Paul Tremblay’s “A Head Full of Ghosts” is a masterfully crafted psychological horror novel that keeps readers questioning reality until the final page. The story of the Barrett family’s descent into madness—or possession—blends elements of classic horror with contemporary media criticism to create a uniquely disturbing tale that lingers long after you’ve finished reading.
What makes this novel particularly unsettling is how Tremblay transforms the familiar tropes of possession narratives into something far more ambiguous and sinister, leaving readers to question not just what is real within the story, but what constitutes “reality” in our media-saturated world.
The Plot: A Family Disintegrating
The narrative unfolds through the eyes of Merry Barrett, who was just eight years old when her fourteen-year-old sister Marjorie began exhibiting signs of what doctors diagnosed as acute schizophrenia. As Marjorie’s behavior becomes increasingly disturbing—from telling unsettling stories about molasses floods and “growing things” to scratching herself and speaking in different voices—the Barrett family spirals into crisis.
When traditional medical interventions fail, the family turns to Father Wanderly, a Catholic priest who suggests Marjorie is possessed by a demon. Compounding their troubles, John Barrett has been unemployed for over a year, and the family is drowning in medical bills. In desperation, they agree to let a reality TV crew document Marjorie’s “possession” and the subsequent exorcism.
Fifteen years later, an adult Merry recounts the horrifying events to bestselling author Rachel Neville, revealing disturbing discrepancies between what was shown on television and what actually happened in that house.
Structure: A Layered Narrative That Deepens the Horror
Tremblay employs a complex narrative structure that enhances the book’s psychological impact:
- Present-day interviews: Adult Merry’s conversations with Rachel form the frame story
- Blog posts: “The Last Final Girl” blog analyzes the reality show episodes
- Childhood memories: Eight-year-old Merry’s perspective on unfolding events
- Reality show footage: Descriptions of what aired on “The Possession”
This fragmented approach brilliantly mirrors the fractured reality of the Barrett family and forces readers to piece together the truth from competing narratives. The different perspectives raise crucial questions: Is Marjorie possessed or mentally ill? Is the reality show exploiting a family in crisis? Who is reliable, and what actually happened?
Character Analysis: The Haunted Barretts
The characters in “A Head Full of Ghosts” are compellingly drawn, each contributing to the story’s oppressive atmosphere:
- Merry Barrett: Our primary narrator, whose childlike perspective makes the horror more immediate. Her adoration of her older sister complicates her understanding of events, and her adult self remains profoundly traumatized.
- Marjorie Barrett: The novel’s enigmatic center. Is she possessed, mentally ill, or playing an elaborate game? Her deterioration is convincingly portrayed through increasingly disturbing behavior, yet Tremblay leaves room for multiple interpretations.
- John Barrett: A father desperate to restore order to his crumbling family. His turn to religion after losing his job represents his attempt to regain control, though this ultimately accelerates the family’s destruction.
- Sarah Barrett: The skeptical mother caught between her husband’s religious fervor and her daughter’s deteriorating condition. Her growing helplessness is one of the novel’s most heartbreaking elements.
Thematic Depth: More Than Just Possession
What elevates “A Head Full of Ghosts” above standard horror fare is its rich thematic content:
Media Exploitation and Reality TV
The novel offers a scathing critique of reality television’s tendency to commodify suffering. The Barrett family’s pain becomes entertainment, edited and packaged for maximum viewership. Tremblay shows how the very presence of cameras distorts reality, raising questions about authenticity in our media-saturated culture.
Faith vs. Science
The tension between medical and religious explanations for Marjorie’s condition drives much of the plot. Dr. Hamilton offers a scientific diagnosis, while Father Wanderly insists on demonic possession. That both approaches fail the Barrett family suggests neither paradigm fully captures human suffering.
Economic Anxiety
The Barrett family’s financial desperation underlies their decision to allow cameras into their home. John’s unemployment and mounting medical bills represent a different kind of horror—the precariousness of middle-class American life and the lengths to which people will go when facing economic ruin.
Gender and Power
Through blog posts analyzing “The Possession,” Tremblay explores how possession narratives often reinforce patriarchal control of female bodies. The male priests attempting to “save” Marjorie reflect historical patterns of religious authority exerted over women deemed “unruly.”
Writing Style: Crafting Uncertainty
Tremblay’s prose is both accessible and literary, shifting seamlessly between eight-year-old Merry’s voice and adult Merry’s more reflective tone. The writing excels at creating ambiguity—scenes can be read multiple ways, and Tremblay never definitively answers the novel’s central questions.
His skill at depicting horror through suggestion rather than explicit description makes the disturbing moments all the more effective. When Marjorie attacks Father Gavin during the exorcism or when she appears to levitate before her fall, the events are described from a child’s frightened perspective, making them more unsettling than graphic depictions would be.
Critical Assessment: Strengths and Weaknesses
What Works Brilliantly
- Psychological complexity: The novel’s refusal to provide simple answers creates lasting unease
- Cultural commentary: Tremblay’s critique of media exploitation feels prescient
- Character development: The Barrett family members are vividly realized, particularly Merry and Marjorie
- Blurring of reality: The layered narrative creates productive uncertainty about what’s “real”
- Building dread: The novel creates an atmosphere of escalating tension without relying on cheap scares
What Could Be Stronger
- Pacing: The middle section occasionally drags, with some repetitive scenes
- Secondary characters: Figures like Ken (the TV writer) and Father Wanderly could be more fully developed
- Resolution: While ambiguity is intentional, some readers may find the conclusion frustratingly open-ended
- Blog sections: The “Last Final Girl” blog posts, while insightful, sometimes interrupt the narrative flow
Comparisons and Context
“A Head Full of Ghosts” draws from and subverts multiple horror traditions. Readers will recognize elements of:
- William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist” in its possession narrative
- Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” in its psychological ambiguity
- Mark Z. Danielewski’s “House of Leaves” in its layered, metafictional structure
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (explicitly referenced in the novel) in its exploration of female “madness”
Unlike Tremblay’s crime novels “The Little Sleep” and “No Sleep Till Wonderland,” this book marks his full embrace of horror, establishing him as a major voice in the genre alongside contemporaries like Stephen Graham Jones and Laird Barron (both referenced in the novel).
Final Verdict: A Modern Horror Classic
“A Head Full of Ghosts” deserves its reputation as one of the most disturbing and thought-provoking horror novels of recent years. Its brilliance lies not in supernatural scares but in its exploration of how families, media, and society can create conditions for real-world horrors.
The novel’s final revelation—that eight-year-old Merry may have poisoned her family under Marjorie’s manipulation—transforms what seemed like a possession story into something far more horrifying: a tale of how familial love can be weaponized and twisted.
Tremblay has crafted a novel that works both as a gripping horror story and as a meditation on truth, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of tragedy. It’s a book that will haunt readers long after they’ve turned the final page—not with images of demons or exorcisms, but with questions about what we choose to believe and why.
For readers who enjoy psychological horror that challenges as much as it frightens, “A Head Full of Ghosts” is an essential, if deeply unsettling, reading experience.
