Possession, Obsession and a Diesel Compression Engine [Kindle Edition]

Possession, Obsession and a Diesel Compression Engine is a devilishly good read - and another winner from Gerard Brennan.
Made up of six stories (though I, for one, would have been delighted had there been 666 of them) Brennan's sharp writing fairly shines with wit and humour and you'll find yourself whizzing through and wishing there was more to read.
'Blood Bath' was a great opener, indeed I'd love to see this one turned into something longer. 'Steele Guitar' introduced the Devil's Own Music to a Methodist Congregation, while '925' offered up a decent bite.
'Road Rage' brought to mind Stephen King's 'Christine' but in the shape of a Ford Focus, and 'An Irish Possession' - my favourite I think - is an exorcism with a difference.
Finishing off with 'Would You Be Interested', the book is made up of intertwining stories bound together with impish glee, music, cars, a deal of soul-selling and the odd appearance from the Dark Lord himself. Along with his Agents of Doom, of course. Loved it, and will look forward to more from the wonderfully named Heebie Jeebie Press.

A collection of short stories, Possession, Obsession and a Diesel Compression Engine shows a somewhat different side to Gerard Brennan. Known for his excellent crime fiction to me previously, this collection shows off his talent for horror and fantasy writing, and is all the better for it.

Ranging from a possessed Ford Focus (in the style of Stephen King's Christine) to a guitar you'd sell your soul to play, each story will draw inevitable comparisons to the big hitters in the genre. The difference does not lie in the quality of the writing however, with Brennan bringing his knack for dialogue, pacing, and plot to the fore. Rather the difference lies in the humour which present throughout. There's a wryness to each story, a wit and a one liner, which vastly improves this collection from just another collection of rehashed horror tales, to one which makes you hope Brennan has a full length novel in this genre just waiting to be released.

Get it now, so you can say you were there at the beginning!

Possession… is a collection of six lightly interlinked short (mild) horror stories.

I’ve been lucky enough to be reading quite a lot of Gerard Brennan recently (for example the previously reviewed Fireproof). I’ve realized that Gerard likes to launch his stories with an eye-opening bang and none of these little gems disappoint. Each story is short (the entire book is under 11,000 words in length) so the author hits hard and hits fast.

For example there’s the opening short called Blood Bath which it literally is. The Devil likes to bathe in, yes, blood. He says:

The best bathing blood had to be extracted from frightened accountants. The easy part had always been scaring them; you just told them there was a problem with the bottom line or gave them a debit-heavy Balance Sheet. The tough part was catching them…

The other stories are about an obsession with rock ‘n’ roll, a possessed car (with a hilarious Thelma & Louise take), a ‘trip’ down memory lane, a deal with the devil and my personal favourite, An Irish Possession. The latter regards a boy possessed by an imp and his exorcism. This example describes the Irish priest carrying out the extraction process:

Aye, I know he had a mouth on him like a sailor. Well, compared to other priests, I mean. I never heard him say the F word, but he always said bastard and s***e and all the not-so-bad curses. Plus I saw him hit wee Fra’ McGuinness from Dunville Street when he caught him smoking in the Chapel car park. It wasn’t a wee tap to embarrass him either. It was a right hook, and the wee fellah fell on his backside.

All the stories are based in Ireland with varying degrees of local dialect. This creates a strong sense of place. The dialogue is tight. The challenge in a good short is to use every word to its fullest effect. Gerard does this brilliantly.

**Previously reviewed on Books and Pals Blog. May have received free copy.**