The Back Bedroom

The fact that The Back Bedroom is based on a true story makes it disturbing before you even get very far into it. Exorcism and murder are unsettling enough subjects on their own. Knowing this isn’t simply something someone dreamed up adds another unpleasant layer.

The story itself was okay, but the character development didn’t work particularly well for me. The people felt very one-sided, and I wanted a fuller sense of who they were rather than the limited picture I got. A disturbing subject can get my attention, but it doesn’t automatically make the telling compelling.

This felt more like a basic documentary account than a novel. That isn’t inherently a problem for a true-crime book, but it captures why this one left me underwhelmed: I got the telling of the story without much depth to the people at its centre.

There is a difference between finding what happened disturbing and finding the book itself particularly good. In this case, the real events supplied the disturbing part, while the writing didn’t do enough with the characters to make this a satisfying read for me.

Overall, an unsettling true story, but a fairly basic telling with character development that fell short. 2 stars.