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A Novel
by Ellery Adams
The women in Cold Harbor all have something to prove, and they'll have to do it in a world full of monsters.
Something's not right in Cold Harbor—more so than usual. While this sleepy small town has seen its fair share of monsters in cheating husbands and leering bosses, none are as hungry as Mrs. Smith. The mysterious resident has finally emerged from her crumbling mansion on the hill, mesmerizing the townspeople with her beauty. Her secret? Nine human sacrifices to feed her immortality.
Natalie Scott is more worried about Mrs. Smith blocking her first real estate sale—the one that will take her from stay-at-home mom to working woman extraordinaire. She's eager to prove herself in a world where the social mores of 1980s suburbia reign, where she's expected to keep a magazine-perfect home and raise beautiful children, all while sticking to her husband's budget. Natalie's two best friends are facing their own demons, and Mrs. Smith and her deep, dark woods are an easy scapegoat for everyone's problems.
But Natalie's twelve-year-old daughter, Jill, and her Icelandic housekeeper, Una, can sense something deeper at play. Armed with library books and a whole lot of grit, Jill and Una team up to save the town once and for all. But as the rest of Cold Harbor sinks into anger, fear, and jealousy, they'll have to confront the question: What does it really mean to be a monster?
"Adams skillfully blends a satire of suburban life in 1980s Long Island with horror...Adams crafts a humorous portrait of small town life and tops off the fast-paced plot with a satisfying ending that doesn't pull punches. This impresses." —Publishers Weekly
"Readers looking to dip their toes into horror or those who like that special blend of the supernatural with social commentary (similar to stories by Rachel Harrison), should pick up Adams' first foray into the genre." —Booklist
"Ellery Adams makes prey out of us all with Invasive Species, proving there are many, many more taxonomies of terror left to be discovered within the depths of our bookshelves. This book is such a beautiful, brackish blend of monstrous mythology and domestic drama, you could consider it The Real Housewives of Eldritch Horror." —Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes
"Invasive Species takes the familiar landscape of 1980s suburbia and infuses it with genuine dread, weaving together Greek legend, Icelandic folklore, and the everyday monsters of patriarchal expectations. Ellery Adams turns myth into menace with a story that's as sharp as it is strange, where every page hums with unease. One of the most original horror stories I've read in years." —Crystal King, author of The Happiness Collector
This information about Invasive Species was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ellery Adams, a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author, has written dozens of mystery novels. She shares her North Carolina home with her husband, two trolls, and three keyboard-hogging felines. Ellery loves reading, coffee, bubbly, jigsaw puzzles, baking, and rearranging her bookshelves.
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