Book Review: Apparitions by Adam Pottle

This post features affiliate links, which means that we’ll earn
a small commission if you make a purchase through these links.

“In giving me language, Felix gave me love. My blood glowed. The world shimmered with incredible potential — even dust pulsed with life.”

📚

Apparitions is a recent horror release that chronicles the devastating effects of abuse, deprivation, and violence. Told via both a first-person narrative and epistolary format, the storyline follows an unnamed Deaf teenager as he’s torn from his mother’s home and imprisoned in his father’s basement. Kept prisoner in this small, foul space for years, he is cruelly neglected, viciously mistreated, and denied learning, language, understanding, and meaningful human contact.

After escaping, he wanders through Saskatchewan before being placed in a psychiatric facility, where he meets another Deaf teen named Felix. Thrilled to find a companion who can teach him Sign Language, he quickly becomes dependent on, influenced by, and inseparable from Felix, whose ambition, cunning, and manipulation may actually be the last thing he needs.

This novel is an absolutely gut-wrenching journey that reads like real horror. All the protagonist knows is cruelty and savagery; because he has been treated in a subhuman manner, he responds in-kind, misunderstanding interactions and literally fighting for survival anytime he feels threatened. Isolation, dread, and terror intensify throughout as, without knowledge, communication, or agency, the main character is constantly at the mercy of those surrounding him. While this produces an utterly dark, overwhelming, and depressing situation, the story also shines with moments of beauty and hope — instances that show the protagonist’s true nature, which is loving, empathetic, and courageous.

A compelling and breathtaking work, Apparitions sears itself into the reader, evoking intense feelings of anxiety, sorrow, and fear in the face of oppression and inequality. It is a brutal account of circumstance, inhumanity, dispossession, and trauma as well as a beautiful tale of yearning, strength, love, desire, and perseverance. A unique, disorienting, and captivating odyssey, it’s the ultimate exercise in empathy, and an awe-inspiring opportunity to walk in another’s shoes.

Thank you to Dark Matter INK for sending me a copy of this powerful, beautiful novel. It was an incredible and indelible read.

❤Amanda

Disclaimer

Many books featured on this blog were purchased by us; however, we do accept publisher-, author-, and other source-provided copies (both advanced reader copies (ARCs) and finished copies) from publishers, authors, and other sources we deem to be a good fit for our reading preferences and blog. Posts and reviews that feature such copies are disclosed. For more information, refer to the Disclaimer & Disclosures section.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, which means that when you click one of those links and make a purchase, we earn a small commission paid by the retailers, at no additional cost to you. These links will take you to books and other products that we like, trust, and believe will be beneficial to our readers. Affiliate programs use cookies to track visits in order to assign sale-related commissions; funds earned keep the Site up and running and allow us to continue to share reviews and other content. Thank you for your support!