Review | 'Possess'

Possess
Gretchen McNeil
380 pg., U.S. Hardcover
Balzer + Bray
4 stars | A-



Rule #1: Do not show fear.
Rule #2: Do not show pity.
Rule #3: Do not engage.
Rule #4: Do not let your guard down.
Rule #5: They lie.

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

Possess is a story about a girl who can communicate with demons, discovers she actually is one of them, and must link her connection to demons to the murder of her father. 
As far as characterization goes, I was pretty disappointed, just because of the way the characters were motivated and the way they acted. I'm tired of YA heroines always being "strong". I quote strong because it seems like authors are attempting to make their characters witty and powerful, but they end up being unreliable and annoying. I feel like Bridget was really irresponsible, and I don't know about the rest of the world, but I wouldn't want my exorcism done by an irresponsible teenage girl. I mean, a teenage girl is bad enough, but one that's irresponsible? The rest of the characters just didn't amount to much in my opinion, so I just sort of shrugged them off.
I did like the story, however, although I feel like the writing was a tad too juvenile. I like the way the clues about Bridget's past were uncovered, and I really appreciated the quick pacing, it made the book an easy read; I read it in a day. 
As far as originality and writing go, I liked the quick, short and sweet writing, but wish it had some more depth to it. I feel like the author could've improved the characterization in that way.