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Helen and Nate decide to change their lives by moving out of suburban Connecticut and into rural Vermont. They quit their teaching jobs and sell their condo and buy 44 acres of land, where they design and build their ideal home, based on the old saltbox style. They live in a tiny trailer that was on the land when they bought it while they start from the ground up.
Right from the beginning, they hear stories about the woman who lived on that land, which includes a bog, near the beginning of the 20thcentury. Over the course of a century, rumors and legends have built up, that Hattie was a witch, that she may very well be buried deep in the bog. And most potent of all stories is that Hattie still haunts the bog, even luring people to their deaths over the years.
Helen was a history teacher, Nate a teacher of natural sciences, so both have plenty to fascinate them in this new setting as they work hard to try to build their house. As time goes on, Helen digs deep into the story of Hattie and what happened to her and the daughter who lived with her at her little house, and Nate becomes particularly focused on catching a photo of the white deer he sees around the property. Helen even finds pieces of Hattie’s life to physically incorporate into their house, in the name of making their new home one that’s connected to the past and the authenticity of the area’s architecture, but she also finds that these elements (a beam of wood, a mantel, and so on) may be bringing Hattie’s ghost to the house. And as scary as that is, she’s feeling a compulsion to do so, that the woman who lived there needs her help.
Tragedy befell Hattie and her descendants, and it may be looming over Helen and Nate and a few others they befriend in their small town. Will this experience drive them toward obsession? Ruin their marriage? Even get them killed?
The Invited is a ghost story and a mystery about old secrets. It has much the same feel of author Jennifer McMahon’s other book that I have read, The Night Sister, although this clearly has a supernatural element, while that one toyed with whether it did or not. It kept me reading and wondering exactly how things were going to play out, whether Nate and Helen would escape danger themselves and if they could protect others who might be threatened. Much of the mystery remained right up until the very last few pages. A solid read. Just not sure why there had to be quite so many instances of strong language; some spots I could understand why the characters uttered the f-word; many others, it just seemed unnecessary.
Rated: High. There are about 30 instances of strong language and about the same number of uses of moderate language. Sexual content is limited to references that a married couple had sex but no details and a male making unwanted advances to a female employee. Violence includes a hanging, references to deaths by fire and some details of a murder-suicide.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
