trudilibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
I'm going to tell you two things that made me want to read this book:
1) The cover - I mean, c'mon...how kick-ass creepy is this?
2) The first sentence of the book jacket description: "A seven-year-old girl puts a nail gun to her grandmother's neck and fires."
Creepy, evil kids doing creepy evil things is usually a win for me. So it was a foregone conclusion that I would dive into this book with abandon.
First of all -- it isn't horror, despite the cover and the book jacket description. It's more a mash-up of mystery sci-fi with a philosophical bent to it. There are creepy parts, but those are almost incidental to the book's defined purpose. And what is that purpose?
The writing is great. Liz Jensen knows what to do with words. Hesketh Lock is a remarkable character study of a person living with Asperger's Syndrome. I'm no expert by any means (and maybe it's a terribly erroneous portrait), nevertheless I appreciated the attention to detail. I found Hesketh's way of looking at the world and interacting with it endlessly fascinating.
The book opens with Hesketh being sent to different countries on various continents to investigate cases of industrial sabotage. It's not entirely clear how these financially devastating actions by valued employees are even related to the other disturbing cases occurring at the same time of children murdering their caregivers. Hence the mystery. But Hesketh is on the case and with his very unusual brain and the aid of Venn diagrams moves closer to the truth with each passing day.
Even up to the three-quarter mark I was still chomping at the bit to uncover what the hell was really going on. I needed to know. Things were going from bad to worse. What could be behind it all? Demons? Aliens? Time-traveling scientists? So many cryptic clues, hinting at something universally "big" in a space-time-evolutionary way.
I was ready for it. I believed in the author. It felt like she had a plan. I trusted her. Even with a mere 10 pages left and no definitive climax or resolution in sight, I was only slightly worried and concerned.
Ever watch an overwrought, existential and confused piece of French cinema replete with embedded themes and imagery and allegory that you were supposed to "get" but didn't, and then the end title comes up and looks like this:
And then you shout at the screen and shake your fist: What the bleep?! You fume and even cry real tears. Because you realize no one's going to tell you the answer. Oh no. You will have to guess, extrapolate, surmise and theorize, with your friends, or worse still, with the obnoxious douche you have to work with every day.
Well piss on that. If that's what I wanted to spend my time doing I would have gotten my PhD in goddam philosophy. I can tolerate some ambiguity, but by and large I don't like it. It aggravates me. I'm reading for answers and resolution, not for more questions and uncertainty. Ambiguity stinks. Ambiguity is not my friend. Which is also probably why David Lynch movies make me want to stab somebody, him mostly.
So for a horror novel, that turned out to be a mysterious sci-fi piece that turned out to be an exercise in pointless philosophy showcasing an excruciatingly ambiguous ending -- two stars.
bxermom's review against another edition
2.0
This was just too weird for me. I couldn't connect with the main character at all. Disappointing as this book had great reviews.
mferrante83's review against another edition
Enjoying this one so far. I somehow missed the jacket text about the narrator being autistic.
vidz2000's review against another edition
3.0
Ok book overall. Bit slow at times but the plot was good. However the ending was very disappointing. Felt like the author tried to make it deep but forgot that it was a mystery book. 3 stars for the plot.
marryallthepeople's review against another edition
2.0
First off, Liz Jensen is a beautiful writer and I really enjoyed the way she spoke through words on the paper.
But, I just didn't realy like the story. I liked the little girl part, and I come from a family on the Autism spectrum so was able to relate to Aspy tendencies that Hesketh had, but didn't like his telling of the story.
I see that this is described as part psychological thriller, part dystopian nightmare; I think my review can be summed up in "I liked the psychological thrill half, and didn't like the dystopian nightmare part". I think that those individuals who do like dystopian books, will like this book though. So please please don't let this review put you off!
I received an ecopy of this book in return for an unbiased review.
But, I just didn't realy like the story. I liked the little girl part, and I come from a family on the Autism spectrum so was able to relate to Aspy tendencies that Hesketh had, but didn't like his telling of the story.
I see that this is described as part psychological thriller, part dystopian nightmare; I think my review can be summed up in "I liked the psychological thrill half, and didn't like the dystopian nightmare part". I think that those individuals who do like dystopian books, will like this book though. So please please don't let this review put you off!
I received an ecopy of this book in return for an unbiased review.
emdawgb's review against another edition
3.0
I was already inwardly at odds over this novel before I started reading it. The world as we know it is changing, and giving way to something terrifying and strange – I’m in! Yet, it is narrated by Hesketh, an anthropologist with Asperger’s, which means that the narrative style is comparable to the naive child narrators that irritate me so much. However, the premise was intriguing, and having read Liz Jensen’s novel Ark Baby and loved it, I had relatively high hopes for The Uninvited.
Unfortunately, it just didn’t light my fire. All the way through the novel I was waiting, and waiting, and then desperately hoping that something just a bit more exciting would happen. Due to the narrative style, everything was bogged down in tedious and ultimately tiring details, which to me seemed to detract from the story rather than add to it. The story is very interesting though, and I think with better execution it could have been fascinating. The idea of young children mindlessly murdering close family and loved ones is haunting, and Jensen paints a bleak picture of the fallout from these attacks.
Unfortunately, it just didn’t light my fire. All the way through the novel I was waiting, and waiting, and then desperately hoping that something just a bit more exciting would happen. Due to the narrative style, everything was bogged down in tedious and ultimately tiring details, which to me seemed to detract from the story rather than add to it. The story is very interesting though, and I think with better execution it could have been fascinating. The idea of young children mindlessly murdering close family and loved ones is haunting, and Jensen paints a bleak picture of the fallout from these attacks.
tchristman's review against another edition
3.0
So I loved the main character, Hesketh, who has Asperger's. Loved him! And I loved his relationship with his stepson. I loved the writing style. But horror, murdering children...no, not really. The story follows Hesketh as he is sent to various countries to try to resolve several sabotage/suicide scenarios. In the background, children are starting to act weird and murder family members. The story lines merge when his stepson becomes affected. An interesting mystery maybe, but it never really comes to any resolution. Let's just call it a great character study and leave it at that.
bthegood's review
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Excellently written story about an unidentified "virus" that causes children to kill loved ones, and adults to sabotage businesses - it is a tale about the problems that unchecked growth can cause - it is a tale about a man's love for his stepson (protecting him and loving him through all of this) - it is tense and eerie and sweet at times. Do not expect things to "wrap up" - it is a story without an end - which I enjoy when done well and this was -
guiltlesspleasures's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. I have been a huge fan of Liz Jensen since The Rapture, and The Uninvited is certainly on a par. Hesketh is a compelling character and I loved his finely drawn relationship with Freddy K, which drives the book. Jensen paints vivid scenes, maintains a sense of unease throughout and weaves in a satisfyingly anti-capitalist, environmental message that, to me at least, didn't feel overly preachy. I devoured this book and look forward to doing the same to the rest of Jensen's back catalogue.
thestarman's review against another edition
3.0
A mixed-genre sort of thing, mostly crime/mystery meets fantasy. Perhaps a bit of science fiction and horror. Intriguing at first, jumps the shark about 2/3 in, and
First 1/3: 3-4 stars
Middle 1/3: 2.5-3 stars
Last 1/3: 1.5 stars
VERDICT: ~2.8 stars overall, but I'm bumping up because the first half was compelling, the main character is mentally different, and the plot was imaginative--though ultimately
Spoiler
is full-on preposterous by the end.First 1/3: 3-4 stars
Middle 1/3: 2.5-3 stars
Last 1/3: 1.5 stars
VERDICT: ~2.8 stars overall, but I'm bumping up because the first half was compelling, the main character is mentally different, and the plot was imaginative--though ultimately