," "Alien," and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers?" Well, you might get something very much like James A. Moore's "Possessions."James Moore's previous novel, the more adult "Fireworks," was a wonderful take on the alien spacecraft-small town scenario that focused on the reactions of the citizens and the government forces more than the occupants of the spacecraft itself. This device allowed Mr. Moore to very effectively bring an entire town to life. In "Possessions," he focuses on a small group of adolescent characters and, as with the townsfolk in "Fireworks," also gives them all distinctive personalities. The novel is mostly a wild ride that features an incredible horde of bizarre shape-changing monsters trying to bring "the Other" into the world by means of magic necklaces, one possessed by the mother of two of the characters, a brother and sister. After dispatching their mother in a suspensefully written opener, the other-worldly creatures find that she is not wearing the necklace and the chase is on to find it. "Possessions" is a fun, pulpy read that wears its many influences on its sleeve. The characters are interesting and believable, if their actions and abilities to take repeated kicks, punches, blows to the head, and explosions are not. Much is left unanswered, such as the origin of the neclaces, the mysterious absense of any family other than the mother of the brother and sister, the whereabouts and story of their father and the source of their, and their friends', almost supernatural courage and physical attributes. Also, at the beginning of the novel, the brother and sister win a lottery that makes them rich. The consequences of this are not known, nor is the reason for the seemingly purposeful timing of this windfall. It appears to almost be a supernatural gift given in compensation for the loss of their mother. Who is this force watching out for them? Mr. Moore is writing a sequel to "Possessions" and perhaps these, and other, questions will be answered. Could be a fun series for teens and those nostalgic and young at heart by a talented and very entertaining writer.
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent horror tale; hopefully Moore forthcoming soon,
By
This review is from: Possessions (Mass Market Paperback)
The last happy moment Chris Corin will experience in a long time is his eighteenth birthday celebration with his closest friends and family attending. When his mother leaves early to work she realizes the necklace she always wears is at home; moments later she dies in a traffic accident caused by a creature not of this world. Chris' best friend Jerry and his girlfriend Katie help him and his fourteen year old sister Brittany get through the days preceding the funeral. After the funeral, Chris sees that someone tore up his mother's room looking for something.People that change into creatures seek the Golden Key, going so far as to dig up the grave of Chris's mother. They finally grab it off Brittany's neck but Chris is determined to get it back. He learns where the creatures are conducting a ceremony and accompanied by Katie and Brittany he goes there to stop them and rescue Jerry and Brittany's boyfriend who are encased in a gel like substance. Their doppelgangers are upstairs performing a ritual that if completed will let an untold evil into the world. Add a pinch of Stephen King, a dash of Dean Koontz, a flowering of Peter Straub and one part Bentley Little and readers will have an idea what a horror novel by James A. Moore is like. He is a grand storyteller who can hold his own with these masters. The good guys are so well developed and realistic that readers will fear for their safety and hope that if they survive, more stories starring this fine young group will be forthcoming. Harriet Klausner
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
2.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
ouch!,
By S. Lauer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Possessions (Mass Market Paperback)
This book hurt. I usually can tolerate some silliness in pulp horror, but this book was awful. Moore makes Bentley Little look like James Joyce. A series of drawn out fight scenes makes up the plot. The main character took so many beatings and stayed alive that I thought we were heading towards an Unbreakable finale where he ends up being a superhero. Oh, and they also hit the lottery. This is not early Stephen King, this is more like early Don King.
Skip this one. 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
No Moore!,
By William M Miller - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Possessions (Mass Market Paperback)
Ever since his debut novel, Under The Overtree, the work of James A. Moore seems to be getting worse. He started off very promising, but fell a notch with Fireworks and now fell even further with Possessions. Like Fireworks, his books start off promising but two thirds of the way in take a nose dive. Almost the last hundred pages of Possessions is nothing but a continuous fight scene involving monster after monster, with excessive descriptions on the creepy creatures. Yes, Mr. Moore, I understand they are very yucky things. I don't need a hundred pages describing them! I get it. With that said, Moore is quite talented at character development, but unfortunately those characters are left in a world that I've seen many times before. This was too close to the Body Snatcher films for me. The pace and tone of this book changed drastically in the last hundred pages and really pulled me out of the story. I enjoyed Under The Overtree, so I'll give James A. Moore another chance. But three strikes and you're out.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By Rick R. Reed "Author of IM and Orientation" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Possessions (Mass Market Paperback)
First off, let me say I love horror and I'm always looking for new horror authors to read. This is my first James Moore book. It will be my last. And I'm sorry to say that. I wanted to like this book, I really, really did (in fact, I read over 200 pages before I gave up on it...something I rarely do). I give the book two stars because it starts off great...with well-developed characters, a tragic event juxtaposed with a joyous, surprising one. And then, it degenerates. The characters go from being well-developed, interesting teenagers to being stick figure punching bags (the fight scenes in this book are incredible: incredibly boring...going on for sometimes ten pages at a stretch, stretching into long-winded monotony). The story disappears: it's just man against monster over and over again, with no suspense and the character development so deft at the beginning withers away, so you can't care about what happens to them. Even Moore's writing, which starts out crisp, punchy, and clean lapses into cliche-ridden drivel by the end (something "takes the cake"; someone "gets his clock cleaned"). I wish I could recommend this book. I wish I could have enjoyed it enough to just get through it. If the horror genre is going to flourish, it needs better offerings than this.
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