POSSESSION :: Katie Lowe

 A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Katie Lowe (The Furies) blends psychological suspense with an unreliable narrator, adding hints of delusion, a pinch of gothic sensibility and various layers of mystery in her sophomore thriller, Possession. In 2008, Hannah McLelland's husband is killed in their bed by a knife to the throat. Hannah remembers little other than waking up to blood. The crime scene is "off" and authorities are perplexed, until an anonymous tip leads them to a young man who winds up in prison for Graham's murder.

Ten years later, the threads of the raggedy case are newly tugged by those behind the podcasting sensation Conviction. Hot off a successful exoneration, the crime investigation show has its sights set on Hannah for season four: The Murder of Graham Catton. In 2018, Hannah is living with her teen daughter and a stable newspaper editor, Dan, in the remote, rural village of Hawkwood, while working as a psychiatrist in an eating disorders clinic.

But Hannah hasn't ended up in Hawkwood by chance and is escaping more than the fallout from Graham's murder. As the Conviction team digs into the case, long-buried facts are revealed, and Hannah is so centered in the crosshairs even Dan and Evie become wary. Lowe impressively weaves a web of past and present intrigue. Even more notable is her talent in tying everything together without excessive incredulity, particularly considering Hannah's history, numerous plot threads and the social media aspect of the case, all of which converge in a blockbuster of a finish.