0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call.
Mavis, Alison's estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter's family. But Alison grew up with her mother's alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother can finally heal and have the relationship she's always dreamed of.
But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis's arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family in this "twisty, propulsive, character-drive, and hair-raisingly scary" (Nick Cutter, author of The Troop) novel.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
October 3, 2023 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781797163796
- File size: 293811 KB
- Duration: 10:12:06
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
August 14, 2023
McMahon follows up 2022’s The Children on the Hill with a chilling if predictable Christmas-themed supernatural mystery. Though Alison O’Conner dislikes Christmas, she’s the author of a successful holiday-themed children’s book, and her two daughters and chronically optimistic husband, Mark, adore Christmas with all the fervor of Hallmark movie characters. One afternoon, Alison receives a call from her alcoholic artist mother’s assistant, Paul, asking her to visit her mother, Mavis, in the hospital, where she’s entering the final stages of pancreatic cancer. Though Alison was abused both physically and emotionally by Mavis and still bears the scars, she agrees to see her, and eventually allows Mavis to spend the final weeks of her life at Alison’s Vermont home while Christmas approaches. As Alison sees her daughters and her husband begin to fall under Mavis’s spell, she comes to suspect the impossible—that the demonic woman who raised her may have been an actual demon all along. McMahon establishes a creepy atmosphere, but she gives the demonic shtick away early, and fails to provide many surprises or deepen the central metaphor from there. Still, readers who prefer their Christmas dinner with a side of supernatural dread may enjoy this. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. -
December 1, 2023
Children's book author Alison never liked Christmas. She especially hates it this year, as her abusive, estranged, and dying mother, Mavis, has moved in with her. Alison tries to look on the bright side, hoping that, at the very least, her daughters will be able to get to know their grandmother before it's too late. However, soon after Mavis moves in, the holidays turn from cheerful to chaotic as supernatural terrors are visited upon the family, and Alison begins to wonder if her mother is not who she says she is. As the awful truth becomes clear, Alison must fight to keep her daughters safe. McMahon's (The Children on the Hill) latest is a creepy and sinister novel that explores mother-daughter relationships, generational trauma, and the paranormal. Hillary Huber and Kitty Hendrix provide a narration that adds nuance, deftly handling the slow change from irritated to sinister as listeners discover just how far a mother is willing to go in order to protect her family. VERDICT Full of twists, turns, and plenty of suspense, this slow-burn horror novel has depth and plenty of holiday chills. Fans of McMahon's other works will not be disappointed.--Elyssa Everling
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-