The Devil's Snuff

This was definitely a strange book with much more supernatural "woo-woo" than I was expecting.

The story takes place in or near Ashford, Vermont, a used up old mill town. It is a murder mystery, a thriller, a drama about living in a burnt-out town, a circus story, and then there's more than one supernatural slant on the story.

I read THE WINTER PEOPLE by the same author and enjoyed it a lot
(I rated it 5 stars) but felt let down by this book. I probably would have given this tale 3 1/2 stars if possible so it wasn't all bad. It rambled, changed timeframes and narrators too often. There were definitely some good parts, especially towards the beginning, which kept me reading but it lost its way somewhere along the line.

I received this book from Doubleday Books through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

I received a copy of this through NetGalley, and gobbled it up in about three sittings over this past weekend. While I enjoyed McMahon's first 5 books, I wasn't a huge fan of the past two prior to this (The Winter People and The Night Sister). This book brought me back and reminded me of many of the reasons I loved her other books. While I did figure out some of the twists fairly early on in the story, I still really enjoyed reading along to see how they would be unpackaged as the story went on. You do have to suspend belief at parts as there are some supernatural elements to the story, but overall I really enjoyed reading it :)

Mesmerizing! But since the book seriously flirts with the paranormal - which I didn't realize going in - I'm both surprised that I liked it at all and astounded that I absolutely loved it. The fact is, if this one doesn't make the best-seller list, I'll consider it a travesty.

Most chapters are named for various characters, a technique that usually doesn't work well for me, mostly because at my age I tend to forget who's who rather easily. It didn't matter a whit here, though - testimony, I think, to the author's ability to make each character unique and memorable as well as leave written breadcrumbs, if you will, that make the whole thing easy to follow. Early on, a 10-year-old boy named Miles Sandeski watches as his mother is murdered - a crime for which his father is charged. Miles knows better, but he's so young, and the story he tells so absurd, that no one believes him.

His father had, however, told his young son of plans he'd hidden for an ultra-dangerous secret machine that was never built - thought to have been stolen from the workshop of Thomas Edison. Miles found the plans and managed to heed his late father's warning until he was a grown man - a teacher, musician, inventor, husband to wife Lily and father of two children: A son Errol and younger daughter Eva.

The inventor in Miles takes over his better judgment, and he builds the machine in the family's shed in back of their house on the river. Then one day, the unthinkable happens: Miles drowns in a flash flood, leaving Eva and her mother homeless. Eva, who nearly drowned herself, never really believes her mother's claim that the machine is responsible for her father's death.

Everything from that day forward is considered "After the Flood," and because Eva's mother insists someone known as "Snake Eyes" is out to kill them, she and Eva take to the shadowy streets below the bridges of thriving Ashford, Vermont. Now called Necco (after her favorite candy as a child), Eva and Lily live in an underworld populated by "fire eaters," or women who live off the grid at the river's edge and are known for inhaling herbs called the "devil's snuff."

Then suddenly, Lily dies - an apparent suicide - forcing Necco to survive on the streets any way she can. Along the way she finds a boyfriend; just as he is about to reveal what could be clues to her past, he's murdered in the junk car in which they've been living. Now alone, she meets Theo, a talented high school senior who owes a potload of money to a man willing to kill to get it back, and Pru, a seriously overweight lady who serves up food in a school cafeteria by day and puts a whole new spin on night life.

As these intriguing but incongruous characters come together in a tenuous, I'll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine sort of relationship, so do details of Eva's life Before the Flood. Several twists and turns later, Eva (and readers) finally learn what really happened. All I can say without giving away too much is this: If you start this book, get cozy for at least the last hour or so - from then on, you won't be able to put it down.

Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance review copy.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book - I loved it!

While this might not be for everyone, I really loved the mix of mystery, suspense, supernatural, survival - did I miss any? I'm a huge fan of this author's work but I found myself really drawn to figuring out what happened in this book - and there is lots to figure out!

There are layers of mysteries in this book that carry down through one family living in Ashford, Vermont. Miles, the dad, has plans for a machine that was supposedly Thomas Edison's invention that would allow people to speak to the dead. He builds the machine mainly to find out the mystery of his own parents' deaths. Then, on the night of a big flood that threatens their house, the machines speaks and warns of danger. The dad and brother are gone in the flood and we are introduced more to Necco, Miles' daughter, and his wife, Lily, who are living with a group of fire eaters on the fringe of town and hiding from someone that Lily is convinced is after them.

There are so many layers in this story - I loved just diving in until the end of the book when all was settled. The characters are so diverse and eccentric yet have good hearts - well, most of them!

Highly recommended!

When I first saw this book offered on Net Galley, I didn't even read the description. I saw the name Jennifer McMahon and bam, I hit request. I have read several of this author's books and I have never been disappointed. While I can say this one was certainly different than others that I have read, it did not disappoint.

There was most certainly a lot of action going on in this book. At first, while the author was putting out the puzzle pieces it was a little slow. You can't just throw out the pieces, you have to make sure that they are all right side up. Then you have to put all the straight edges in a certain pile. Then you can start putting the puzzle together.

That's when this book started taking off. And boy, did it take off. The knapsack, the knitting needles, the money, snake eyes, wow I'm getting goose pimples thinking about it. I do have to say, the circus part, that was strange when I first started reading it. It was still strange after I figured it out, but I guess it would take someone strange to get into the car with these girls.

And, while first starting to read this, I thought that I had read it so fast that I had missed something with the flood. That is one thing about e-books, it's harder to go back and find something. However, I did discover that, no, I did not miss something. The book was Necco talking.

With all this being said, I hope that this little hints are just enough to intrigue, not give out spoilers. Because, this is an awesome read from an awesome author who has never failed to disappoint me. Like I said, I just saw the name and said "yes"!

Huge thanks to Doubleday Books for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

This page turner, alternately sweet and creepy, tells the story of an ideal family pursued and destroyed by evil. The focus is on Necco (Eva), whose grandparents died in mysterious circumstances, and whose parents and brother have also died by suicide, flood, or murder. In the present she is homeless, living in a car with her boyfriend and newly pregnant. When her boyfriend is murdered, she is the prime suspect, so she goes on the run and befriends a Catholic schoolgirl drug dealer and the obese school cafeteria worker whose passion is the circus life. Her tragic past follows her, though, haunted by her father's creation of a machine developed by Thomas Edison that enables conversations with the deceased. The sinister pursuit is suspenseful and endearing at the same time.

I read Jennifer McMahon's "The Winter People" and was very excited to read more of her work. Unfortunately, "Burntown" did not manage to hold my interest, in the ultra bizarre world McMahon created.. McMahon's talent for creating fleshed out characters was still there, but a needlessly convoluted plot would have been much better without the ridiculous supernatural device she conceived. It would have given her more time to develop the underlying mystery. Ultimately, I believe that Jennifer McMahon is an extremely talented author, which makes "Burntown" a much better read than had it been in less capable hands and I will still continue to explore future McMahon offerings.

This is a very odd book and I'm not sure what to make of it. It defies easy description. Should it be considered mystery, fantasy, paranormal with a bit of mysticism? And it's unlike McMahon’s past books, which would be considered traditional mysteries.

The book begins with Miles witnessing his mother’s murder. Later, as an adult, he goes on to develop an invention that can talk to the dead. Shortly thereafter, he's killed in a flood. His daughter survives but is living as a homeless person. Then there's an unrelated high school girl who gets caught up in a drug ring. Got all that? And that's just the first quarter of the book.

It's an interesting read in its own way. It took a while before it grabbed me. The second half was definitely faster paced than the first. And it's a book that requires you to suspend your normal belief system.

My thanks to netgalley and Doubleday for an advance copy of this novel.

This book was absolutely wonderful. What a find. It combined the best of mystery, thriller, fantasy. I started it and then about 10% in decided that I had to share it with my wife, so we started it again with me reading it aloud during some quiet time during the morning. We both loved it - and just now, before I sat down to write this review, we spent almost 3 hours finishing the last quarter of the book in one sitting. That does not happen often. The writing is so smooth and engrossing, the characters are wonderful, and the clues are all there (which my wife always appreciates - she is a big mystery fan). I'm not even going to come close to spoilers - because I don't want to spoil it, but here are a few things you can find in this book. A killer in a chicken mask, a miniature circus, a small coven snorting red snuff, the murder of a governor's son - well that's enough. READ IT. You will not be sorry.

This book was not a good fit for me. Please keep me in mind for future books. There have been others from you that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Jennifer McMahon does it again with another page turner . A thriller with a supernatural twist this fast past thriller keeps it coming. A story of murder , survival and nothing is as it seems

One day, I promise you, those papers and the machine shown on them will change not only your life, but quite possibly the entire world.



In the underbelly of Ashford, Vermont lives Eva and her mother Lily, scrabbling out an existence, homeless street people that once lived with Eva’s brother Errol and father Miles. Eva’s father has possession of a mysterious machine, built with stolen plans of Thomas Edison’s, a strange inheritance passed down in their family. Miles grew up to be a professor, he relied on this machine to seek justice for the murder of his beloved mother. This mysterious machine allows people to converse with the dead, on an ill fated night it speaks, warning the family of danger. The river floods, and all Eva remembers is waking up by the river, her father and brother dead. In order to survive, mother and daughter must disappear, so Eva becomes Necco. Having shunned a normal life, the two exist as outsiders. But who or what are they hiding from? Lily isn’t right in the head, surely it’s the horrible death of her husband and son that induced these wild imaginings and unfounded fears for her daughter. Then Necco’s mother dies, and her boyfriend is murdered making her appear to be the suspect, she realizes her mother wasn’t mad after-all. A man named “Snake Eyes” is on the hunt for Necco, and it all ties in to her family’s strange past and the machine. Necco’s memories aren’t clear, and only in returning to the beginning can she discover why she is being hunted. She encounters high school student Theo, but trouble of a different sort haunts her. She owes money to a drug dealer, and Necco finds herself entangled in her trouble, with little faith that she can be trusted. Pru, the cafeteria lady at the school is a strange outsider herself with a special circus and a need to dull her own pain with pills. Theo is just the answer to what ails her. When the three come together, it is their only chance to outsmart evil and they form a strange sisterhood.

On the riverside there are a group of women that use ‘the devil’s snuff’, fire-eating visionaries that allow only chosen ones to join their group. They come into play throughout the story, often making the reader wonder if Necco’s mother was messed up from being involved in the devil’s snuff. I wanted to see the women have more meaning in the story. They felt a little thrown in. Early on we reach back into the past as Eva (Necco’s) father witnesses his mother being murdered by a man in a chicken mask, it’s horrific, this is our meeting with Snake Eyes. The machine, the mysterious Edison machine… I was hoping there could be more communication with souls, considering this cursed thing causes so much death and suffering in one family through time. But it’s not as much a character as it could have been.

Pru is a strange woman, and I wanted her character to flesh out more. There is so much story there. This is a strange cast to be sure, and I spent some time feeling a little dizzy wondering where we were all going with this. Lily’s death felt so abrupt. Errol… well I can’t talk about that without giving things away. A lot of what Necco knows about her early life is Swiss cheese. So many lies, but with a purpose. Her confusion after the tragedy serves her mother well in keeping them safe, until evil catches up with them. It comes together in the end, I think some readers may get confused on the journey, and the novel gave off a strange feeling of disorientation which makes sense. Necco’s life is one big dizzy spell, poor thing.

I am torn, there are elements that worked, it feels like being lost in a fog. I loved The Winter People and enjoyed The Night Sister but this has me conflicted. It is bizarre but maybe with too much going on. I think McMahon conjures interesting stories, and her characters aren’t the usual run of the mill characters we get elsewhere. It’s still true here, but I wanted more focus on the machine, the communications with it. I feel I was left by the river half dead myself, still trying to figure things out- so I guess that’s the closest I’ve come to becoming a character in a long time. Certainly unique and strange. I look forward to her next novel.

Publication Date: April 25, 2017

Doubleday Books

Ashford, Vermont looks like a typical New England town, but it is far from that to those… that are part of the underworld it’s known as Burntown.

As a little girl Eva Sandeski, (Necco) was her dad’s shadow as he worked on his inventions in his work-shop. He even had plans that were stolen from Thomas Edison. It was a machine that if built was supposed to be enable you to speak with the dead. According to her mother Lily, this is what got her father, respected professor, Dr. Miles Sandeski murdered. Necco always thought this claim was just her mother’s snuff-induced paranoia. Necco and her mother became part of the underground at Burntown after the great flood and the murder of her father and brother and it was here her mother became introduced to the powerful herb “devil’s snuff” by the fire-eaters (a group of mystical women, living off the grid). During another event of her mother’s paranoia she warned Necco they were in danger of being found by someone known as Snake-Eyes. She dismissed it as simply a ranting until her mother died and then her boyfriend Hermes (Matthew) was found dead. Suddenly she believes her mother was right and she finds herself on the run from someone called Snake-eyes.

This book is definitely not for the faint at heart. Once you get all the characters in place it will have you sitting on the edge of your seat, biting your nails as you turn the next page. It has suspense, murder and paranormal all wrapped together.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this eBook for free by the publisher, Double Day through Net Galley, blogger review program, for an honest review. I was not required to write a favorable review nor was I compensated for my review. The opinions in this review are my own.

Murders that look like accidents/suicides, mystical fire-eating women, drug dealers, homelessness--this book is kinda all over the place, but I loved the first 3/4 of the story--the mystery of who was doing the killing and why. The characters were great--especially Pru, that fat lady who dreams of the circus and her crush the Strongman--also homeless Necco and her boyfriend Hermes, Theo the misguided teenager who gets in over her head. Great writing and great story--it unravels a bit towards the end but then manages to come back together. Enjoyable book.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview Burntown by Jennifer McMahon.
Burntown is a mixture of appocolyptic and fantasy writing. Like The WInter People, McMahon captivates the reader immediately and takes you to parts unknown.
The characters in this novel are developed and interesting - each has their own storyline. They weave and intersect with each other to create mystery and suspense.
Necco is a young woman who lives on the edge of society. Her boyfriend is murdered and she is the main suspect. Necco meets another young woman, Theo, and the two become intertwined - someone is out to get Necco. - and he's gonna kill her. He is pure evil and he has killed before - her father, brother, and mother. He's gonna find Necco and make her pay for the past.
Burntown draws you in right away. I loved the Winter People, and loved Burntown as well. Recommend.

A nonstop suspense thriller with a little supernatural twist. A story of dreams, lies and people who are not who they seem. It's a page turner that's hard to put down!

I was introduced to Jennifer McMahon when I read the excellent "The Winter People" and have always meant to read more of her work. Unfortunately, "Burntown" is vastly inferior by comparison. McMahon's ability to create fleshed out characters remains, but a needlessly convoluted plot would have been much better served without the inclusion of a ridiculous supernatural device, which would have given her more time to develop the reasoning behind the story's underlying mystery. In the end, while this is a lesser work, it's still in the hands of a talented author, which makes it a much better read than had it been in less capable hands and I will still continue to explore McMahon's back catalog.

Jennifer McMahon and Jodi Picoult are the two authors I most look forward to seeing on the “Coming Soon” list. In fact, I made the mistake of taking McMahon’s Island of Lost Girls on vacation one year. I say “made the mistake” because reading that book was all I wanted to do -- no sightseeing or anything. In fact, that was one of the first books I reviewed on this blog back in July 2009. McMahon has always succeeded in creating that creepy, “just one more chapter” atmosphere. Until now, that is -- unfortunately, Burntown was no winner in my book.

The plot is quite difficult to explain, but I’ll make an attempt. Eva grew up close to her father, Miles, and loved watching him invent wonderful things. There’s one invention, however, that’s wanted by someone dangerous; this person will even resort to murder to get it. Eva (later changing her name to Necco) has always believed that her father drowned in the Great Flood, but it’s only after the death of her mother and boyfriend that she begins to think differently.

Helping Necco to find out what really happened is a motley crew of characters, and I found it difficult to care about any of them. There were so many stories and threads going on here, and when they finally all came together, the payoff was less than rewarding.

I began reading Burntown in January, and it took everything in my power to finish it by March. I found it boring, and far beneath McMahon’s usual standards. Unfortunately, this was no Island of Lost Girls.

MY RATING - 2

3.5 *s. I loved McMahon's The Winter People and The Night Sister. Burntown fell slightly short of these for me. It's hard to categorize the genre. It has a bit of everything; fantasy, supernatural, mystery, and suspense. Burntown has a host of quirky characters from a group of women Fire Eaters to the sinister Chicken Man to Pru, a fat lady who stars in a pretend circus. I do commend McMahon for creating a 100% imaginative novel. At times, I felt like I was reading a bizarre dream sequence. The main character Eva is constantly finding that everything she believed to be true about her past is not. There were so many "Wait! What?" moments for me. I would quickly recover and then again, "Wait! What?". To McMahon's credit, it did pull together and make sense in the end. My favorite character was Pru, who I found quite endearing. Although the novel was missing the elements that I love about McMahon's previous two novels, I have no regrets about reading it.

I did not finish this book as I did not engage with the story or the characters.