The Possessions

Starred review from November 7, 2016
Behind the reassuringly bland facade of the Elysian Society, dramatic, distressing, and sometimes dangerous scenes play out daily as the bereaved seek to communicate with their departed loved ones, in Murphy’s suspenseful supernatural-tinged debut, set on the gritty side of an unnamed U.S. city. The bridges between the living and the dead are people referred to as bodies, such as the young woman known as Eurydice (aka Edie), who after ingesting pills called lotuses can summon these spirits. The work perfectly suits emotionally guarded Edie, who apparently wants nothing more than to lose herself after a traumatic past, which only gradually emerges. But her carefully maintained shell starts to crack when she begins sessions with Patrick Braddock, an attractive lawyer, whose stunning wife, Sylvia, drowned 18 months earlier under suspicious circumstances. As Edie finds herself sexually drawn to Patrick and experiencing disturbing flashbacks, which seem to come from Sylvia, her efforts to investigate what happened that night at a lake outside the city—and its potential connection to a recently discovered Jane Doe—land her in very real jeopardy. Those ready to buy into the author’s premise will be rewarded by a beautifully rendered, haunting page-turner. Agent: Alice Whitwham, Alice Whitwham Agency.

November 15, 2016
In Murphy's debut novel, people can reconnect with the dead through the Elysian Society, whose employees--known as "bodies"--are temporarily possessed with the help of a drug called a "lotus."Eurydice, or Edie, as she is better known, has worked as a body for five years when she meets Patrick Braddock, who wants to connect to his beautiful late wife, Sylvia. From the beginning, she finds herself strangely drawn to Patrick but also to pictures of Sylvia, and when Patrick breaks protocol and gives her many of Sylvia's possessions to use during her channeling, Edie is unable--and unwilling--to refuse. As Edie falls deeper into lust with Patrick, she can't let go of Sylvia, whose spirit seems to have taken possession of the corners of her soul and body, and she continues to investigate the mysterious circumstances that surround Sylvia's drowning. Meanwhile, a highly publicized murder turns out to be connected to the shadowy Elysian Society. The novel's power lies in a careful balance between concealment and explanation. For example, it isn't until Edie watches one of the other bodies channel a dead spirit that we as readers understand how the process works and, more important, how the bodies act when they're channeling. The psychology is endlessly fascinating, and there should have been a chance for deep exploration of grief's clarity and its selfishness. The weakness is Edie herself. She often references her plainness, the fact that her personality has a certain blankness that better allows her to channel others, but this blankness also renders the narrative voice both emotionless and self-righteous, so it can be hard to connect to and feel sympathy for the character. Imaginative and original, this is a novel that should have resonated more deeply.

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Starred review from December 15, 2016
Murphy's sublime debut is immersive from page one, when we meet Edie, a body at the Elysian Society who channels deceased loved ones thanks to a drug known as the lotus. Edie has worked for the society for five years, enjoying the anonymity it gives her as well as insulation from the demons of her past. Then Patrick Braddock walks into her life, hoping to make contact with his wife, Sylvia, who drowned a year ago while they were on vacation. Edie is immediately taken with Patrick and becomes fixated on him and his relationship with Sylvia. Soon she finds a way to see him outside of work, and she makes a connection with the couple who joined Patrick and Sylvia on their fateful vacation. But as Edie insinuates herself into Patrick's life, she starts to see the cracks in what she assumed was his happy marriage to Sylvia, even as she becomes more consumed by her desire for him. Murphy expertly blends the dual mysteries of the circumstances surrounding Sylvia's death and Edie's own tragic past with suspense and sf-tinged mystery in a complex novel that is both unforgettable and impossible to put down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)