Bottom
line…Jennifer McMahon is one of my favorite authors (probably only behind Jodi
Picoult). You can tell that every single
page of her novels is crafted with the utmost care and designed to creep the
heck out of you, her reader. The Winter People is one of her scariest
yet and is utterly suspenseful and strangely moving at the same time.
Alternating
between the early part of the 1900s and present day, this is the story of how
far someone would go to see a lost loved one again. In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea is living with
her husband, Martin, and her beloved daughter, Gertie. Sara is completely devoted to Gertie, and
when she loses her in a freak accident, seemingly goes out of her mind. All along, she’s kept a diary; she hides the
last few pages containing fragile information in a secret hiding place in her
house. In present day, Ruthie, Fawn, and
Alice (their mother) are living in Sara’s old house, which is said to be
haunted by the ghosts of Sara and Gertie.
One day, they discover their mom missing and go to great lengths to find
her. This will take them into dangerous
territory, crossing paths with people who desperately want to find either Alice
or those pages at any cost.
While
not my favorite McMahon novel (I didn’t find it as multilayered as the others),
it still proves that she’s one of the most talented authors writing today. The
Winter People chews you up and spits you out until you don’t think you can
be creeped out anymore.
