Only Things

by Brad Carter

Welcome to Barlow, Arkansas, a small town where life is anything but normal. It is on this quaint and quiet stage that an ancient supernatural battle will be fought. Meet the players: Myrna Wilson, a lonely woman haunted by the death of her son and gripped by the compulsion to acquire objects owned by the recently deceased... Chris Clanton, a library worker whose desire to rid the world of filth and clutter has become a murderous obsession... Constable Ray McFettridge, a small town lawman whose murky half-forgotten past has finally caught up to him… George Young, a recovering alcoholic with more than his share of demons to face… When these lives converge, they set in motion a chain of events that will threaten the very fabric of reality. This is a story of ghosts and demons …of possessions and the possessed …of psychics and skeptics …of death and redemption …of love lost and found.

501 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 28, 2014

Reviews

[Elke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one hell of a good ghost story!

The book starts slowly, as the author takes his time developing characters and setting, but when the 'action' starts I really cared about the people and their fate in this. Indeed, I was reminded of a Stephen King novel, where at least half of the book is spent on familiarization with characters and setting before something significant happens. It is no mean feat to write a book this way without making it boring, and this author definitely has the skill for it.

The story itself was about possession, both of the demonic and human kind. The opposing forces of chaos and order manifested themselves in compulsive hoarding vs. a compulsive sense of order. Both syndromes are sad enough in their own way, but carried to extremes by demonic forces these obsessions are outright scary. The explanation for the origin of the demon and the description of the ghostly space 'behind the veil' was coherent and fortunately lacking any long-winded esoteric mumbo-jumbo.

Whether a material thing is considered junk or treasure, everyone must see for oneself - this book definitely is a treasure worth salvaging. Highly recommended.

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

[Felecia **Victorious Rebel** Mulkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to start off by saying I have mixed feelings about this book.

The beginning was a little slow going. For me, there was too much internal thought and things didn't really seem to go anywhere. It felt stale.

I kept on trudging through it though and I'm glad I did. This book was very thought provoking. I'm not a big believer in paranormal things; probably because I've never witnessed it first hand. I have thought about the possibilities though. The plot of this book seems plausible.

Sometimes I'll read a paranormal book and think there's just no way that could ever happen. Not this time. This time I thought, does the author have some personal experience?

I'm not sure how I feel about all of the main characters being over the age of 30 it seemed. I like having younger characters too. The physical aspect of being able to keep going like they seemed to would make more sense. Although, I guess they did take quite a few naps.

I loved the whole chaos vs order plot. It drove the story well. I was starting to wonder how a couple of the stories were going to come together. Usually, I can guess but with this book it didn't completely click for me until about 75% of the way in to the novel.

One thing is for sure...I will never look at garage sales, estate sales, rummage sales and flea markets the same way ever again.

I received a copy free via Librarything.

[Debi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very thought provoking, another Good vs Evil with a twist. Intead it was Chaos vs Order and they were both the bad guys. One of the good guys, a constable, was taken over by a bad guy, Chaos. Order was a man who grew up with pack-rats in his father and brother after their wife/mother passed on. It seemed logical until you saw how twisted he really was. It was a story of an old demon who thought he was a god, Xax-Ghuul, who split in two and became Chaos and Order. Then the world became unbalanced.. There was also a horror writer whos dead wife was also possessed by Chaos, who became a pack-rat. He eventually fell for the sheriff's mother, another pack-rat, except she felt a calling to take care of people's belongings that were once loved. I agree I'll never look at another yard sale the same way and will be warry of purchasing someone elses cast-offs in fear of them being possessed.
I love reading paranormal books and was not disapointed with this one. It kept me up late, not wanting to stop reading and left me wondering if there was more to this story because they were still fighting (albet as moths in a jar- but you'll have to read the book to find out for yourself) at the end of the story.
I received a free copy of this book for an honest review from LibraryThing.

[Sorcha]

I'll be upfront from the beginning: I dont know why I requested this book, and unfortunately at time of writing (late June 2015) I haven't finished it - I've managed about 35% of the way through. I have read other reviews that say "it's a slow start but glad I stuck with it" so I might give it a second chance....but not right now.

Barlow is a small town in Arizona, with lots of different personalities, from uptight upstanding police men, through widowed authors returning home, to dropped out hippies on the edge of society. Dead bodies are stacking up around the place, and not all of the deaths are explainable - apart from the ones done by Chris the librarian who has an overwhelming need for things to be neat and tidy and will do anything to make sure that happens.

That's as far as I get unfortunately....I see potential, lots of different voices are coming through, I just have other books that are calling me louder, and it hasn't gripped me enough to make me drop them in favour of this book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard to put down book that features a cast of characters both living and dead that are hard to forget with a most interesting take on the ghosts and other entities that attach themselves to things. All the things we love in life can take hold of our souls and our spirits can stay with those things even after we are dead. Myrna Wilson can feel the love these items hold and she likes to add them to her special collections which have taken over her house but something dark has joined the spirits that call Myrna their guardian and her cluttered house their home and it wants more of everything and its getting stronger. Chris Clanton is a neat freak obsessed with the destruction of clutter and filth and that includes the people who cause it and live in it. Now the sleepy little town of Barlow Arkansas has become ground zero for a battle between these ancient forces of order and chaos.

[Loretha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free through the LibraryThing.com Early Reviewers Program.

I absolutely loved this book. I am a big horror genre fan, and this book provided me with all the gore and supernatural elements to keep me excited to get to the next page/chapter.

I really enjoyed the author's twist on the theme of hoarding, and the emphasis on how life experiences can shape the attitudes and attachments that one can have toward material items. Also, it describes the possibility that goods may still possess the essence of their previous owner's personality and also the amount of sentimental value that was given to the belongings.

I would recommend this book to all readers that enjoy the horror/supernatural genre. I stayed up late many nights in order to finish this great book.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was asked to review this book by www.librarything.com.

I really enjoyed this book – the paranormal aspect I actually thought this could actually happen. I would be interested to know the background and why the author wrote on this subject.
There were two stories running in tandem and it took me a while to understand the significance, but this was good it kept me guessing.

The characters were over 30, and they were interesting and weird too.

There are ghosts, demons psychics and skeptics, love lost and found – it is creepy but the author has written a good story.

I will be looking out for Brad Carter to see what he writes next.

[Loretta · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the synopsis: "This is a story of ghosts and demons …of possessions and the possessed …of psychics and skeptics …of death and redemption …of love lost and found."

Yes the story delivered all of the above.......and yes that "but" is coming............

I am fascinated with the supernatural and expected to be spooked out, gnawing my fingernails, and afraid to turn off the lights. Yep that's me >> I love to have the bejeebers scared out of me! However, it was just too slow moving and too long to have much affect on my bejeebers. Darn :(

Please note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Stephanie Beebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Brad Carter, what else is there to say?!

Brad writes in a style that is as gripping as Stephen King's. This one is a little more intense than some of his earlier works (and believe me, I've read them all). I prefer his light-hearted style, but this book that didn't disappoint. I'm looking forward to reading his next book, Barlow After Dark.

[Trebled · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Hoarders and "neat freaks" meet aparitions and monsters in this tale of chaos and order. The reader gets to know each character in depth as they come to acknowledge the existance of ghosts and possession.

[Lucinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received as a review title. At first I thought it was a story about the compulsion to hoard. Then things got down right scary. I enjoyed how the the book wraps things up at the end. Will work on completing a more comprehensive review. For now I recommend this book!