Possessing Jessie

by Nancy Springer

Two-time Edgar Award winner Nancy Springer has written a chilling psychological thriller about a teenage girl possessed by her dead brother. Quiet, cautious Jessie had always lived in the shadow of her dynamic younger brother--her mother's clear favorite. His recent death leaves Jessie and her mother numb with grief. That is, until the morning Jessie cuts her hair and dresses in Jason's clothes, swaggering out of the house in an uncanny imitation of her brother. Her mother is visibly cheered, and for once Jessie is the center of attention at school. But each day Jason takes over Jessie more and more. Can she escape his power? Fast-paced, accessible, and truly creepy, this novel will have readers on the edge of their seats.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Fantasy, Teen, Thriller, Fiction

88 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2010

About the author

BIO -- NANCY SPRINGER


Nancy Springer has passed the fifty-book milestone, having written that many novels for adults, young adults and children, in genres including mythic fantasy, contemporary fiction, magical realism, horror, and mystery -- although she did not realize she wrote mystery until she won the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America two years in succession. DARK LIE, recently released from NAL, is her first venture into mass-market psychological suspense.
Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Nancy Springer moved with her family to Gettysburg, of Civil War fame, when she was thirteen. She spent the next forty-six years in Pennsylvania, raising two children (Jonathan, now 38, and Nora, 34), writing, horseback riding, fishing, and birdwatching. In 2007 she surprised her friends and herself by moving with her second husband to an isolated area of the Florida panhandle, where the birdwatching is spectacular and where, when fishing, she occasionally catches an alligator.

Reviews

[Mary]

I was a bit disappointed in this book. My expectations were high, because the premise is so intriguing: a high school girl, feeling guilt about her brother Jason's death, begins to dress and act like him. As she spends more and more time inhabiting Jason's lifestyle, the more it seems that he is in control and the less of Jessie remains. Jason is too villainous a character to be believable, Jason and Jessie's mother is too clueless, and the relationships between the characters are exaggerated to the point that they lack dimension. And, really, does anyone actually call his mother "Mud?" This book will probably be an easy sell to students; it's short, and the plot premise will appeal. Less sophisticated readers may find it an entertaining horror story. Those more widely read may be disappointed.

[Ann]

If this novel’s short-comings could be summed up by one word, it would be ‘shortness’, or perhaps ‘underdeveloped’. Where many teen novels suffer from an excess of verbiage, Possessing Jessie suffers from a lack of it.

The beginning was well-paced enough, as Jessie starts dressing like her recently deceased brother in order to get her depressed mother to talk to her again. When Jessie’s best friend Alicia starts trying to track down Jessie’s estranged father because she knows this won’t end well, the reader thinks he sees foreshadowing in how Jessie will ultimately be saved from Jason’s clutches. But though Alisha’s investigations bear fruit, it is ultimately too late to save Jessie. It is at this point that the plot becomes so compressed as to become nearly nonsensical.

While the ending is non-predictable in that the ‘bad guy’ wins, that could almost be expected from a horror story, capitalizing on the terror the reader feels as they wonder how Jessie will break free, only to realize she doesn’t. But when Jason gives Jessie his ultimatum and says that he is going to take over her body and there is nothing she can do about it because her body already is his – well, contrary to what anyone with half an ounce of self-preservation would expect, Jessie just gives up. She doesn’t fight at all, and her few protests are all given before Jason’s challenge. Jason’s takeover of Jessie’s body and her *life* is completed in less than a page. While most readers would expect to be whimpering after such a story ends, they wouldn’t expect the story itself to draw to such an un-dramatic close.

What would have been chilling if the plot had been properly padded is instead a lukewarm offering that will hardly scare anyone over the age of eight. If the last half of the novel (or the few chapters that should have been half the story) had been as fleshed out as the first half, this story would have terrified me. As it is, I found myself more annoyed with the lack of closure for Alisha and Jessie’s father than unfulfilled because Jessie was lost. I wanted to feel bad for Jessie, but how can you mourn a character who never even put up a token protest to being body-snatched?

[Rynne]

Unsatisfying.Absolute waste of a plot.This book only perpetrates the belief that confident bastards deserve everything they take from others!This is fiction!This is where people are supposed to create their fantasies of happy endings for characters going through hardships!

[Brin Anderson]

Mostly for the ending. Sad and abrupt. Rest was pretty good but I felt like one of the characters felt pretty useless. It was good. 2 stars because it gave me a sick feeling, which I guess is what it's supposed to do. It just wasn't for me.

[Jade]

Very interesting turn of events

[Nick]

This is officially the creepiest book that I've read in some time.
Just before the story begins, Jessie's brother Jason dies and is buried.
The experience has devastated Jessie and her mother. The only way that Jessie can talk to her mother is by pretending to be Jason. Is Jessie just trying to get through to her mother, who is in total denial about Jason? Or is the trying to draw attention to herself? Or is it something even more disturbing.
The story was strange and powerful in the way that the Shutter Island film was, but equally weird and horrifying at times. The portrayal of the extremes of grief was excellent. My only quibble was the lack of boundaries to the fantasy and horror elements. It was just a little too hard to learn the rules in such a short tale.

[Heather]

Thoroughly creepy. I couldn't quite buy into all of the characters, though, particularly the parents. The mom is horrible and creepy and should probably be on medication or locked up. Even the dad adored Jason but only liked Jessie - almost as an afterthought, and certainly not as much as his boy. And I don't like Alisha as the token "Black girl" (yes, it is capitalized in the book) who happens to have a Haitian grandmother who believes in "ghosts and spirits." That seems a bit cookie-cutterish and tacky. Still, very creepy and somewhat intriguing, if not completely fleshed out.

[Lanica]

SCHOOL LIBRARIAN REVIEW: While this is a short and compelling read, it is also a very complex and though provoking story. It opens up a world of discussion questions appropriate to middle or high school students. I highly recommend it for school libraries and book clubs.

PERSONAL REVIEW: Written for kids, it's a bit thin for my personally reading tastes. There were points where I said, "Nope, that's not likely." or "I wish she'd written more about that." I think it is a well written book, but not one that transfers to older readers.

[Terry]

A creepy little tale. Grief does weird things to Jessie - maybe even horrible things. The third-person narration might turn off some reluctant readers who prefer the immediacy of first person story telling, but otherwise this is a good book for readers who don't want more than 88 pages. The opening page does a great job of hooking readers. A fast read, or one for reluctant readers, it is a fair psychological thriller.

[Oscar]

I read this during the summer, when I wasn't in the mood for very long books. It worked really well for this mood, but apart from that this book is definitely disposable entertainment.

That's not to say that it wasn't creepy and atmospheric. There were lots of cool things about Possessing Jessie, but the prose wasn't particularly profound and I felt that there were a lot of opportunities to explore lost in this slim volume.

Cool twist though.

[Connie]

This was creepy and sad. Sister begins dressing and acting like her deseased brother a week or so after her dies. She does this in order to get her mother's attention (she ignores her) and to help her mother through her grief (the mother goes along with game, as if her son is still alive). Sad, strange, too dark for me to finish.

[Ariel]

I liked how the story was portrayed but damn, I was so disppointed at the ending. I thought all along it was just Jessie's mind, but it wasn't, which I didn't like.

Furthermore, I didn't really enjoy the fact that poor Jessie was doomed, before and after her "death". She seems just as insignificant when she was written about just like how her family viewed her.

[Karin]

short novel (almost a novella) about a teen girl who is haunted by her brother's unexpected death and only feels connected when she chops her hair off and dresses in his clothes. then she starts to think he's communicating with her. eery at times, but underdeveloped, with an annoying ending.

[EvelynAC5]

At first the book was interesting. In the middle I just wanted to get done with it, because there wasn't much going on. I was upset at the end, becasue it didn't exactly have and ending. It's like someone tore half of the book off and left me hanging. Not cool!

[Jean V. Naggar Literary]

“Springer has written a twisted story...this tightly woven novel is fast-paced and will be of interest to readers who like light horror.--Library Journal

“The premise of this slim volume immediately hooks readers, reluctant or otherwise.--Booklist

[Dolores]

This is one of those books that keeps you so engaged, your brain just sort of shuts down. I was completely shocked when I got to the end of the book. "No Way!" "Really?" And my brain came back online. So obviously I'm a bit unsure about the ending. To put it mildly.

[Megan]

I read this book because I've been so impressed with Springer's Enola Holmes series. However, this book was not for me. It was strange and creepy and half the time I couldn't figure out what was going on. I would never recommend this book to anyone, ever.

[Terry]

Short and to the point. The writing isn't as good as "Somebody," though the supernatural elements were interesting. Good choice for reluctant girl readers, middle school and up.

[Martha]

great for reluctant readers

[Terry]

Very creepy.

[Susan]

Creepy, short and very chilling!

[Heather]

A quick, suspenseful read. Surprising ending.

[Samantha]

Interesting ending.

[Alison]

A fast, creepy, strange novel. Not terribly well-written.

[yuubi]

I expected better.

[Lwyatt]

Very quick, suspenseful read!

[Jesse Freedom]

The characters were all one-dimensional, too many of them were just complete jerks, and the whole thing doesn't make much sense.

[Karen]

What a confusing mess. There's nothing redeeming with this title, so it was an easy weed when I realized it had only been checked out once since 2010.

[Nicole]

“Possessing Jessie” is a book that starts off with a girl who puts on her dead brothers clothes.

[Lydia]

this book creeped me out