I read this as a Traveling Sisters group read with seven of my Traveling Sisters. The Visitors had us split again on how we felt about this one and how much we enjoyed it.

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. We really get to know Marion and we learn from her perspective about her relationship with John. From her, we learn just how disturbing John is. Marion takes us back to times in her childhood and we learn some of her backstory leaving some of us sympathetic to her and for one sister it was just too much for her. We really get right into the mind of Marion and hear many of her unsettling thoughts allowing us to feel sad, disturbed and sorry for her.

Catherine Burns does a good job here for some of us setting up the creeps and shivers and the fear of the unknown and pushing a couple of us right out of our comfort zones. For others, they were just bored with the pace of the story and didn’t feel much of the creeps but a few icky feelings. Catherine Burns does a good job setting the atmosphere with her vivid descriptions of the creepy home and that had some of us doing a little tidying up and cleaning out our fridges.

At times this one felt like walking through a house of horrors with all the predictable elements you would expect but still being afraid of what you might find in the end. There is plenty of creeps and shivers along the way however the ending for most didn’t fulfill those feelings. I think we pretty much split up into two coulees for this one hmm I am going to the cellars. Some sisters ended up in the cellar with its creeps, shivers and fear and others in the cellar with creepy, icky and I am bored. The ending did have us asking a few questions and we enjoyed discussing them. Catherine Burns cleverly leaves some questions unknown for us to think about. Even though this one didn’t work for some of us I still recommend with caution to finding a comfy chair and settle in to find out what’s in the cellar for yourself.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and Catherine Burns for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

Well that what not what I expected. This is a strange,quirky and unique read. This is one of those books that will divide opinion. Definitely not for the faint hearted but if you like dark and twisted this is for you.

Marion and her brother John live together in their large childhood home which is cluttered and dirty. Marion spends her day watching slushy movies whilst consuming biscuits and endless cups of sweet tea. John is an extremely well educated and intelligent man who builds model aeroplanes and tinkers about in the cellar which he keeps locked.

This chapters move from Marion's childhood with her parents and beloved aunt to present day. Present day Marion is scared of everything in her life. She is dominated by her brother and allows herself to be bullied by everyone she has contact with. She is uneducated and dreams of a life filled with a loving husband and children. Marion as a child feels useless, a plain and lonely girl with no friends and bullied by the other girls. Her mother is not the caring doting type and her father is the type that sees women as sex objects.

When John has a heart attack Marion has to find her inner strength and resolve to deal with the "problems" her brother has left in the cellar.

The ending of this book was a bit of a surprise but I really enjoyed it. Quite frankly I am amazed this is a debut and hopefully this author has a second book in the offing of the same standard.

THE VISITORS by CATHERINE BURNS was a disturbing, horrifying, and a creepy creepy read that clipped along at a steady pace and had me interested enough throughout to see how this was all going to play out.  I’m really in two minds about this novel. On the one hand I really enjoyed it and I was scared, freaked out, and maybe even screamed a little while I was reading this book and I couldn’t put it down. On the other hand I don’t even know what to think of it as I thought it was just strange, there was no one to root for, and I couldn’t really see the point to it.

CATHERINE BURNS delivers an extremely dark, twisted, and a creepy character study of two middle aged siblings, John and Marion which is told through Marion’s perspective.  The descriptions of their home was extremely detailed and vivid where I could really picture it in my mind.  Most of this story was actually extremely vivid to a point that was quite disturbing to read but I needed to find out what was going on in that cellar.

To sum it all up it was a shocking, upsetting, cringe-worthy, and horrific psychological mystery that had me on the edge of my seat for most of this read. I did love it though that this book triggered such a strong reaction from me while I was reading it!  Recommended with caution.  

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and Catherine Burns for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review!!

This book was very well written. The characters were fully fleshed out albeit not sure if you will like them. The ending was unsettling which left me feeling somewhat disconcerted. I don't even know if that makes sense. I think that this is a book you will like or not like.

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 series check it out

A special thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been reading a lot of thriller/mystery books lately, and while this is not a fast-paced, page-turning type of thriller, it is still true to the genre—it is more in the gothic and psychological vein. Burns writes a character-driven novel about a brother and sister with an almost Hitchcock feel to it.

Marion Zetland is a fifty-something spinster shut in who lives with her controlling older brother, John. The siblings still live in their family home, a Georgian townhouse is a seaside town. Despite having money, the house is literally decaying and is filled with garbage, dust, and secrets.

Told from Marion's perspective, Burns' character study is no less than fascinating. Marion is child-like, but not innocent. She has been beaten down her whole life, first by her overbearing mother and now by her domineering brother. Denial is her coping mechanism—when at all possible, she either daydreams or simply turns a blind eye. Her only friends seem to be her collection of stuffed toys. She uses these as an escape, especially to what John has locked in the cellar.

After John's has a heart attack, Marion is forced to forced to go down to the basement to face what her brother has kept locked up. She also has to navigate the outside modern world and other responsibilities that John has normally handled. Things start to unravel and there is a glimpse that John isn't the only one with a dark side.

If you like books that cross the line into the macabre, then this book is for you. Like the house, it is grimy and gritty and utterly disturbing.

I tried. I really did. I kept waiting for John’s heart attack for having — finally — some action. I dnf at 46%. John was still alive. I can’t do it. Marion is a sad little woman who has been miserable all her life. She has been living in her head, with her little fantasies, and is stuck mentally at 13y.o., not the 45ish that she is really.

This is one of those reads that you'll think about for awhile after finishing. What's more than that you will eventually forget about the book and then one day you'll see something or hear something and that will be a trigger for you. You'll get the chills and remember reading this book.

The Visitors is one of those books that immediately grabbed my attention. A subtle cover that reveals a smidgen of the story; a synopsis that gives just enough to pull me in, without saying too much. Hell, yeah! I was completely on board for The Visitors.

Catherine Burns took her time, slowly revealing the true nature of her characters. Marion is introduced in a very subservient role – she is shy, timid and uncertain of herself. As the story develops, we come to understand that there is more to Marion Zetland, a lot more. My feelings concerning Marion fluctuated throughout the story: sympathy, disgust, proud and fear. There is so much more to her than meets the eye. I love it when an author can create such a complicated character, one that I feel like I should connect with but just can’t trust.

The other characters made up a fabulous supporting cast. They were normal-ish, realistic, our friends and neighbors. These characters helped to reveal and conceal Marion’s true nature. But The Visitors is Marion’s story, she is the star of the show.

I appreciate how Burns took her time, allowing the story to build. I expected the story to move more quickly than it did, but I always appreciate a slow build. I find a story that takes its time is much more interesting. It allows me a chance to connect with the characters and take a meandering stroll through their lives. Although with Marion around, I would have to keep one eye open.

I found that the ending of the book moved a bit too quickly. I wanted to spend some more time in the wacky world of the Zetlands. I suppose that is what everyone wants from a good book.

*4.5 Stars

The Visitors is a chilling, gripping read that captured my attention from the very beginning. It is one of those books where the story immediately pulls you in and you need to find out what is going to become of the characters. While I finished the book in less than twenty-four hours, I must say that it isn’t an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat kind of book. The Visitors is definitely a page-turner, however, it is more of a slow-building tale into the disturbing lives of Marion and John Zetland.

The most frightening scenario in any book is the plausible one. The villains in this story could be anyone. They could be your co-workers, fellow commuters, your neighbors. That’s what makes this book so eerie and alarming. The events that occur in this story, while they are fictional, could actually happen in real life. Catherine Burns has created characters that have the ability to blend into the crowd, but don’t be deceived, sometimes the most average, unassuming characters can be the most dangerous. In my opinion, they are the scariest.

While I was reading The Visitors, I wasn’t merely reading the words, I felt as though I was walking through the dilapidated, dusty, filthy, cluttered house that the Zetland siblings called home. I could visualize and smell (yes, smell) every vivid detail that the author described. I could picture the characters as if I were seeing them firsthand – thankfully, I wasn’t! The author did a fantastic job of setting every scene so that the story came alive within the pages of the book.

Now, on to the Zetlands. The book mostly centers on the thoughts and feelings of Marion Zetland. For such an inactive, unmotivated, lonely woman she was absolutely fascinating. She was definitely a product of her environment. She was raised from an early age to believe that she was unintelligent, worthless, and unattractive. Of course, being around such negativity only ended up rubbing off on her, making her believe it to be true. She was introverted, subservient, and timid. At certain parts in the book I almost felt sorry for her and the wrongdoings against her. Her brother John, on the other hand, was the domineering, intelligent, educated man who commanded a certain sense of authority over Marion. He was a ticking time bomb of rage who used intimidation to his benefit.

The secrets and hobbies that John kept locked away in the old house’s cellar were something that Marion turned a blind eye to. If she didn’t have to see it or deal with it, then it had nothing directly to do with her. She took no blame in John’s depravity. But when John needed her to venture down into his dark sanctuary, she had no other choice than to finally witness her brother’s true wickedness.

I was thoroughly entertained and chilled to the bone by this debut novel. I am certainly looking forward to reading more by Catherine Burns in the future. The Visitors is an intriguing, disturbing, well-written book that will make you take a second glance at your own neighbors.

*4.5 Stars

This novel was advertised as a cross between Room and Grey Gardens. While I've never read Grey Gardens, I can definitely say that this is not at all like Room and making that comparison is a misnomer. In fact, it led me astray in terms of my expectations. However, that does not in any way mean that I didn't like this novel. In fact, I loved it! This was a slow burning, tension-building story that seriously creeped me out by the end. If anything, I would describe this novel as more of a character study of Marion and John, told from Marion's perspective. She talks about her life and how people view her as timid and plain. She talks about how much she depends on her brother, John, and how she never feels like she is good enough. She wishes for a great deal and in the beginning, she seems to have a simplistic mindset ... but it becomes clear near the middle/end that she is much smarter than one might have thought. While there is never any doubt in the reader's mind that John is the main villain, this story makes the reader question the responsibility and culpability of a "bystander" like Marion. The premise of the story reveals most of what this book about, but for once, that doesn't bother me because the plot isn't the real interesting aspect about this book; it is watching how Marion evolves and changes that is of real interest to the reader. To be quite honest, I think this is a really fantastic and dark read that looks at a horrendous situation in a very different light. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a slow but creepy book, and who is not wary of gruesome content.

This took me a while to get through simply because I was busy but I could have happily sat for an indulgent afternoon and enjoy the whole book in one sitting.

Reminiscent of Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger in pacing and characters, it was a nice change from summer fluff. I agree there is not a lot of action but sinister side of the story is beautifully built right up until the final chapters.

I loved watching Marion grow from a insecure, day dreaming girl, to someone who has to face reality and make her own decisions. She starts as spinster who still buys stuffed animals and faithfully serves her demanding brother after suffering years of abuse at the hands of her family. There are so many times when you will want to shake her, hug her, tell her not to believe what they say. (There are so many times when someone almost does. )

Then her bother has a heart attack and Marion has to think for herself. It's been a long time coming, it's not an immediate or complete changes. But it's realistic, within character.

In short, it is great debut novel and it will stay with me for a while.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Visitors for review.

This is one of those books where I found the blurb to be a bit misleading, and at first I was a bit disappointed, but that quickly went away as I became immersed in the story of Marion and her brother John, and their very disfunctional life. It's also about the lies we tell ourselves because we do not want to believe the truth or find it too difficult to face.

Marion and John are middle aged siblings that live in their family home. Marion is naive, in her own way, about what her brother was doing "in the basement" , but how much of that was that she simply didn't want to face the fact that she was living with and helping a monster?

This novel is one of those ones that stays with you for a long time! Kudos to you Catherine Burns for writing such a dark and twisted debut novel that pulls you under the water and makes you hold your breath!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC for a fair and honest review.

What a wicked, twisted tale this was! Brilliant debut by Catherine Burns! I really enjoyed this and was fully immersed in the story.

Marion and John are a mid-aged brother and sister who still live together in their old childhood home. Marion has always been weak, and quiet and fully dominated by her brother John since childhood. They were not raised in a particular happy home. Things were just always, "strange." Now that they've grown up things continue to be strange in the household. John preoccupies himself with spending most of his time in the cellar of their house and Marion keeps mainly to herself. The story is told through Marion's eyes. There are a few guessing or twisty moments but mostly it's just a well-crafted story of Marion's life. A gem of a book!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Visitors for review.
Very creepy, disturbing read!
I don't know how to even describe this book other than a very dark, disturbing, evil tale of suffering. One sibling who is committing atrocious acts and the other sibling that decides to believe it is something other than what it really is. Even when she is forced to come face to face with reality she literally slams the door on it and chooses to ignore it.

I am giving this book 3 stars. The Visitors was a strange book~ definitely creepy, weird and disturbing. The story is told from the point of view of Marion~ a spinster with a seeming child-like mind, who lives with her brother in the crumbling home in which they were raised. As a reader, we are made to feel sorry for Marion, and the fact that she seems trapped and somehow unable to function as an adult human being. However, she becomes more disturbing as the story continues. The visitors, as the title suggests, are only referenced to throughout the book, and make a very short appearance in one part of the book. The ending was a disappointment, and I'm not sure that this is a book I would recommend. Thank you to Gallery/Scout Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley of The Visitors by Catherine Burns in exchange for an honest review. The tension in this novel is evident from page one. Marian and John Zetland are siblings living together in their dilapidated family home. From the onset, Marian is passive and somewhat fearful of her brother. The suspense builds as John spends more and more time in the basement, from which strange sounds are emitted. The story becomes creepier from one page to the next. It is a difficult story to read, but read you must. It is a giant cringe-fest but you need to know what happens next. A fantastic psychological mystery and a great read. Highly recommended.

I highly anticipate that this book will become the topic of much conversation and popularity once it is published. A must-read for those that loved "The Girl on the Train" or "Gone Girl".

4/5 stars.
ebook, 225 pages
Read from August 28, 2017 to September 1, 2017

It is books like this that make me love Netgalley more than I already do. If you need a creepy read that will make sure you never look at your next door neighbours the same way ever again, then look no further. I highly anticipate that this book will become the topic of much conversation and popularity once it is published (September 26, 2017).

Marion is a meek, simple-minded spinster in her mid-fifties who has never had to work a day in her life thanks to the money left from her family’s company. She is very content to live out her days watching television, daydreaming, snuggling teddy bears and avoiding confrontation at all costs, especially from her overbearing brother, John. John has always been smarter than Marion and was always favoured by her parents. John could do no wrong, even when he started to show dark and unnerving behaviour, while Marion was constantly reminded of her simpleness and inability to accomplish anything.

The two of them have lived together for some time, as neither of them is married, but John likes to have ‘visitors’ come over occasionally. Marion never knows where these visitors go as they never leave the cellar once they arrive. She continuously turns a blind eye to the sounds and movements she hears coming from these ‘visitors’ while trying to comply with John’s demands and rules. She is soon forced to deal with the ‘visitors’ when John suffers from a heart attack and needs to be in the hospital for an extensive amount of time. Marion, momentarily free from her overlord brother, starts to discover what she is truly capable of.

You are not sure whether you should love or hate Marion, You initially feel sympathy for her with her atrocious upbringing and with the way that John treats her, but that nearly turns to revulsion with her inability to be anything but passive and eventually selfish and unfeeling. The reader, like Marion, doesn’t have a full understanding of her character at the beginning of the book and as the story slowly heats up, things begin to unravel in some pretty sickening twists and turns.

While not a necessarily a full fledged mystery or thriller, this novel and the author’s writing style, has an ability to appeal to anyone who doesn’t mind getting inside the heads of borderline psychopaths. While the story does not start off with a bang, Marion and John are too intriguing to walk away from ensuring that the reader is hooked and not ready to put the book down until it is finished.

This book has been one of my more enjoyable reads of 2017 and a good reminder to go out on a limb for books sometimes as surprises can be awesome. If you loved Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train then this book will be a must read for you.

A little different from what I usually read but I still needed to find out what happened.

The Visitors Review

A special thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Deliciously creepy! Compelling from the first page to the last. The richness in detail made me feel like I was in the house with Marion and John. And trust me, I didn’t want to be! I was eager for the ending; surprised, but not disappointed when I got there. Definitely left me hanging for her next book!

My one complaint is there are a lot of characters and names to follow. If you (like I) have to carve out reading times over many days, it can mean a lot of backing up to keep everyone straight.

I will definitely read more from Catherine Burns!