BOOK BLURB
“Once you start Catherine Burns's dark, disturbing, and enthralling debut novel, it's hard to stop. The Visitors is bizarrely unsettling, yet compulsively readable.” —Iain Reid, internationally bestselling author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things
With the smart suspense of Emma Donoghue’s Room and the atmospheric claustrophobia of Grey Gardens, Catherine Burns’s debut novel explores the complex truths we are able to keep hidden from ourselves and the twisted realities that can lurk beneath even the most serene of surfaces.
Marion Zetland lives with her domineering older brother John in a crumbling mansion on the edge of a northern seaside resort. A timid spinster in her fifties who still sleeps with teddy bears, Marion does her best to live by John’s rules, even if it means turning a blind eye to the noises she hears coming from behind the cellar door...and turning a blind eye to the women’s laundry in the hamper that isn’t hers. For years, she’s buried the signs of John’s devastating secret into the deep recesses of her mind—until the day John is crippled by a heart attack, and Marion becomes the only one whose shoulders are fit to bear his secret. Forced to go down to the cellar and face what her brother has kept hidden, Marion discovers more about herself than she ever thought possible. As the truth is slowly unraveled, we finally begin to understand: maybe John isn’t the only one with a dark side....
With the smart suspense of Emma Donoghue’s Room and the atmospheric claustrophobia of Grey Gardens, Catherine Burns’s debut novel explores the complex truths we are able to keep hidden from ourselves and the twisted realities that can lurk beneath even the most serene of surfaces.
Marion Zetland lives with her domineering older brother John in a crumbling mansion on the edge of a northern seaside resort. A timid spinster in her fifties who still sleeps with teddy bears, Marion does her best to live by John’s rules, even if it means turning a blind eye to the noises she hears coming from behind the cellar door...and turning a blind eye to the women’s laundry in the hamper that isn’t hers. For years, she’s buried the signs of John’s devastating secret into the deep recesses of her mind—until the day John is crippled by a heart attack, and Marion becomes the only one whose shoulders are fit to bear his secret. Forced to go down to the cellar and face what her brother has kept hidden, Marion discovers more about herself than she ever thought possible. As the truth is slowly unraveled, we finally begin to understand: maybe John isn’t the only one with a dark side....
MY REVIEW
I honestly didn't know what I was getting into when I got this book . I sat down and started reading , thinking this was going to be a ghost story I was so wrong . Marion lives with her domineering older brother . She is a timid woman who turns a blind eye to everything and every one . Until the day she is forced into the basement to face what is happening down there . Maybe there is more then one person with a dark side .
This book is a raw emotional tale of one woman's tormented life with the culmination of all the monsters that have scared her for her entire life . The author takes us to dark scary places that you don't want to go to in the dark . The characters are dark and eerily scary in their own way Marion is such a tortured woman , she knows she is unlovable and no one expects anything from her . She is naïve and sometimes not trusting at all . She seems child like in so many ways . That is from years of being stifled by her over powering mother that brow beat her every chance she could . Even after her death , Marion couldn't shake herself of her mother . John is an overbearing egoistical bastard who goes from sugary sweet to belittling Marion any chance he gets . He was an ogre who treated woman with distain. Even when he was young he had a problem with his father and his mother . You really want to kill him by the time you are done reading .
This book is an eerie read that will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time . There were parts that I felt like it dragged a bit but over all the author has written a truly good story. The characters are well written and you will want to hug Marion and stab John over and over a few time . The book will keep you on the edge of your seat as you wonder what is going on with the visitors in the basement . This book has the makings of a good gothic read . So if you want a book that will keep you reading this Halloween season check it out
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