Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Liz Jensen's Novel Out This Month is Chilling Look at World Changes...

The Uninvited
(Out this Month)



This is one of the most chilling books you may ever read--but also, one of the most engrossing. Forget about enjoying it! Not even as a horror novel. In fact, it might be the strangest apocalyptic story you may "not" be able to forget...

After all, we who live on this planet continue to do little to ensure our planet can continue to sustain the humans living here...So what if, in some way, all the children of the world (or another one?) decided to do something?


It started with a little girl who killed her grandmother... She was 7 when she put a nail gun to her neck and fired...

She knew what she was doing because when her father ran to try to stop her, she put the gun to his eye...

No, it was not an isolated case...

But if it had not been for other things happening at the same time, it might not have been noticed that there was a pandemic happening around the world.

In Taiwan a whistle blower had told about the corruption in his company. Phipps and Wexman was called in to investigate...

Hesketh Lock is the main character. I'd like to add a personal note here about this character...The author chose that the man had Asperger's Syndrome and then proceeded to create many weird things and/or dialogue based upon what an individual would be like. I think when this occurs that authors should include a disclaimer that they have created that image and does not necessarily represent an individual who has been diagnosed with A.S. Indeed I have a close relative who in no way resembles the character in this book, even though some of the characteristics might be "textbook..."

In any event, Hesketh is a genius, an anthropologist who knows most languages and or easily picks them up. He also is logical, and was trained by a gifted professor and then recommended to his present boss. It is Hesketh that interviews and begins to discover what had not been previously shared to police, et.al. Specifically, the whistle blower and others who also committed some type of sabotage against the company where they worked, shared that they were forced to do it--that children (or demons, or the dead, etc.) were really who was responsible. Unfortunately, each of those who had committed some type of sabotage were also dead...

While more and more reports of children attacking adults were confirmed at the same time company sabotages continued across the world, Hesketh is caught in his own personal nightmare. He had been in love with a woman who had cheated on him. She had a young boy who Hesketh loved as his own son and the child loved him as well. But then several things happened and Hesketh knew that he might also be part of those infected...

This is a strangely intense and compelling novel that follows the investigations being conducted and goes fairly deeply into potential causes.  For instance, one of the things that was realized was that the children and/or victims of those children craved salt... They were already calling their lives as the New World, where they hoarded food, ate bugs, worms or anything that could be shown not to be contaminated...

But while it's a well-written, relevant book, it is also hard to read without envisioning...the children... You decide!


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1 comment:

  1. Sounding intriguing, disturbing... I shall probably look out for it. Thanks for your review.

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