Review: The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

"Some people move into a haunted house, but you, you want to build a haunted house, Helen."


The Invited was my second read written by Jennifer McMahon. I enjoyed The Winter People so much so that I actually had pretty high expectations for this latest read. If I had not been bogged (pun intended-but more on that later) down with being a full-time employee subject to working 46 hour weeks and a part time student taking four classes, I might have finished The Invited in a few days. This compulsive read manages to flow at an alarming rate yet totally immerse the reader in the lives of the cast members. Some alive. Some, not so much.

A quick overview of The Invited is that Helen and Nate decide to leave the 'burbs after a small windfall grants them the means to build a home from the ground up in the Vermont woods. Shortly after breaking ground, strange things begin to happen. The odd noise, the occasional chill in the air, you know? Classic ghost story stuff. 

Helen's convinced there's something supernatural going on after hearing from the town folk that the land their home is being built on belonged to a notorious witch, Hattie Breckenridge, she can't help but dive deeper into the mystery that was Hattie. What could Hattie have done that was heinous enough to drive a whole town mad enough to hang her? 

Based on the unnerving circumstances that leave Helen speechless, she's convinced Hattie has returned. 

I won't deny McMahon's The Invited falls into the traps that plague many ghost stories. We all know them. However, nothing cliche or seemingly obvious, made this read any less thrilling and downright creepy. I'm not easily frightened but I am not ashamed to say I was genuinely freaked out a few times.

Like I mentioned earlier, if I wasn't so bogged down (OK-maybe only those who have read the novel will understand the pun) with work and school, I may have gotten through The Invited in a day or so. It's that good. I felt compelled to see where the story would lead. Having been familiar with Jennifer McMahon's other work, I knew there would be a crazy twist at the end. I invite those who are looking for a good ghost story to read The Invited. That was corny but I had to say it. ****

Copy provided by Doubleday Books via Netgalley