I’ve read and loved all of Jennifer McMahon’s books, but The Invited has become my favorite. Helen and Nate buy property in Vermont, which includes a bog and lots of acreage, where they plan to build their dream home themselves. The land long ago belonged to Hattie until she was hanged on one of her trees for predicting a fire at the schoolhouse. She vowed to stay around, and the townspeople believe the land to be haunted.
Olive and her mother would hunt on the land for Hattie’s buried treasure, until one day her mom left her and her father. Olive thinks if she can find the treasure her mom will once again come home., so she’s not happy to see new owners, and neither are the townspeople.
Helen soon discovers the land is haunted and has visits from Hattie, who wants something from her. She’s very curious to learn everything about Hattie and her descendants so Olive introduces her aunt, who helps Helen in her quest.
It was a great read, and the plot kept getting better and better, I hated to have it end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday books for an advanced read in exchange for this review.

Helen and Nate have moved to the middle of nowhere and are building the house of their dreams. They soon discover that their land has a dark and violent past. Helen finds herself deep in the mystery of Hattie Breckenridge, drawing everyone into danger.

Spooky! A solid ghost story mystery that kept me engrossed in the story. Some of it was a little predictable. However, I was greedily reading page after page trying to figure out what happens with Helen and the house next. It's told from two POVs -Helen's young neighbor who is on a quest to find her mom - and Helen, who searches for links to Hattie. Good, solid read!

Thank you to Doubleday Books, for the arc of this book.
I struggled with the beginning of this book, but I am glad I stuck with it, didn’t see the twist coming.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE INVITED by Jennifer McMahon in exchange for my honest review.***

3.5 STARS

Helen and Nate are building their dream house in the woods of Vermont, woods said to be haunted by generations of murdered women. Nearby young teen Olive desperately searches for her missing mother. Their stories intersect with ghosts, or hoaxes of ghosts, in ways nobody could imagine.

Jennifer McMahon always creates interesting, complex plots that leave no detail unimagined or out of place. THE INVITED takes a while to get going and for me to feel invested in Helen’s and Olive’s stories. About half way through my theories came and went quickly and I wasn’t certain whom I could trust.

The story of Hattie Breckinridge and her unfortunate descendants could have been their own book. I wanted to know more about the mothers, daughters and their tragedies, which interested me more than the present plot. I’d love to see a sequel from the points of view of Hattie and her family.

Anything McMahon writes is worth a recommendation. Readers of mysteries and thrillers who enjoy slow burns will particularly enjoy THE INVITED.

Helen and Nate have left the city and their teaching jobs behind to build the house of their dreams in the middle of 40 acres in Vermont. The stories about a witch being lynched there in the 1920’s and her ghost roaming the bog are intriguing and a little unsettling, but they won’t let that stop them. Olive is a high school freshman who lives nearby. She has been searching the land Nate and Helen now own for the legendary treasure that Hattie the witch supposedly buried somewhere in the bog. Olive’s mother was obsessed with the treasure too, until the day she disappeared. When Hattie’s ghost makes itself known to Helen, it appears there is something she wants Helen to find. Is it the treasure, or something far more sinister. McMahon spins a tale so fine, it’s like a spider’s web, before you know it, you are caught up in a story so tightly you can’t get away