Intercessions: A Novel

by Kathleen Eull

Some secrets are too dangerous to tell and too dark to keep... When young Corianne Dempsey and her best friend, Rebecca, are approached by a stranger on their way to school, only one girl makes it home. When Rebecca turns up dead, Corianne's childhood ends abruptly. Growing up in the long shadow of this event, Corianne is now a conflicted young woman seeking solace in dangerous places. Her hauntingly-dark dreams begin crossing into waking life, hinting that the past she remembers may be a lie. Driven to make sense of what is happening, she returns to the only place she feels solid, the farm that provided an escape all those years ago, and the one person who has never judged or blamed her-the husband of her mother's best friend. With his help she begins to let in the darkness she has tried so hard to shut away and learns that truth and healing are even more complicated than she imagined.

305 pages, Paperback

Published November 16, 2023

Reviews

[Beth Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon closing the last page of this debut novel INTERCESSIONS by Kathleen Eull, I wanted to talk with the author. I wondered what prompted this novel. It feels so…personal. If this isn’t a fictionalized version of her or someone she know’s story, then I truly applaud such a nuanced and thoughtful debut.

Corianne was with her friend Rebecca when she was abducted many years ago and later found murdered. She’s still struggling with the trauma from it, and she is seeing a psychiatrist. She is dating Sean, but he’s gone a lot overseas as a photographer. Corianne feels pulled back to the farm she stayed at when she was younger (with her mother’s friends). Back then she had an attraction to Evelyn’s husband Bill. When she goes back to the farm, old feelings about the trauma reappear along with her attraction to the husband. Will she ever figure out what happened that fateful day so many years ago?

This is a quiet novel with a lot of description. The reader feels like they are at the farm. The languid days between bursts of chores come through, and Eull’s descriptions are copious. I think some readers might feel it is slow and tedious. This is definitely literary with a lot of internal musings, not fast-paced or suspenseful crime fiction. I knew that going in, and I didn’t mind it.

This is written in first person, and Corianne is not an unreliable narrator. She’s been through a lot of trauma, though, and might not make the best decisions. Many of the men in this novel aren’t great, which I think is worth noting.

Another thing worth noting is that a child was killed in this novel, and that might be a tough subject for some. I feel like I’m giving a lot of cautions in this review, but that’s because I think you need to know what you’re going to get: a slow-paced, literary, almost meditation on the after effects of trauma and trying to peel back all of the self-defenses to get to the truth. And what I thought had happened wasn’t actually what happened, so I thought the author did a good job in the whodunit.

I was very unsure of Corianne’s life timeline. There was the arc when Rebecca was murdered (about when Corianne was 8-10 years old), present day (maybe almost 30 years old?), and there was an intervening timeline of when she was a late teen it seems. Her mother died, and her father also died in there somewhere. I do like to have a more certain timeline.

I also thought it was odd that her psychiatrist made house calls, which involved a lot of travel. I understand it was for a big plot point, but that didn’t seem very realistic.

Overall, I thought this was a solid literary debut on the aftereffects of trauma, and I recommend it for those who are okay with the cautions I listed because I think this could be a great fit for a select group of readers.

[The Yellow Chair Bookclub || Alix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intercessions
Kathleen Eull
Pub: Black Rose Writing
Pub date: Nov., 22, 2023
Format: E-book (NetGalley)
2/ 5

Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing, and Kathleen Eull for allowing me an ARC copy of Intercessions.

When I finished this novel, I was torn. There was so much about it that I loved, and there was so much potential with the story. Many times I wondered if the story is a fictionalized account of something that Eull experienced because the writing was so raw and filled with emotion. Unfortunately for me, that was where the enjoyment stopped.
The book definitely had a slow start, but it kept me hooked just enough that I didn’t dread opening it back up, and was actually excited to see where it lead. About halfway through the book however, that all changed for me. I will not give any spoilers in this review, but there were things that I was deeply uncomfortable with in terms of the relationships of some of the characters. I was really hoping that Eull would use that discomfort as a tie into the whole book, but instead, it just ended up being an almost-Lolita.
That whole situation aside, I felt like the book just sort of…ended. There was no resolution, no climax, or even something to not make me go “wait, what?” at the end. I felt so confused, and left with so many questions that were not answered. I’m giving it a two star for Eull’s sheer writing skills and her ability to evoke emotion from the reader, but otherwise the story itself felt wanting.

[J Kromrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this captivating eARC.

A fascinating novel that reminds us of how deeply crime impacts those of us who are left behind.

The life of a young woman who experiences the shock of a personal crime that almost destroys her life as her best friend is literally wrenched from her hands by a predator when she is a young child.

Chronicles the story of the survivor guilt of an innocent, and reminds us of the devastating, ever echoing consequences of violence.

Crime almost NEVER has just ONE victim. An interesting, somber novel about someone trying to make a life from a circumstance that she can barely live beyond.

A truly talented author, I will watch for future books from Kathleen Eull.

Trigger Warning: Violence and child molestation.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Intercessions felt exactly how reading good book should feel. One of those books where you forget you’re reading altogether. It was a refreshing and interesting way to tell this kind of crime story. Eull perfectly illustrates the pain of remembering and how the trauma we experience as children shape the people we become. I’m still unsure how I feel about the overall resolution but all in all, it was a really impressive debut novel. I’m excited to see what she does next.

Intercessions by Kathleen Eull is available on November 22, 2023. Thank you to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for my eARC of this book!

[Jamie Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intercessions by Kathleen Eull was an amazing debut. It is so emotional that I wondered if this was based on fact. I loved it but I think she will do even better on her next novel after she has polished her talents a bit more.

[Barbara Tsipouras · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel about suppressed memories as too slow-paced for my taste and left in the end too many things unanswered.