Released: July 5th 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury Circus
Series: No
Format: Digital ARC
Source: From Netgalley for review purposes
Author Site: Liz Jensen
Goodreads Synopsis:
A seven-year-old girl puts a nail-gun to her grandmother's neck and fires. An isolated incident, say the experts. The experts are wrong. Across the world, children are killing their families. Is violence contagious?
As chilling murders by children grip the country, anthropologist Hesketh Lock has his own mystery to solve: a bizarre scandal in the Taiwan timber industry. He has never been good at relationships. Asperger's Syndrome has seen to that. But he does have a talent for spotting behavioural patterns, and an outsider's fascination with group dynamics.
Nothing obvious connects Hesketh's Southeast Asian case with the atrocities back home. Or with the increasingly odd behaviour of his beloved step-son, Freddy. But when his Taiwan contact dies shockingly, and more acts of sabotage and child violence sweep the globe, Hesketh is forced to make connections that defy the rational principles on which he has staked his life, his career and - most devastatingly of all - his role as a father.
My Review:
The Uninvited is the third Liz Jensen book I have ever read, so I generally know what to expect when I pick one of her books up. If I'm comparing it to The Rapture and the Ninth Life of Lois Drax then I have to be honest and say it didn't really come up to scratch against these two books. The premise of the story was really interesting but I did find this book a little bit on the flat side. At one point I really seriously thought about giving up. This is why I find it really important not to judge an author by one book. You have to try more than one and then make your judgement about their writing styles and whether it suits you.
One of my main problems was I didn't really connect with any of the characters. None of them really stood out for me, not even the main character Hesketh. Ok, as far as characters go Hesketh was multi layered, but that didn't even make me "root" for him.
When I actually got this book to review I was really excited. The first page was really really gripping, but from then on.... well... it didn't really do it for me. I don't hate this book, no not by any means, but it is one that I will not be re-reading again any time soon.
Overall:
Loved the synopsis, but it failed to hit the right note.
My Thoughts on the Cover:
Very dark and spooky and totally relevant to the book. I would certainly stop and look at this cover in the bookstore.
*** Many thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book for review.***
2 comments:
Sounds like an interesting premise. I may give it a try. Not connecting to the characters is a bummer for me. I need to feel the people to really get into the book but If i need a good creepy book, this may be worth a read. great review.
Sounds interesting and even though it wasnt for you I always like to try books for myself and see :) I love reading creepy books at this time of year.
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