The Uninvited (Liz Jensen)

Liz Jensen's The Uninvited is an extremely dark read that will have your heart palpitating at some points but will have you practically falling asleep at others.  What better way to begin a book than having a seven-year-old child putting a nail gun to her grandmother's neck?  Warm and fuzzy this novel is not.

Hesketh Lock is investigating cases of business sabotage followed by rash suicides.  Before going through their violent ends, the saboteurs insist that someone is inside them.  Children are also committing horrific acts to their parents and other adults.  Lock desperately tries to determine if there is some parallel here, even when things hit way too close to home.

At times, I couldn't stop reading The Uninvited, as Jensen lulls you into a state of contentment for awhile and then pulls the rug out from under you.  However, I wanted to like this book much more than I did.  After an unbelievably terrifying first page, the novel slows down drastically, and the ending is just too far-fetched for me.  However, if you're a fan of movies about creepy children (like Village of the Damned and Children of the Corn), this book might be right up your alley.

MY RATING - 3

Don't Breathe a Word (Jennifer McMahon)

The trademark of Jennifer McMahon's books are "creepy-looking children" on the cover (Think Village of the Damned). I have often wondered if the kids who pose for the covers are told that they are supposed to have a "creepy child" face. I think I would be rather insulted. Oh well...on with it.

Don't Breathe a Word is a dark, sinister, unsettling book that makes your heart beat just a little faster. McMahon has a rather twisted mind, and it shows deeply here. Phoebe and Sam are a couple with a history. Sam is the brother of Lisa, a young girl who disappeared many years before searching for the Fairy King, Teilo. Strange phone messages and notes begin to be delivered to Sam and Edie, their cousin, supposedly coming from Lisa...."I am back from the land of the fairies. I'll be seeing you soon." Is this truly Lisa, or is someone playing a dark, twisted trick on everyone involved?

This book is well-written for about the first three-quarters, and then just gets too implausible for me. The ending was deeply unsatisfying, especially because I normally love McMahon's books. While certainly not my favorite (I didn't want to do anything else on my cruise vacation except read Island of the Lost Girls.), if you would like a twisted read, this may be the book for you.

MY RATING - 3

Dismantled (Jennifer McMahon)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Jennifer McMahon has the most disturbing covers in the book business.....real pictures of creepy children staring out at you. It's like a whole shelf of "Children of the Corn" and "Village of the Damned" at the bookstore. I told you before that I read "Island of Lost Girls" on vacation and did not want to do anything else but read. I was so anxious to read "Dismantled", McMahon's latest. Wow! It did not disappoint!

One of McMahon's strong points is going between time periods throughout her stories. With a less-talented author, this can be extremely jarring. In "Dismantled", the effect is seamless, alternating between the summer when four people formed the Dismantlers and a decade later, when two of them are unhappily married with child. This child, Emma, is desperate to get her parents back together. One seemingly innocent act sets off a chilling chain of events that will answer the questions about the summer of the Dismantlers.

Part murder mystery, part character study, part ghost story, I can easily see this turned into a movie directed by Hitchcock, if he was alive. The spine-tingling ending will make your heart beat out of your chest.

MY RATING - 5