Anchor Canada, March 8, 2016.
Four Stars
The Night
Sister is a creepy, supernatural thriller set at
the Tower Motel, a derelict old building in New England. With obvious nods to
Hitchcock and the movie “Psycho,” a series of violent and terrifying crimes
take place in the old motel. The novel moves in time, from the 1980s childhood
of sisters Piper and Margot, and their friend Amy who lives at the motel, to
the 1950s and the story of Amy’s mother and aunt, to the present day in which
Amy is raising her own family at the motel.
The novel opens with a horrific crime that involves
Amy and her family – her young daughter is the only survivor. An extremely
pregnant Margot find out about the crime through her police officer husband,
and Margot’s sister Piper ends up forming a bond with Amy’s daughter. Amy
leaves one clue at the crime scene: a blurry photograph and the words “Room 29”
– referring to a hidden room in the Tower Motel.
As we learn more about the motel’s past inhabitants,
secrets are revealed. Amy’s Aunt Sylvie left behind a series of letters written
to none other than Alfred Hitchcock, describing her unusual sister, Rose. And
Piper recalls the summer of 1989 in which her and Margot spent all of their
time with the charismatic Amy, who kept them busy with the mysteries of the
motel. Because details about the past emerge slowly, the novel is suspenseful
rather than gory – there is horror, but it is scary because of what goes
unsaid. The subtle twists are more exciting as we learn that almost all of the
characters are unreliable, and, like Piper, we don’t know who we can trust.
The Night
Sister begins slowly, and builds to a suspenseful
climax – it’s not outright scary, but instead it is the unexpected elements
that make it so creepy. The atmospheric details and accurate historical
settings make this novel an enjoyable escapist read. The supernatural elements
of the story come from obscure folklore and witchcraft, so they are still unpredictable
in a world in which vampires and werewolves are everywhere. Paranormal stories
don’t usually scare me, but it was pretty creepy finishing this late at night –
while the ending was a bit ridiculous, it was easy to suspend disbelief and
just enjoy it. I will be reading more by McMahon, just because it was so much
fun to follow her lead and live for awhile in her world of suspense and
intrigue.
I received this novel from Anchor Canada and Goodreads
First Reads in exchange for an honest review.
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