“The Invited” – a Book Review

  Last week, I reviewed an excellent book titled “The Uninvited” a great ghost story set in England. This week, I read and will review a new book called “The Invited” by Jennifer McMahon.

The Invited is a modern day ghost/witch/paranormal tale set in the woods of Vermont. Helen and Nate are two millennial types who decide to escape the city in Connecticut and build their dream house in the woods of Vermont, where they vaguely have an idea they can live off the land and off the grid. They are teachers and techno-geeks who research how to build a house and live rustically and buy a plot of land for cheap in Vermont.

As the reader, I yell at Helen and Nate and say, “Of course the land is cheap! It’s haunted! Land is expensive in Vermont! What were you thinking!!” And what makes them think they can build a house by themselves! Damn Millennial’s!

Quickly, the two discover building your own house and living in a trailer in the woods isn’t as romantic as they thought. The locals are hostile and weird noises come from the woods. Animals are chewing on the old trailer from underneath. Strange things show up on their doorstep. Is someone trying to scare them away?

There is another narrative in the tale of young Olive, a teenager with a troubled home and a missing mother. Helen and Nate and Olive delve into the history of the area especially the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who was hanged for being a witch.

As Helen becomes obsessed with Hattie she traces Hattie’s descendants through time and starts to buy things with a connection to Hattie and her cursed relatives: all objects with a dark history that seem to bring the ghosts of the past into their new house.

Basically, Helen is building her own haunted house!

Meanwhile, Olive is searching for what happened to her mother who supposedly ran off with another man. Nate is obsessed with finding an elusive all white deer. Everyone is looking for the treasure Hattie may or may not have buried on the land when she fled.

I enjoyed reading this book. I read it in a weekend and even snuck in some chapters at work on my iPhone. It is atmospheric and moody with great details about building a house from scratch. The book does move slowly in the beginning but it picks up speed towards the middle and never lost my interest. I did wonder about having Hattie being born in the early 1900’s though and being hanged in the 1920’s, because I didn’t think that would happen in such a relatively modern time period, but maybe it could in the backwoods.

I recommend this book to readers who love haunted house stories. It is suitable for YA also with the protagonist of Olive being a strong character. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

Review of “In The Night Wood”

    What a great find for a spooky Halloween read! First, thanks to Net Galley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the chance to read the ARC of this book. Also thanks for giving me bad dreams!

The book takes place in not so merry olde England, in a remote village called Yarrow and particularly, in a dark and atmospheric place named “The Hollow”, the ancestral home of an eccentric author, Caedman Hollow, who wrote a forbidding and creepy children’s  story, “In the Night Wood.” We meet Charles Hayden, a bit of a loser, and his wisp of a wife named Erin. Erin happens to be the last descendent of Mr. Hollow and inherits the place and its surrounding Eorl Wood, which, of course, all the locals tell Charles to stay away from.

Charles and Erin are grieving the loss of their daughter, Lissa. Charles decides he wants to write a paper about the mysterious Caedman Hollow to try and forget all his transgressions (of which there are many) and begins to explore the house, the woods (of course), and lore from the villagers. A young girl goes missing while he digs deep and the history of Caedman Hollow and the woods begins to affect his life and his sanity.

Using folklore, fairytales, and fantasy, Dale Bailey drew me into this story. He is skillful at creating a sense of place and the book moves along a dreamy pace. There are mysteries to solve and ancient evil to battle. What is Erin drawing over and over again? What did Charles do that was so terrible in the past? Why is the Hollow estate’s steward, Cillian Harris, a twitchy drunk, unable to be fired from his position? How does he fit into the past? Is there really a Horned King running around the woods? Or is everyone going nuts?

The main character, Charles, is not a nice man. I was kinda hoping he would get his in the end, or at least change his ways, but life is not a fairytale. This is a dark story and definitely for adults. I recommend this book for lovers of atmospheric spooky tales, or folks who want to have bad dreams about lost little girls and creepy woods.

I rate it 4 out of 5 stars. Get it for Halloween!

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