Published by Random House

Synopsis

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter.
Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara s farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that has weighty consequences when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished. In her search for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea’s diary hidden beneath the floorboards of her mother’s bedroom. As Ruthie gets sucked into the historical mystery, she discovers that she s not the only person looking for someone that they’ve lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.

My thoughts

Beautifully written but extremely creepy, Jennifer McMahon sets up the story beautifully as she lays out the background and story of the ‘sleepers’.

The way the story is told using Sara’s diary from the past and Ruthie in the present is very clever, a story of tragedy grief, loss and sacrifice, and explores what could happen if you could bring the dead back even if only for a little while.

This book has everything love loss and revenge, desperation leads Sara to try and bring her little girl back to life culminating in a brilliant yet twisted ending.

A dark horror story, perfect for cold, stormy winter evenings, you will be thinking of Sara and her daughter Gertie, long after you close the book, and Gertie’s fate and that of Ruthie will serve as a reminder that trying to bring the dead back to life is never a good idea

4 out of 5*