Since his youth, Gregory Stillingsworth has known his destiny: to become a great writer. Indeed, now a wildly successful author, he has penned seventy-three novels, all of them best-sellers. Obsessive and possessive, he writes the old-fashioned way – on a typewriter. His instrument, beaten and tattered even when his parents gave it to him for his fourteenth birthday, has earned a name over the years – Buford. It has also earned a voice. Early on, it spoke to him, repeating a simple mantra: “You and I, forever. You and I, together.”
Gregory Stillingsworth, a world-renowned horror writer, an author who has already surpassed the great ones like Koontz and King, was destined to reach the top. Or was he? Was he destined, instead, to live the life carved for him by his cursed forebears? Instinctively, it has always been Gregory’s custom to write his books one after another. His wife, Jamie, who serves as his lawyer, critic, and business partner, gave up convincing him to slow down so as to focus on starting a family. Gregory is relentless in nourishing his career; that is, until for the first time, he runs out of words, sending him into an uncontrollable rage that even his wife cannot comprehend. Is this unexpected rage an extreme reaction to the stresses of writer’s block? Or is it the unveiling of his true role among us, a scribe born into this world only to write of the coming Armageddon?
Writer’s Block: The Possession is a dark, horror story, a psychological thriller, and a labyrinthine cryptogram that the reader must unravel one scene at a time. With no way to tell what is truth and what is fiction from Gregory’s perspective, the reader is led to wonder how much of this novel is autobiographical information from the real author’s perspective, taking the horror factor from the realm of fiction into the realm of possibility. As part one of the Writer’s Block Trilogy, The Possession leaves the reader on the edge of his seat, chewing his nails, anxiously waiting for a resolution.
My Review: 4/5 stars
* I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.*
The beginning of the book was slow for me....i found it to be a little wordy for my tastes. The back and forth switch form time and place kind of threw me for a loop a few times and I had to go back a few pages and re-read to remember where in time I was. Overall, the book was chilling and distrurbing. Gregory (the main character) drew me in almost immediately and did NOT let go until the very end. There were times that I had to walk away from the book, because the sheer madness of it, was quite disturbing. I found there to be a lot of religious references and being a non-religious person, I sometimes felt a little lost. Not because the writing was unclear, just my understanding of that subject is limited. A.K. Kuykendall can definitely hold his own with some of my favortie horror/thriller writers (Dean Koontz & Stephen King). I also liked the touch with the doll....it made the story that much more eerie . I would definitely recommend this book to those looking for something along the lines of what Koontz and King write.
If you're looking for a book that will stay with you for awhile after you have finished reading it...this will do it!
You can follow the author on FB here: A.K. Kuykendall's FaceBook Page
My agent Donald Maass of DMLA out of New York and Mark Aylward - President of Dead Ringer Movies - have just entered into negotiations for film rights to my novel The Possession, book #1 in the Writer’s Block trilogy. It’s still early, but a great development nonetheless. To read the synopsis of the novel being negotiated, visit the site where "truth reads through fiction" @ http://www.thewriterofbooks.com/list-of-works/synopsis-possession/.
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