I am not giving a star rating as I feel it would not be fair to do so as I did not finish the book. I found myself trying to push through, but I was just bored. There was a lot on smaller details and sub-plot, but not as much of the main plot as I would have hoped. I found myself skimming, wanting the story to just MOVE, and it wasn't. I appreciate the free copy and regret that this book just wasn't for me.

This was a weird book for me. I say weird because it is hard to describe. At some points I was bored. Early on I sympathized with Marion, and was rooting for her to get out, go to the police and save the visitors. Then Marion just got on my nerves. Did she push the cat? Her parents were annoying. Most of the time I wished the author would just end it. I felt like a spoiled teenager reading this book, with a lot of sighing, "gimme-a-breaks", and "ughs". I could not relate to the narrative. I cannot say if it was the author's writing, or the characters, or their stories. There was however this weird atmospheric vibe that kept me reading until the end.

But as always, each story compels us in different ways, so I encourage you to read it and decide for yourself.

Although this took me a while to read (and longer to review) it was captivated. It's chilling and once I was fully in to it, I didn't want to put it down.

Really a good read. Kept my attention right to end and the plot was well thought out. Would definitely keep an eye out for the author's future works.

The Visitors starts off slow and creepy catching some of our attention right away and leaving a couple sisters struggling with the pace of the story. Catherine Burns takes time here with our creepy main characters Marion and John.

A disturbing thriller of two sibling, living in a dilapidated house. Marion a timid spinster reliant on her brother John. John comes home each day and disappears into the basement. Marion does not enter the basement. She hears noises down there, but John is very secretive, and locks the door each time. She is afraid of what is happening. Then John has a stroke and finally Marion has to take control. She is horrified when she discovers the truth. Very well written, great character build up. A great read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for receiving an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


The Visitor, by Catherine Burns, is the best kind of horror book. This is the kind that doesn’t shed one drop of blood, no gory heads being chopped off or eyeballs gooping out of their sockets. No, this is the kind that manages to scare your pants off, give you the creeps down into the depths of your soul, and is so disturbing that it makes your toes curl. It is one of those stories that will stay with you long after you read it and if you want to sleep, maybe don’t finish it before bed.

Meet Marion, the timid, bullied, overweight woman who is a real pushover. With a mother who constantly criticized her and a brother who bullied and shamed her, Marion never had a chance at a normal life. She is completely isolated, never having had any friends growing up, and at 50 seems almost stunted in maturity, still sleeping with stuffed animals. She lives with her brother John in their parental home which has fallen into disarray. She is dependent on John and waits on him hand and foot, subject to his whims, mood swings and verbal abuse. But she knows he is older and wiser and he wouldn’t get that way if only she was smarter and could do more for him. John has friends, lady friends. He sometimes makes her get in the car and go for a ride to meet them. He brings them to the house and then she never sees them again. But there are strange noises that come from the basement. Sometimes there is such a foul smell she wonders why everyone doesn’t notice it. But Marion doesn’t like to think of unpleasant things. It upsets her and she would rather just watch her TV shows or sleep it off. It’s best to let John handle everything. Until one day he can’t. He has a heart attack and it is up to Marion to deal with what is in the basement.


I loved every bit of this book. Catherine Burns is an excellent writer. The characters are so well drawn and the tension and excitement build from seeing how Marion goes from almost childlike into, well, read for yourself and decide. John is so evil and repulsive from his physical characteristics to his actions. It is a true thriller but what happens is horrifying. It reminds me of the Twilight Zone except that there are no fantasy or magical elements in this novel. It really could be describing those weird neighbours down the street, or when you hear a news story of a serial killer that everyone is so shocked about because people will say that they seemed so normal and never bothered anyone. I mean, come on, the definition of a good neighbour or what!

I give this a 4.5 stars. A great read!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/22237387955
Outstanding book with suspense all around to keep reading until the end

I hated this. It wasn't creepy or anything. It was just annoying. I wanted to slap the main character so many times

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. There were some great twists and turns that I did not see coming. I did find it hard to get into this book at the beginning for the first few pages, but when I did, the pacing was excellent. I found the characters to be likeable too, which helped in the beginning when I was not quite sure what was going on plot-wise. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

This was a very unusual story.

Marion is more immature than a typical spinster. She collects teddy bears. She is very quiet when someone gets mad at her. But she also longs to have a child of her own. Her mother and brother held her back in life by asking her to take care of them. This has made her act irrationally when she’s pushed to the limit.

I liked that the story was told from a third person perspective because it gave an outsider’s view of Marion’s life. I think she would have been distracted as a narrator. She had some disturbing thoughts sometimes when she wished something bad would happen to a person. That was creepy and showed how she was like her brother.

The story about the “visitors” in the basement was so creepy. And it’s sad that this could actually happen. There are women from around the world who are desperate to escape their country so they will move somewhere else if someone says they will pay for them. The only thing they have to go on is a picture on the internet. It’s scary that it is a realistic story.

I enjoyed this story. It’s unique and creepy but entertaining too.

THE VISITORS by Catherine Burns is a creepy character read that I went into blind, not knowing what to expect. This is a dark very disturbing psychological mystery, a strong character-driven novel.
I love reading thrillers, psychological thrillers but The Visitors is a book that is slightly unnerving to read. Some readers could definitely find it uncomfortable. This book is not for the faint hearted!
Marion Zetland lives with her domineering older brother, John in a decaying Georgian townhouse 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 shut out the shocking secret that John keeps in the cellar.

The story is told through Marion’s perspective and gives a vivid description of their moldy home. I could just see it…and part of me didn’t want to.
Then suddenly, John has a heart attack and Marion is forced to go down to the cellar herself and face the gruesome truth that her brother has kept hidden.
I needed to find out what was going on in that cellar!

This is a well written and impressive debut, but however for me personally it was a slow-burner that didn’t pick up until the latter half.

Many thanks to Catherine Burns, Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Visitors had so much potential to be really creepy - and it was creepy, but I think it could have gone much further. Two adult siblings living in their childhood home, a willfully ignorant sister and her sociopathic brother who is keeping a secret in the basement - what could go wrong? Unfortunately, I guessed the "big" twist almost immediately, then kept making up new and darker twists - but they never came. So maybe my disappointment was all in my head, or maybe I was expecting too much, but I just thought that the novel stayed in fairly safe territory compared with the potential darkness that was hinted at. Still a dark, entertaining read.

This novel was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

For three days I have been trying to figure out what to say in this review. This is an odd and fairly disturbing book. I think my biggest problem with it is I can't figure out what the point is in it. Especially given that the blurb gives away that the brother gets ill and yet that doesn't happen until almost the very end of the novel.
Perhaps as a short story this might work. It could still hold the creep factor without being so drawn out.

The Premise
This is not a pleasant book. Be warned. It's clear from the beginning that the 'visitors' are being held captive. That the brother is the one doing it and his unintelligent sister is (mostly) a passive bystander. Both siblings are rich by inheritance so there is none of the usual issue with getting a job or being concerned about funds. This may help to distance the average person even further from the sister (whom the story perspective is written from); but for me this doesn't make any of the things she does more acceptable or less horrific.

Pity Party?
I think Catherine Burns intends to make us feel badly for our lead gal (the sister) at points. She's a 50+ virgin with no friends or true relationships (except for her brother). She has a low IQ and some large mental health issues. But being less intelligent doesn't (generally) mean you are less morale. It just means you are not as clever. And this is where I don't like the way she is portrayed; as though her lesser IQ is an excuse for many things she does or doesn't do. I don't believe that IQ indicates a person's morality or capability to feel emotions. The traits of a sociopath are available to any intelligence level and, perhaps ironically, often to those more intelligent than the average.

Nothing to see here
I honestly feel like I want to use the force to wave my hand and say there's "nothing to see here" because there really isn't. If you want to read horrific literature just because you like crazy creepy and terrifying things happening to others then sure maybe The Visitors is for you. But go in knowing it's not a horror novel; it's a literary novel that has horrifying things happen in it. And maybe that's what's most odd of all; the writing is good and the characters themselves are well developed, it's just there is no substance of plot here except to maybe say that the sister is naive or chooses to be blind to her circumstances. I'd love to hear what Burns has to say about why she wrote this book.

But does it turn out okay?
Some who have read this novel may say "oh but there's a sort-of happy ending". I disagree there is absolutely nothing happy about this ending. In fact the ending may be more unsettling than the obvious horrifying things due to its skewed perspective.
Unless you are obsessed with serial killers or kidnappers then I just can't see a reason to pick The Visitors up.
I generally like creepy, smart thrillers (although not my primary genre choice); but neither smart nor creepy are really present here. Instead it's just flat out horrifying because it could be real (has been all too real to some real-life women) and seems to provide no context that allows the reader to 'get something' out of the book (other than perhaps a sick to your stomach feeling).

This is definitely not your typical horror or thriller novel. It had neither the gore nor the action scenes that you would expect from this genre and yet it held my undivided attention from the very first page. Catherine Burns has masterfully created a dark, disturbing and deeply unsettling character driven story that examines to what lengths people go to deceive themselves in order to justify their actions (or in Marion's case inactions).

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

I read the hype for this book and was thrilled to receive the ARC to read. I have to say, it definitely was worth the hype. I loved it!

Poor Marion, she didn't stand a chance in life; not very smart, not pretty, with impossible overbearing parents and an older brother who was super smart but very odd as well. For Marion, growing up in this small town and living in her family home is all she has known, she lived with her parents and eventually with her brother. She rarely goes out and is very nervous and a little paranoid, she has never had a boyfriend, has no friends and her creepy brother is the only real interaction she has daily.

But now, the secret that Marion has always somehow known about and yet been kept in the dark about, is dangerously close to being known to outsiders. Marion imagines all these things that could happen, even if just a simple invite for tea at the neighbours, it is more than that to her. She remembers times from her childhood as the book progresses and you can see how Marion became who she did.

You are aware right from the beginning that something is just not right in this house. Marion is scared of yet loves her brother dearly, this life is all she has known and she is not fond of change. The author did a fabulous job of building her characters; Marion and John were so complex and disturbing, yet Marion was so likeable.

I loved the ending, it was wonderful. I read this book as often as I could I had to known what happened and when I wasn't reading it I was trying to imagine how the book would end. I highly recommend this book.

What a great first novel.

The Visitors by Catherine Burns is told from Marion Zetland's POV about her life with her brother, John. After their parents pass away, they live together in the house they grew up in, but John has a secret in the basement cellar. The Visitors.

Right from the beginning, I thought Marion was a little "un-hinged" herself and despite her innocent demeanor, she has a dark side just like her brother. I felt from the beginning that something was "off" about both of these characters and it isn't until the last 85%+ of the novel that you really see it in Marion. With John, you can right from the start that he is cruel and kind of insane. However, that doesn't stop Marion's blind faith in her brother.

This is typically a genre that I wouldn't normally pick up, but that "creep-factor" pulled me in. Despite the book having a slow start, it was hard to put down once you learn all the gruesome details about the cellar. I felt that the book could of explored more into John or his relationship with the visitors. I felt like I was missing something .

So, overall I have to rate it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley for copy of this novel (even though I didn't have time to read this one prior to release).

I went into this book blind - not completely knowing what it was about. I am with the majority of readers in that I feel rather conflicted upon completion of this book.

I kept feeling like I was waiting and wanting something big to happen, but it didn't get there. Without rehashing the plot or giving away too many details.

I would say that it was a good book, but not spectacular. The writing style I enjoyed, but lacked character development.

Thank you netgalley for an ARC of this book

A hard read, but interesting. Though provoking character study of two siblings who are more alike than you would think. Brought to light the dangers of avoidance and apathy. Is not standing up against evil, evil itself?.

3.5 stars. I liked this book overall but it felt like a bit of a struggle to read at times. The main character was likeable but not enough, I couldn't relate to her. The climax of the book was a bit of a letdown but I did enjoy the conclusion.