Don't Breathe a Word by
Jennifer McMahon
Jennifer McMahon
May 17th 2011 by Harper
Paperback, 464 Pages
Review Copy
On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.
Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn’t fear the dark and doesn’t have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam’s hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all.
Review
Don’t Breathe a Word revolves around a little girl named Lisa, her older brother Sam and his girlfriend Phoebe. When the novel starts out Phoebe is a 20 year old tramp sleeping with her Ice Cream married boss man. They go to the Magic Finger hotel for hook-ups and she describes in a nutshell what her life is all about and during that little hotel romp, a small girl named Lisa go’s missing in the woods- never to be found again. Flash forward a few pages and Phoebe is a 35 year old women in a relationship with Sam….the same boy who’s little sister went missing that summer 15 years ago, freaky coincidence or could it be the evil Faerie Kings plan, the one Lisa eagerly talked about when she was young? Well we as readers don’t know and that’s exactly where this story takes us, right into its dark and scary mystery as each layer is pulled back.
The story shifts from past to present and Lisa in the past story, reveals an active friendship with real faeries and her obsession with them. Most of her family and her friends blow off the stories, thinking little girl imagination gone wild, but when she disappears alone in Reliance (the freaky town featured in this novel) the family thinks, along with my own confusion that she may have easily walked across the path into faerie world. In the present day with the help of a journal Sam and Phoebe find in an attic, suspicions which soon turn to horror realize that Lisa has returned and has quite the story to tell. The freaked out couple attempt to piece together the mysterious events of that day and question after question begin to pile on top of old questions and the story constantly shifts from creepy to creepier blurring the lines of childhood, fantasy and reality. The future is grim and all these characters are tumbling down with it. The only thing that might save them, is finding out the truth before its to late.
So this was my second McMahon adventure and I do give props to the author that she thoroughly creeped me out. The pull of suspense was so strong in the beginning I had a hard time putting the book down. I love it when a novel takes me down a road of the unknown and intrigues me with its mystery, about midway through however, the writing became very fragmented and choppy, I was frustrated at times to the sheer lack of information to put the pieces together and reading though it felt very claustrophobic for me, I cant even explain how the heaviness of the story began to weigh on me. On a personal note, I had problems with the -“big-reveal”- just like in Promise Not To Tell (where I was shocked but not surprised by surrounding events) I was shocked by what happened to Lisa, so much so that I’m disturbed by this ongoing theme of backyard rednecks in this authors novels. Its kind of like I’m left with this icky feeling, the same one I had after watching that sick movie Deliverance. In all honesty the novel was just too dark for me, the reality of Lisa and Hazel’s (side-character) story made the scary Faerie‘s seem like cotton candy at a carnival, I think that’s why my reaction to the end was off, I felt duped or better yet repulsed like Phoebe was with Ice Cream mans hairy back, yet at the same time freakishly fascinated by its repulsiveness.
Rating
Don’t Breathe a Word is an adult novel and recommended to readers who enjoy creepy novels and can handle dark subject matter. Contains: Frightening paranormal elements, sexuality (semi-graphic) language, violence, kidnapping, death, rape/incest, child abuse, mental disorders.
3.5/5- Contemporary/Fantasy
Thanks to Harper and Tlc for review copy
This does sound creepy. I am not usually a fan of this types of books but I am interested in this one. Great review :)
ReplyDeleteSounds too dark for me. But I did dig your review.
ReplyDeleteThat little girl has beautiful eyes, but in the context of this book, she kind of freaks me out. This one sounds a bit dark for me as well, I'm not sure I want to know what happened to Lisa, I think I'd like to stay in my own little ignorant bubble of happiness:) Really nice review though Tina!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that the story didn't keep the consistency it started with. Though you do have me curious about that big reveal, I don't think I'll be picking this one up. I don't mind dark stories but I can do without icky.
ReplyDeleteAnd as always, you made me laugh with that freakishly fascinated line!
I can understand you not liking the feeling this book left you with - once you mentioned Deliverance, I knew EXACTLY what you meant. I'm sorry this one wasn't your cup of tea, but thanks for being a part of the tour.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this book, but it was a little creepy.
ReplyDeleteMy review is on:
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
This is my job. I am so sorry.
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