Blue Exorcist Vol. 1 / Kazue Kato (Japanese author) / 202 pages / Color in the title

Rin Okumura was always a rebellious orphan, but when he’s jumped by a gang, a blue flame he never knew he could use reveals that not only is he half-human-half-demon, but he is the illegitimate son of the Devil himself.  After his father kills someone close to him, Rin vows to get his revenge on him and joins the True Cross Academy to become an exorcist.  His teacher is his more intelligent, somehow-whole-human, younger twin brother Yukio; hilarity ensues (for the most part).  The first demon they had to exorcise was within a girl’s legs, making her immobile, because it had tricked her into thinking it was her grandmother’s spirit.  This girl, Shiemi, joins the True Cross Academy alongside Rin thanks to a kind conversation they had with each other.

Another recommendation I got, and my first impression was more towards Miss Kato’s illustrations and the careful detail she put into them, especially with the architecture—that alone is worth a peek into the book.

A Head Full of Ghosts / Paul Tremblay / 286 pgs.

A creepy and engrossing novel about a preteen named Marjorie Barrett, who begins to show signs of schizophrenia.  As her outbursts become more bizarre and frequent, Marjorie's father turns to a Catholic priest who suggests performing an exorcism.  At the same time a reality television show gets wind of this story and approaches the family in order to document it all.

Is Marjorie really crazy? possessed? or just looking for attention?  It's hard to parse out what really happened with this girl and her family.

Possessed / Thomas B. Allen / 333 pages / October Challenge

This book is based on the same case as The Exorcist playing in theaters in 1973, which was based on William Blatty's 1971 book of the same title.  The movie was fictionalized; this book is what really happened.  The author presents the information from various sources to reconstruct what happened to "Robbie Mannheim" in 1949.  Several priests became convinced that he was a victim of demonic possession and began the exorcism rites for him.  Many seemingly supernatural things happened before and during the exorcism.  This book tells all.  The diary from one of the priests involved is printed in the back of the book - but the story itself is so heavily drawn from the diary that reading it is rather repetitive.  A careful reader may notice a difference in emphasis on various parts of the story, but there is no real departure from the diary itself.  Possessed was first published in 1993, 44 years after the case actually happened. 


This is a challenging book to read if you have any question at all about whether demonic possession could be real.  The author himself questions the possession in his afterword.  The beginning is a bit slow, but once all the background information has been established, the action picks up considerably.  Readers who saw the original movie, or the Showtime movie Possessed will certainly enjoy this book.  Anyone who has questioned Christianity or the existence of demons will also appreciate the straight-forward presentation and ability to make up their own mind after the evidence is presented.