Book Review - The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon
Title: The Winter People
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Publication Date: February 11, 2014
Genre: Horror
Pages: 382 pages
Rating: 5/5 stars
My Thoughts:
I've been having a REALLY great streak of fantastic books in the last couple of weeks. Nothing but 4 and 5 star reads. So when I say that this novel still manages to stand above the rest, know that that means this is a very, VERY good novel.
This book checks pretty much all of my boxes. Beautiful, atmospheric writing? Check. Well fleshed-out and unique characters? Check. Multiple time periods and points of view? Check. Paranormal elements without beating you over the head with them? Definite check. I tore through most of this book in an afternoon because I could not bring myself to put it down. The pacing is perfect: slow enough to build a sense of dread and suspense, but fast enough that there's always a new piece of the puzzle being revealed to the reader.
One of my biggest pet peeves in horror is having characters and relationships that feel secondary to gore and terror. If I can't find a reason to care about the characters, it's hard to feel scared for them since the stakes just aren't all that high for me as a reader. That was definitely not an issue with this novel. The relationships between the characters are what makes this book so amazing. They're essential to the plot, moving it forward in ways that wouldn't have been possible with less well-rounded characters. I felt Sara's pain through the pages, Martin's love for his wife, Ruthie's determination to find her mother and care for her sister. Every single character in this book comes across as a real, fully developed person that I found myself caring deeply about. Being so invested in the characters made the horror elements of this novel that much more effective, and I found myself with literal goosebumps of fear more than once while reading this book.
I also appreciated how intricate the mystery elements were in this story. The author provides just enough breadcrumbs for the reader to piece things together, but without the subsequent reveals feeling cheap or predictable. I was able to figure out a few of the turns the plot took, but never entirely, so I had the broad strokes of where the elements would fit into the plot, but not the how. Again, this made for a very satisfying reading experience for me, keeping me invested and turning pages until the very end!
I'm glad that I finally got around to reading this fantastic book. Jennifer McMahon is absolutely an author I'll be seeking out in the future; this may very well have been my favorite read of 2018!
My Thoughts:
I've been having a REALLY great streak of fantastic books in the last couple of weeks. Nothing but 4 and 5 star reads. So when I say that this novel still manages to stand above the rest, know that that means this is a very, VERY good novel.
This book checks pretty much all of my boxes. Beautiful, atmospheric writing? Check. Well fleshed-out and unique characters? Check. Multiple time periods and points of view? Check. Paranormal elements without beating you over the head with them? Definite check. I tore through most of this book in an afternoon because I could not bring myself to put it down. The pacing is perfect: slow enough to build a sense of dread and suspense, but fast enough that there's always a new piece of the puzzle being revealed to the reader.
One of my biggest pet peeves in horror is having characters and relationships that feel secondary to gore and terror. If I can't find a reason to care about the characters, it's hard to feel scared for them since the stakes just aren't all that high for me as a reader. That was definitely not an issue with this novel. The relationships between the characters are what makes this book so amazing. They're essential to the plot, moving it forward in ways that wouldn't have been possible with less well-rounded characters. I felt Sara's pain through the pages, Martin's love for his wife, Ruthie's determination to find her mother and care for her sister. Every single character in this book comes across as a real, fully developed person that I found myself caring deeply about. Being so invested in the characters made the horror elements of this novel that much more effective, and I found myself with literal goosebumps of fear more than once while reading this book.
I also appreciated how intricate the mystery elements were in this story. The author provides just enough breadcrumbs for the reader to piece things together, but without the subsequent reveals feeling cheap or predictable. I was able to figure out a few of the turns the plot took, but never entirely, so I had the broad strokes of where the elements would fit into the plot, but not the how. Again, this made for a very satisfying reading experience for me, keeping me invested and turning pages until the very end!
I'm glad that I finally got around to reading this fantastic book. Jennifer McMahon is absolutely an author I'll be seeking out in the future; this may very well have been my favorite read of 2018!
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