[REVIEW] The Possessions of Doctor Forrest

Title: The Possessions of Doctor Forrest
Author: Richard T. Kelly
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN-10: 9780571275878
ISBN-13: 9780571275878
ASIN: 0571275877
Number of Pages: 464
Release Date: November 3, 2011

Blurb: Three respected Scottish doctors - psychiatrist Steve Hartford, pediatric surgeon Grey Lochran and cosmetic surgeon Robert Forrest - have been close friends since their Edinburgh boyhoods, and now live handsomely in suburban London. But for each, midlife has brought certain discontents, especially for Forrest, a reformed womanizer who broods over his fading looks and the departure of his beautiful younger girlfriend. When Dr Forrest goes missing one summer evening and fails to return, Lochran and Hartford are alarmed by the thought of what might have befallen their friend. The police can find no evidence of foul play, but the two doctors resolve to conduct their own investigation. Soon, however, Lochran and Hartford find themselves bedeviled by bizarre, unnerving events, and the attentions of menacing strangers. Robert Forrest, they come to realize, has remained closer than they could ever have imagined...

Review: Reading the blurb and seeing the cover, I just had to borrow and read this book. I mean, the word "possessions" in the title and "Robert Forrest [...] has remained closer than they could ever have imagined..." in the blurb - what's not to like?

Well, the language, for starters. I get it, the whole Gothic novel thing "needs" spooky language. But last I checked, "spooky" wasn't a synonym for "dull". The writing is just so...boring. I couldn't even make myself finish this book - my life's too short to read long, boring books.

Another thing, which connects to the language in a way, is that I found it incredibly difficult to tell the different characters apart. They spoke and were described so similarly that I had to keep going back to read some scenes, even with dialogue, from the beginning in an attempt to tell them apart.

I can't help hoping someone else will write a similar book, because the premise is so interesting.

Unfortunately this book wasn't.