Book Review: The Summoning by J.P. Smth

 GOODREADS SUMMARY:

Every year, as the anniversary of 9/11 inches closer on the calendar, Kit Capriol scans the memorials published in the New York Times. It's a simple thing to look up a name and phone number, to reach out to surviving family members who might still be yearning for connection with their lost loved one... to offer assistance. After her husband went down in the north tower, Kit scraped by as an actress, barely supporting herself and her daughter. But now Zoey is in the hospital, bills are due, and the acting work has dried up. Becoming a medium is almost too easy for someone used to pretending for a living—and desperate clients aren't hard to come by.

Now, though, something has changed. The seances Kit holds in her apartment are starting to feel unsettlingly real, and the intriguing man she met at a local bar could be more complicated than he seems. As the voices of the dead grow louder in her head and the walls of her apartment close in, Kit realizes that despite her daughter's absence, she hasn't been quite as alone as she thought... 

TEE'S THOUGHTS:

Kit, an out-of-work actress needs money, her husband died on 9/11, and her daughter has been in the hospital for the past three years in a coma after an accident in a subway station. Bills are piling up and she can't seem to get any roles. She begins looking through the New York Times obits and memorial pages contacting family members left behind, letting them know that she is a medium and has received a message from their dead love one.

Some people have said that this is a horror book, but I did not see that in the book at all. It is more a slow burn suspenseful thriller with a hint of paranormal thrown in when Kit starts hearing from actual dead people while trying to " contact " the fake ones.

I am still not sure how I feel about Kit. What she does seems morally wrong, but is it really? The people seem to find joy from hearing from their lost loved one, so she is also bringing joy to some very lonely people, so there is that. Yet I also understand her will to survive ad provide the medical treatment her ill daughter needs. Unlike Kit, I probably would have just went out and got whatever normal job I could.

There was a lot going on in this book, emotional and financial stress, loss and grief, some mystery. Smith is a good writer, there were times I  felt as overwhelmed as Kit did, who was in a downward spiral and a very unreliable narrator.

The ending has a little bit of a twist to it but it was nothing that was completely jaw-dropping. However once again I will say that the writing kept me engaged and entertained and had me wanting to get back to it when I had to set it down to do life things.