Kill the Possum by James Moloney

Kill the Possum Reviews

• 
  L.E. Truscott

  I was in the middle of reading another book – a long, dense, important but mentally draining book – and decided to take a break and read Kill the Possum, knowing it would be a shorter read, something I could get through quickly. But if I was hoping for an easy read, I was sorely disappointed. This was a hard book to read. Not because of the writing but because of the story. This is every blended family teenager’s worst nightmare.
  
  Dylan Kane is fifteen and has a crush on Kirsty Beal. They’ve been on a few dates and he’d like a few more. So one Sunday afternoon he decides to drop in on her unexpectedly. But he couldn’t have chosen a worse time. Sunday afternoons are when Kirsty’s ex-stepfather, Ian, drops her half-sister, Melanie, home from her weekend access visit. And while he’s there, Ian terrorises the Beals, including Kirsty’s little brother, Tim, and her mother, Ian’s former wife.
  
  The abuse has been going on for years – physical, emotional, sexual – and Ian gets away with it thanks to his powerful policeman brother and his twist-everything-you-say-in-court lawyer. Tim, barely even a teenager, drinks to cope with it all. His mother takes sedatives. And Kirsty tries to stay strong, hoping that one day it will simply all end and Ian will get tired of his power games.
  
  But the more Dylan sees, the more he wants to help. So he and Tim come up with a plan to steal Ian’s rifle and shoot him in his bed while he sleeps. But killing a man is difficult, morally at least. When Tim insists he be the one to kill Ian, Dylan tells him to practise by killing a possum he’s trapped. But Tim can’t. How can they kill a man, Dylan reasons, if they can’t even bring themselves to kill a possum?
  
  Kill the Possum is a young adult book but it’s not for children or even younger teenagers. If I found it hard to read in my late thirties, I can only imagine how disturbing it might be for young minds still getting a grasp on right and wrong, especially those going through similar situations themselves.
  
  The book is simple and at the same time powerful, intense, moving and with a shock ending that I didn’t see coming. I feel like I really should have seen it coming but I didn’t and that’s a credit to the author. There are quite a few typos, spelling and grammar issues that should have been picked up during the editing process and weren’t and that’s a discredit to the editor. Considering the book is meant for a younger audience, I would have hoped that a focus on these things was paramount as an example. Pretty unusual for a book from a publishing company as reputable as Penguin. But there’s not too much else wrong with it.
  
  The book is also a commentary on parenting, particularly fatherhood. Kirsty’s real and much beloved father died a decade ago. Dylan’s father walked out on him and his mother before his first birthday and hasn’t seen him since then. Dylan hates his father with a passion for his absence, his irresponsibility, and particularly the fact that he has a new wife and three other children now. But is Dylan’s father’s crime as bad as the one that Ian is perpetrating on the Beals? Wasn’t he supposed to be their father figure? Isn’t he failing on a much grander scale by staying in their lives and making them perpetually afraid?
  
  Read this book but be prepared. This isn’t a fairy tale or a morality tale or a fond look back at the innocence of youth. It’s gritty realism. And there is no happy ending. But there’s an honest ending, one that will stay with the reader forever.
• 
  Grace Backler

  The first time I read this book was in late primary school and was one of the first literary insights I had into domestic abuse at a time when my best friend was being abused by her father. The first time I read this, I did a lot of crying throughout the book. This time, I didn’t cry until the very end.
  
  A book that explores the naivety of those who are fortunate enough to not live in an abusive world, Kill the Possum will break your heart at the same time that it gives you hope that the cycle of domestic violence within families will end.
  
  The ending of this book is one you will never forget.
• 
  Katherine

  RATING: 3 Out Of 5
• 
  Charlie

  Found the first half of the book quite difficult to get through, felt like it meandered through the first 100 pages. Dylan’s saviour complex, while understandable, felt a bit frustrating to read. The second half opened to tension, angst and I think it really found it’s stride. I would recommend this to readers but can’t imagine it would be very engaging to anyone who doesn’t like reading for the sake of reading.
  I also can’t help but feel as though Kirsty was a little mistreated throughout the story, she deserved better. On that note, the women in this story in general felt a little one note and archetypal.
• 
  Crystal

  The inner turmoil of each character was so incredibly vivid. The curiosity that it bloomed in you made you read page after pager to uncover whether the tormented teenage boys would actually murder the abusing Ex-husband of the Beals. It was emotionally powerful and challenged the arguments and mindsets of the people who think the world is black and white, right and wrong and not permeated with grey.
• 
  lidia

  KIRSTY CANT BE DEAD HUH WHAT
• 
  Lana

  Honestly nothing has ever triggered me as much as this book did...
• 
  Komal

  I decided to read this book because another student in my class recommended it. This novel is a very dramatic, tension filled and hopeless type of novel which is why I only rated it three stars. Im more into thrillers not sad and soppy things...
  Anyway, a character that stood out for me in this novel was Ian Cartwright. He is a preposterous man, I couldn't stand reading about him and to be quite honest I'm glad his fate in the story ended up how it did. Ian came off as a nice and charming gentleman to the eye of the public but as soon as he was around the Beal family that act was gone and the monster came out. He really did make me angry in the novel as a good novel does though.
  'Kirsty Beal sits on the edge of the bed, leaning over Mrs Beal. ‘It’s all right, Mum, he’s gone now.'
  This quote from the book is interesting because it tells us of how Kirsty who is a teenager girl has to help and support her mum for strength mentally and physically. This is because of how hurt and depressed Ian Cartwright makes her feel. She is scared of him.
  This book made me think deeply of speaking out. It is never okay to just sit back and watch something horrible happen especially to people who you care about.
  I recommend this book for all highschool kids, it has an awesome message and a little bit of hidden reality that shouldn't be kept a secret.
• 
  emerson

  Moloney really writes to engage the youth audience. When I looked at the cover, I thought it would be a hardcore thriller that would knock your socks off or something like that. The story itself wasn't like what I expected but a compelling read.
  
  It's about a boy name Dylan Kane who witnesses and sees abuse within his girlfriend's Kristy home. From this incident, the story revolves around this concept and a menace psycho, who turns out to be the father. Dylan attempts to try to stop the matter from going on but it gets.... traumatic and sad towards the end.
  
  The tragic hero is Dylan and as a reader I felt a sense of sorrow and encouragement towards him as he embark this tough journey that he witnesses. The idea of domestic violence is carried on throughout the story and is written beautifully to make today's youth to understand the story.
  
  If you liked, "13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher," you'd probably like this one too due to the emotional challenge that the reader and the main character is left to deal with.
• 
  Emily

  This book is not what you expect it to be. It's not about killing possums or killing any sort of animal, but paying back a man who has mentally, emotionally and physically abused and tortured his family. Dylan is a sixteen year old, nerdy teenager who starts to date one of the most popular, beautiful girls in the grade. He then finds out that her step-dad tortures her family mentally, emotionally and physically on an unexpected visit to her house.
  
  The title is more understanding once you read the book, and it completely makes sence. I gave this book five stars because of the pace, action, mystery, love and suspension, all the aspects you could want in a book. this is my favourite book and I could read this book again any day and recommend it to boys and girls, but I wouldn't recommend this book to younger readers because of the emotional violence, some self harming scenes, references to depression and mature themes mentioned and written in some of the scenes in the book.
  
• 
  Hannah Reed

  I loved reading this book; it's written well, it's creepy and it's a quick and easy book to read.
  
  The reason this book is creepy is because it's so realistic. I could see every event in this book happening in real life, which is terrifying because this is not a nice book. It contains an absolutely vile character who made my skin crawl, and some kids who acted stupidly and irrationally, but not unrealistically.
  
  I also love how this was written, it wasn't overloaded with description and yet I still felt like I knew each character. I just really enjoyed this book and I think everyone should give it a go.
• 
  Bianca D.

  This is a really good book. I came to reading this because the title really interested me and got me saying "Well this is not a title that you see everyday. I think I'll try it." Don't worry the whole book isn't about killing possums. I don't really want to say why the title is that because it means that I will have to tell you the ending so you should read the book. It is a really good one that I enjoyed a lot.
• 
  Holly Burchell

  This book is very exciting, from the very start to the very end, wondering what is going to happen next, every next page getting more and more intimate and exciting, this book has
  -the donomate male
  -fear of the sexual assualt
  _fear of the law (semi)
  and many more gothis features and structure :)
  i give this book 4 out 5 stars i very much enjoyed it :)....
• 
  Jamie-lea

  I thought the book was really boring in the beginig but i liked alot more when it got more interesting i loved the book i hope u loved it to. To me i loved the part at the end.
  
  
  Kill the Possum
• 
  Bree-anne

  James Monoloney has won over me once again first with silvermay and now kill the possum. It was a great book i like how on the back of the book it makes you think that the book is about something supernatural, but really it is just about an abusive man. I also love how James kept changing the character to keep the book in first person.
• 
  Heather

  This is one of those fabulous gritty books that captures you from the first page - I just couldn't put it down. It deals with some heavy issues such as emotional and psychological abuse, and raises the question 'Is murder ever justifiable?" A worthy contender for CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers - it has my vote!
• 
  claire

  Eerily amazing and original. James Moloney arrested me with Kill the Possum. His manoeuvre of the development of his characters and plot was masterful and the gruesome capture of man's nature when pushed to the limits left me fascinated. The way he wrote man's self-afflicted downward spiral into 'madness'- I was unable to tear myself away.
• 
  Leah

  I chose this book to read for a school assignment.
  This book was not what I expected.
  There were a few rather confronting and even triggering scenes throughout. Although I do believe it was fairly well written, it is definitely not for the faint of heart.
• 
  Clare Snow

  Heart wrenching. I think everyone should read it for the insights into the boys’ feelings of impotence in the face of violence in their home. The ending was a real jolt, not at all what you expect or want for the characters. Make sure you’re in a good mood before you read this.
• 
  Emily

  It was ok, my school librarian reccommended it to me. I liked the format of it, the story was ok but it dragged on for too long and the story wasn't god enough to be that good.
• 
  Tori

  A small hidden spoiler: This book made me cry so much at the end I knew something was up when the lawyer said.... Kirsty WAS your girlfriend, instead of IS
• 
  Trisha

  harrowing. goodness jim.
• 
  Christine

  Another fantastic James Moloney. A great read. His stories always have such strong thought provoking endings.