Synopsis:
Stuck in a dead-end job and unable to afford independence, Jamila’s dreams of success fade daily. Desperate, she agrees to an arranged marriage orchestrated by her father, but it backfires, deepening her depression.
She finds solace in horror movies about demonic possession, leading her to research real-life cases. Discovering some achieve success through dark means, she decides to summon her demon, hoping to change her fate. Possession grants Jamila immense confidence and success, but the dark alliance exacts a steep price.
The demon consumes her sanity, blurring reality and nightmare.
Can Jamila escape the darkness she unleashed?
Favorite Lines:
“Nothing I eat satisfies my hunger. This must be what stress eating is.”
“She recognized the tragic irony in humanity’s plight: their yearning for a better life had led them into an inescapable trap.”
“In her moments of clarity, Jamila realized the irony of her situation. She had sought possession to gain knowledge and power, but it was only in her damnation that she truly understood the depths of the world’s corruption. The knowledge she had gained was vast, but it came at the highest cost imaginable: her soul.”
My Opinion:
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion and just in time for spooky season to begin!
Can I start this review off by saying that something that really drew me in to this book was the cover alone. It was the perfect level of creepy and ends up fitting this book very well!
This story follows Jamila, a young woman who feels trapped in a mundane existence with a draining job who is unable to see a light at the end of the tunnel. To make matters worse, her father keeps insisting on an arranged marriage that she is less than thrilled about. To escape her reality, Jamila watches a lot of horror movies and becomes interested in real-life stories of people who have summoned demons. Taking inspiration from these stories, Jamila tries to summon a demon herself. What starts as a confidence boost for Jamila, quickly spirals out of control and readers follow along as Jamila fights a darkness as it begins to consume her.
I am a sucker for any psychological thrillers and this one did not disappoint – and it came just in time for spooky season! This is my first book by Raven and I loved the way that the world was set up only to have a purposeful tone shift once Jamila summoned the demon. Raven did a great job at setting up a terrifying and thrilling plot that had me on the edge of my seat. Throughout reading this, I regularly found myself picturing this on the big screen and think it could be a great plot for a scary, demon possession movie!
If I had to nitpick one thing, it would have to be the flow of the book. As some points, it came off as a bit choppy and could have probably flowed more smoothly from one scene to the next. However, I want to emphasize that this didn’t take away from the overall plot which I still found to be creative and interesting.
I wanted to put a trigger warning that this book does contain graphic violence, self-mutilation, sexual content, horror themes, and more and may not be suited for everyone.
Summary:
Overall, while this was my first book from Raven, I am confident that it won’t be my last. This was the perfect blend of creepy, thrilling, and addicting and I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror and psychological thrillers. Happy reading!