Book Review: The Night Sister

The Night Sister

I am still torn over Jennifer McMahon and her latest work The Night Sister. Like it was with The Winter People. One one hand, I love the moody horror McMahon conjures, the kind that creeps up on you gradually, building up an atmosphere of dread and fear that tingles your spines, rather than simply relying on scene after scene of gory slaughterfest that while thrilling, isn't just as terrifying and challenging as the prospect of confronting the unknown.

Thus when Piper, her sister Margot, and their friend Amy stumble across something what they shouldn't, it changes their lives forever. Fast forward decades later, we meet Amy readying to kill herself and her own family. What drove her to take this desperate measure? That's what Piper, who's back in town to visit Margot, wants to know as well, as she gets drawn into the mystery, not knowing that the answer to the puzzle lies in the very past they were evading from all this while. The writing, like I said, is creepy enough to give you the heebie jeebies, but the denouement unfortunately ends up a tad too contrived and convenient, not to mention the constantly shifting (and at times confusing) perspectives and timeframes.