Book Summary and Reviews of The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

The Invited

A Novel

by Jennifer McMahon

  • Published:
  • Apr 2019, 368 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house--they build one ...

In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate have abandoned the comforts of suburbia to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this beautiful property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. With her passion for artifacts, Helen finds special materials to incorporate into the house--a beam from an old schoolroom, bricks from a mill, a mantel from a farmhouse--objects that draw her deeper into the story of Hattie and her descendants, three generations of Breckenridge women, each of whom died suspiciously. As the building project progresses, the house will become a place of menace and unfinished business: a new home, now haunted, that beckons its owners and their neighbors toward unimaginable danger.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

 "[A] powerful supernatural thriller…. Whether one believes in ghosts, McMahon's consummately crafted chiller is guaranteed to haunt." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[The] blend of ghost story and modern mystery is flawlessly compelling and evocative. A masterful twist on the haunted-house story." —Booklist (starred review)

"The latest from McMahon is like a nesting doll - a thriller inside a murder mystery inside a ghost story - and will chill readers with every sideways glimpse of a passing shadow." —Library Journal

"Jennifer McMahon's latest premise is utterly chilling: Imagine you don't stumble upon a haunted house, you build one. The Invited deserves a special spot in the canon of great ghost stories, and will remind McMahon's readers why she is such a worthy literary descendant of Shirley Jackson." —Chris Bohjalian, bestselling author of The Flight Attendant

A dream home becomes one of nightmares for a husband and wife attempting to start a new life in the woods of Vermont. Board by board, stone by stone, tragic events of the past creep toward the light in this delicious slow burn of a haunted tale. —J.D. Barker, bestselling author of The Fourth Monkey and Dracul

This information about The Invited 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.

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Author Information

Jennifer McMahon

Jennifer McMahon is the author of nine novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Promise Not to Tell and The Winter People. She lives in Vermont with her partner, Drea, and their daughter, Zella.

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