The Winter People Jennifer McMahon

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Set in 1908 and the present day, The Winter People, weaves a mildly spooky and gruesome tale of people brought back from the dead and the consequences. In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea's daughter, Gertie, dies in a sudden accident leaving the mother mad with grief. Recalling a letter her auntie left her, explaining how to bring the dead back to life for seven days, Sara calls Gertie from the grave with many unexpected consequences. In the present day, Ruthie returns home to discover her predictable mother missing and in her attempts to locate her, solves the mystery surrounding the deaths of Gertie and Sara Shea.
The book began with a lot of promise and based on the reviews I read I had high hopes for it, however, the second half of the book was to ridiculous, quickly wrapping the book up in a way that took removed any of the spook factor.
Initially, the novel was hard to get into, the first three chapters were confusing and it took me a bit of time to sort out who was who and in what time period they were in. Once I had the characters sorted out, I was quickly drawn into the story with the initial disappearances of Gertie Shea and Alice Washburn. I liked how the author switched between the two stories slowly sharing details from Sara's secret diary and the search for Alice Washburn.
Beginning with Part 4, this novel began veer towards ridiculous and convenient, with kooky characters such as Candace, Katherine and Auntie the perfectly timed trip to Sara Shea's former home and the Devil's Hand. And then, I promise no spoilers, that darn camera bag!! This book had plenty of opportunities to be spooky, like Sara Shea wondering through town and folks putting out food for her or the sleepers in the woods. But instead it went down a predictable and silly path that destroyed any creep factor.





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