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Book Review
Oct. 6th, 2023 08:18 pmThe Winter People
by Jennifer McMahon
This horror novel is set in small-town Vermont and alternates between two timelines. In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea's beloved young daughter wanders into the woods one winter day and is found dead at the bottom of an abandoned well. Soon after, Sara claims to have brought the little girl back from the dead. Months later, Sara is found brutally killed in the field behind her house. In the present day, teenaged Ruthie is living with her mother Alice and sister Fawn in the house that had belonged to Sara Harrison Shea. When Alice goes missing after New Year's, Ruthie discovers Sara's diary hidden in the house and quickly realizes something very weird is going on.
The Winter People is a very creepy horror novel that features both a haunted house and something out there in the woods, two of my favorite horror scenarios. McMahon combines them deftly and creates a strong feeling of dread throughout the book. She also does a great job of drawing things out and then resolving them. I especially liked Ruthie, who is very relatable as a young woman who has to figure out how to hold everything together when her mother disappears.
by Jennifer McMahon
This horror novel is set in small-town Vermont and alternates between two timelines. In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea's beloved young daughter wanders into the woods one winter day and is found dead at the bottom of an abandoned well. Soon after, Sara claims to have brought the little girl back from the dead. Months later, Sara is found brutally killed in the field behind her house. In the present day, teenaged Ruthie is living with her mother Alice and sister Fawn in the house that had belonged to Sara Harrison Shea. When Alice goes missing after New Year's, Ruthie discovers Sara's diary hidden in the house and quickly realizes something very weird is going on.
The Winter People is a very creepy horror novel that features both a haunted house and something out there in the woods, two of my favorite horror scenarios. McMahon combines them deftly and creates a strong feeling of dread throughout the book. She also does a great job of drawing things out and then resolving them. I especially liked Ruthie, who is very relatable as a young woman who has to figure out how to hold everything together when her mother disappears.
