Every evening, at sunset, Nate Bloom’s body is taken over by a malignant force that is slowly but surely killing him. As he struggles to cope with this nightmare, he recalls the circumstances that brought him to this point — after a dissolute young adulthood, he reunited with childhood friend Max and the two fell in love, married, and adopted a baby girl. Then one rainy night, Max and the baby were killed in a car crash, and while Nate was unconscious in hospital, a demon approached him with a horrific choice: submit to a bizarre body exchange, or his beloved husband and daughter would be consigned to hell.

As he begins to understand the violent nature of the soul that possesses him in the dark, a series of attacks and murders ratchets up to include his narcissistic boss, the man who unwittingly let a flat to the murderer. Nate begins to sympathize with Terrance, the savage young thug inside him, and the two begin working together to achieve their individual goals: Terrance wants to see his girlfriend and son one more time, while Nate is determined to kill the man who killed his family. Only as this plan comes together does Nate finally understand the truly hellish bargain he’s struck and just how much it will cost him.

This book is frightening, and easily spooked readers might opt to avoid it or toss it aside once starting.  But Nate’s misery and sorrow, and his growing relationship with the soul he housed, are compelling, and readers who tough it out will be glad they did. Self Possessed is not an easy read, but it’s worth the effort of immersing oneself in the despair and ruin of lives targeted by evil.