Book Review
Oct. 20th, 2025 02:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Invited
by Jennifer McMahon
This eerie horror novel largely concerns Helen and Nate, a young couple building a home on a plot of land in semi-rural Vermont. Living out of a decrepit trailer on their land while they build the house, they soon learn about Hattie, a woman who lived on their land in the early 20th century. Thought to be a witch by the locals, she was hung and then thrown in the the nearby bog. According to town legend, she buried a valuable treasure shortly before her demise and now haunts the woods and the bog. Helen and Nate are soon to find the truth of all of this, as she becomes compelled to research Hattie's family and history and to incorporate some local salvaged materials into the house and he becomes nearly obsessed with an albino deer glimpsed around their property. In the process, they befriend Olive, a local teenager still reeling from the disappearance of her mother. Weird things begin happening in the house and on the property and to Olive, and things get more dangerous the closer they all get to the truth.
This was a very compelling and fascinating book, with a mystery at its center and a lot of creepy goings on. I loved the inversion of a major horror trope: instead of inheriting or buying a haunted house, Helen and Nate manage to build one from scratch instead. McMahon does a great job of weaving together the present and the dark past that presses on it. The story focuses more on the effects of the haunting on Helen, Nate, and Olive than it does on the haunting itself, which makes it less scary than a typical horror novel, but I did enjoy this different angle on the haunted house story. Plus, Helen, Nate, and Olive are all so relatable and sympathetic that I really enjoyed spending time with them and seeing how the haunting affected them.
by Jennifer McMahon
This eerie horror novel largely concerns Helen and Nate, a young couple building a home on a plot of land in semi-rural Vermont. Living out of a decrepit trailer on their land while they build the house, they soon learn about Hattie, a woman who lived on their land in the early 20th century. Thought to be a witch by the locals, she was hung and then thrown in the the nearby bog. According to town legend, she buried a valuable treasure shortly before her demise and now haunts the woods and the bog. Helen and Nate are soon to find the truth of all of this, as she becomes compelled to research Hattie's family and history and to incorporate some local salvaged materials into the house and he becomes nearly obsessed with an albino deer glimpsed around their property. In the process, they befriend Olive, a local teenager still reeling from the disappearance of her mother. Weird things begin happening in the house and on the property and to Olive, and things get more dangerous the closer they all get to the truth.
This was a very compelling and fascinating book, with a mystery at its center and a lot of creepy goings on. I loved the inversion of a major horror trope: instead of inheriting or buying a haunted house, Helen and Nate manage to build one from scratch instead. McMahon does a great job of weaving together the present and the dark past that presses on it. The story focuses more on the effects of the haunting on Helen, Nate, and Olive than it does on the haunting itself, which makes it less scary than a typical horror novel, but I did enjoy this different angle on the haunted house story. Plus, Helen, Nate, and Olive are all so relatable and sympathetic that I really enjoyed spending time with them and seeing how the haunting affected them.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-20 06:52 pm (UTC)That's neat. Hence, I presume, the inversion of the title.