Review: The Repossession, by Sam Hawksmoor

Author: Sam Hawksmoor
Title: The Repossession
ISBN: 9780340997086
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (March 1st 2012)
Disclaimer: Copy received for book report purposes.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“34 kids missing. Vanished without a trace.   

Believing she is possessed, Genie Magee's mother has imprisoned her all summer encouraged by the sinister Reverend Schneider. Beautiful Rian, love of her life, sets her free, and their escape washes them up at Marshall's remote farmhouse downriver. But why are there newspaper clippings of the missing kids pinned to Marshall's bathroom wall? And should they believe his stories about the experiments at the Fortress, an underground research station nearby?    

Genie meets Denis. Missing two years now, but hasn't grown an inch. Rian is haunted by Renée, who insists she's not actually dead. Soon they discover the terrible truth about Reverend Schneider and worse, Genie is next ... and Rian can't do a thing to prevent it.

The Repossession is just the beginning.” GoodReads’ blurb

I read this book for work, but I figure there’s nothing wrong with sharing a review with you now that it’s out to the public.

Back in the day, I told the publishing house I freelance for that this title had a lot of things going for it, and the fact that it falls squarely into some of the trendiest genres of today’s YA was one of the first things I’d point out.

There’s traces of paranormal in Genie, of Sci-Fi in the dark events behind the disappearance of the kids, and finally, of totalitarian dystopia. The Repossession should appeal to anyone who enjoys those genres, which means to a whole lot of people.

Why, I’m not a huge dystopia fan and still got hooked to this novel!

Another great thing in this title is the style. Even though the novel’s long, standing at nearly 500 pages, the narration is fast, dynamic, and it makes it super-easy to identify with the characters.

The characters here go beyond just their adventures and relationships, too. There’s a model, a critique or example in every one of them, I think. Unconditional love, difficult family life, parental love, friendship, trust... And good and evil.

I know that a lot of us like our characters grey, like to wonder if we can trust them or not. In the Repossession, that distinction is clear. The bad guys are really, really bad. The list of people you can count on is pretty straightforward. The good guys are mostly accounted for. This might bother some readers and enamour others, I think – sometimes we do love the satisfaction of seeing the villains bite it, no?

That’s probably my greatest grip with this title. We don’t. See it, I mean.

The ending gives a whole new meaning to the definition of “open ending”. It ends with a major cliffhanger, reading the path for book two – and I honestly don’t know when book two is coming out. As of the moment I’m writing this review, which admittedly is way before you’re reading it, I can’t even confirm that there’s a contract on book two. I guess there is one, but it could just end. And that’d destroy the book.

My other problem comes from religion. See, there’s a sect in this book. Luckily, it’s a fictitious sect so it shouldn’t thread on anyone’s toes, but the fact that we have churches and Reverends around always makes me a little weary. Just giving a heads up in case this aspect might bother you as well.

As far as complains go, I guess mine aren’t too serious. And I do believe this is a good choice for genre lovers, and also a good title to get started into sci-fi and dystopia. I’d ask you to consider giving this title a chance.