Book Review: Don’t Breathe A Word by Jennifer McMahon
Don’t Breathe A Word
by Jennifer McMahon
Once upon a soft, summer night in a small New England town, a 12-year-old girl named Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother Sam about a door—hidden among the ruins of an old town long forgotten—that led to a magical place. A place where she would meet Teilo, the King of the Fairies, and become his queen. Sam didn’t believe in fairies, ghosts, or anything supernatural back then, and now, 15 years later, he still doesn’t. It’s one of the many things that his girlfriend, Phoebe, loves about this practical, sensible man. Sam doesn’t have bad dreams, doesn’t avoid the shadows, and does not fear the dark. Instead, he helps her ignore her own dark nightmares. But a series of eerie occurrences—beginning with a mysterious phone call—begins to challenge Sam’s hard-headed realism. Could there be a world beyond their own and is Lisa somehow a part of it? As events spin out of control, the couple finds themselves falling deeper into a vortex of evil and terror. And suddenly Sam is reminded of a terrible promise he made years ago . . . a promise that could to destroy them all. From Goodreads
Don’t Breathe a Word is an eerie, mysterious thrill ride that grabbed me in the first chapter and didn’t let go until the last word. The story is completely unpredictable and kept me guessing until the very end. It’s filled with mysterious disappearances, dark family secrets, fairy tales, lies, betrayal and deceit. Best of all, it will have you questioning what’s real.
I love how this story was written. The author has a chilling way of telling you what is happening without revealing too much information which gives it an air of mystery and allows for some really creepy moments. I also love that it’s told from two different perspectives. The first point of view is from Phoebe, Sam’s girlfriend, in modern day as the mysterious events leading to Lisa’s disappearance begin to unravel, and the second is from Lisa, 15 years in the past, explaining the details of these events as they happened. Telling the story this way helped me to emotionally connect with Lisa and sympathize with those who lost her.
The characters are well defined, interesting, and I could relate to most of them in one way or another. Phoebe is bright, compassionate, and hopeful despite a difficult past, and she helps hold everyone else together when things get difficult. Sam is loving and patient but he has emotional scars stemming from the events of his childhood, and he tends to be very secretive. Lisa is a free spirit who believes that life is magical and learns all too soon how dangerous that belief can be.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was creepy and kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. It has some disturbing moments but they aren’t written in great detail. It also has a mild sex scene and some mild language. If you like stories that are dark, spooky, mysterious and strange then I highly recommend this book.
Reviewer: Kirsten
Source: Digital ARC from HarperCollins
Target Audience: Adult Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 6/1/2011
Quick Links:
Jennifer Mcmahon’s website
