Name: Dwellers
Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9786210100228

Eliza Victoria

Rule No. 1: You don't kill the body you inhabit.Rule No. 2: You should never again mention your previous name.Rule No. 3: You don't ever talk about your previous life. Ever.Two young men with the power to take over another body inhabit the bodies and lives of brothers Jonah and Louis. The takeover leads to a car crash, injuring Jonah's legs and forcing them to stay in the brothers' house for the time being.The street is quiet. The neighbors aren't nosy. Everything is okay.They are safe, for now.Until they find a dead body in the basement.

Dwellers

tepi

“But where do memories reside? Are they tangible objects you find in the organic brain? Do you take them with you when you leave your body, or are they left with the corpus? Do they simply disappear, like steam? Or are they more like the boxes in the attic or the ruined dresser cabinet in the basement? Things that can be abandoned and later inherited.” 

“The sad thing about pain is that you can’t share it or pass it on, no matter how willing the next person is. No one can take agony away from you, no matter how many times the people you love tell you, I know exactly how you feel. You know they really don’t. You suffer alone, in the end.”

“Louis,” I say again. My voice sounds like it’s coming from a deep well. “It’s okay,” he says. “We’ll be okay.”

“Because there is a power greater than our life force. Because we dwell in borrowed bodies. Because nothing is ours.”

Great premise of two bodysnatchers finding a new quiet life. Turns out it was as dangerous as the life they left. The author set up this book as a "who-done-it?" crime thriller—sprinkling clues throughout the book as the two bodysnatchers' new life expands. The family lore was interesting. I like that they've used  supernatural lore sparingly, without the need for heavy-handed explanation. The dynamic is a familiar Filipino family trope with dark and hidden secrets that can break them apart. But it's missing some crucial elements to make it truly a haunting experience as a reader. With Act 3, coming back where Act 1 left off, it was filled with expositions instead of building the characters after surrounding the readers with too much mystery. The reveal is shocking and uncharacteristic based on the clues that the author dropped in Act 1. Making this a very unsatisfying read. I think it boils down to an author who fears the reader's intelligence, not wanting to figure it out early before the climax hits.

Nate

Eliza A. Victoria

Two young men with the power to take over another body inhabit the bodies and lives of brothers Jonah and Louis. The takeover leads to a car crash, injuring Jonah's legs and forcing them to stay in the brothers' house for the time being. They are safe, for now. Until they find a dead body in the basement. -- From author's website.

Dwellers

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