Book Review: POSSESSED

Title: Possessed

Author: Niki Valentine

Publisher: Sphere

Pages: 438

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 

Emma Russell, a scholarship student, is admitted to the Conservatoire, a prestigious music school, where she is befriended by the Benoit twins, outgoing and assertive Sophie and shy and gentle Matilde. While both sisters are her friends, it is clear that Matilde shares a closer bond with Emma, and is more affectionate towards her, something that Sophie is not happy about. 

Then a fellow student, Henry Bailey-Ray falls in love with Matilde, and Sophie has one more reason to be unhappy.

When a masterclass at which Matilde is playing ends in disaster, the twins go home to recover. That is how Emma learns that Matilde slit her wrists in the bath. Emma is devastated, but Sophie is calm and flourishing, claiming that she has run out of energy for crying.

Meanwhile, Emma’s own life is a mess. She is seeing Matilde’s ghost everywhere, and is losing track of large chunks of time. Is grief causing her to lose her mind, or is she losing herself?

 

The story is written in the 3^rd person limited PoV of Emma. The story revolves around the three young women. The other characters rarely get much space. Even Henry, who is a romantic interest, is pale and almost lifeless.

 

I liked the descriptions of life at the music school, the endless recitals and performances, the music, the choir etc. They all made the setting more real.

The writing was good but largely prosaic. Given the subject, I would have expected something more literary or luminous in character. Also, there’s not much in terms of an eerie atmosphere. When Emma felt a chill, I, as a reader, didn’t.

Also, the book could have been thinner by about a 100 pages, without losing any intensity. At 438 pages, it is too long drawn, and for much of the time, nothing much seems to be changing. It is only in the last 100 pages that the pace picked up.

The cover with the glass pane drawing a perfect vertically symmetrical line down the face emphasized that Sophie and Matilde were identical twins and yet somehow very different.