The Uninvited

by Liz Jensen

A seven-year-old girl puts a nail-gun to her grandmother's neck and fires. An isolated incident, say the experts. The experts are wrong. Across the world, children are killing their families. Is violence contagious?

As chilling murders by children grip the country, anthropologist Hesketh Lock has his own mystery to solve: a bizarre scandal in the Taiwan timber industry. Hesketh has never been good at relationships: Asperger's Syndrome has seen to that. But he does have a talent for spotting behavioural patterns, and an outsider's fascination with group dynamics.

Nothing obvious connects Hesketh's Southeast Asian case with the atrocities back home. Or with the increasingly odd behaviour of his beloved step-son, Freddy. But when Hesketh's Taiwan contact dies shockingly and more acts of sabotage and child violence sweep the globe, he is forced to acknowledge possibilities that defy the rational principles on which he has staked his life, his career and, most devastatingly of all, his role as a father.

Part psychological thriller, part dystopian nightmare, The Uninvited is a powerful and viscerally unsettling portrait of apocalypse in embryo.

• ISBN10: 140882115X
• ISBN13: 9781408821152
• Publish Date: 5 July 2012
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 31 July 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Circus
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

I’ve never read a Liz Jensen novel before. I got it for free but don’t remember where. Probably from a friend handing off books rather than a giveaway since it’s not marked and isn’t an ARC. I enjoyed it but because of the ending, I’m not sure if I’ll read another of Jensen’s work. (I just browsed them and didn’t add any to my To-Read list. They all sound like variations on the same theme and non-interesting.)

I wouldn’t call it dystopian as a genre, though it’s definitely not pleasant. I’d class it as apocalyptic—with paranormal aspects and a twist. It’s setup and flows like a psychological mystery and reads likes literary fiction. I also wouldn’t class it as horror. It’s has some violent, unsettling moments but this isn’t about running from zombie children.

We explore and deal with the children as much as possible given their infliction, there just isn’t that much to do with them as they are.

I really liked Lock’s perspective and found him to be such a great character. He is stereotypically distant and has difficultly in social situations. But he does have emotions, he feels and expresses them differently.

The writing is superb as well. It was entertaining and kept me hooked throughout the quick read. It was an interesting and unique twist for how The Uninvited manifest to wreck shit.

However, I really hated the ending. So we can piece together who The Uninvited are, why they are here and what they are doing. I can’t really expect the history of the world for the spoon-fed version.

It didn’t feel like a conclusion. The book just stopped. Lock’s story isn’t over. Freddy’s story isn’t over. What happens to the children, do they stay that way? And we have no idea WTF is going to happen next in the world.

Lock’s had his guesses earlier but that doesn’t mean he’s right. He certainly didn’t get everything right during the story. Others have called this a “French ending”, but as I don’t have much exposure I can’t say if that’s accurate. Though it does met the stereotype of that and Literary fiction. It wasn’t satisfying. I was disappointed and unfulfilled.

It wasn’t thought provoking in the traditional sense, unless you count “Gods-fucking-damnit, what next?!?!” I wasn’t contemplating how the world got there and blah, blah, blah. Maybe it’s just me, but that’s fucking obvious. And there’s no way this scenario (with the children at least) is going to play out IRL, which just leaves wondering how to change our world now. I don’t know about ya’ll but that’s nothing new to me. That line of thinking just makes me feel depressed and impotent.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Fans of Stephen King, James Patterson and Dean Kootz will enjoy Uninvited. I literally could not put this down, despite its meandering pace; I became completely caught up in the events that occurred within it's pages. Jensen delivers a thought provoking, creep-tastic novel that had me on the edge of my seat.

The story is delivered through the voice of Hesketh. He has Asperser’s Syndrome and while it makes interaction and understanding with people difficult, it proves to be an asset on the job. His company assists businesses in finding whistle-blowers who sabotage the company’s reputation. Then they help them re-invent themselves. Hesketh is the man they send because he is able to put the pieces together, vet out the problem and find viable solutions. He has just ending a relationship with a woman, and while he is comfortable with it ending, he misses his stepson Freddy K. A large number of whistle blowers are emerging globally, but even more alarming children are killing their loved ones and exhibiting some strange behavior. The tale that unfolds was fascinating, and eerily realistic. This tale had me turning the pages to discover answers.

Hesketh is not an easy character to understand. At times he can be a little abrasive. He is extremely intelligent and the way his mind works fascinated me. He has formed a bond with Freddy K and it felt very genuine. As Hesketh meets each of the other characters it has a profound effect on him and his thinking process. Freddy K and the other children intrigued me, as I attempted to understand what was happening. These children appear to have no knowledge of the heinous acts they commit, and their physical and emotional changes were freaky-tastic. The author made me believe and I love when the lines of reality blurr as I am reading. Other characters were interesting, unique and added to the intensity of the overall plot.

Jensen presents such a unique tale. It had elements of horror and science fiction. The tale begins on the cusp of a truly scary dystopian world and she takes us along for the ride. I like that she used the voice of Hesketh to deliver the tale. The fact that he has Asperger's Syndrome made his telling scientific, and I loved how his logical mind attempted to piece together what it could not understand. Jensen obviously did her research, and was able to show the compassion and feelings of the man as well. All of the characters, including the children were fleshed out and became very real to me. I could literally see these events unfolding. What occurred was chilling, mind-boggling and felt very realistic. Hesketh use of Venn diagrams held me captive as he slowly made connections. The why, was fascinating and clever and thought provoking. While the ending is not climatic it was extremely profound. I closed the book and thought, Wow, just Wow.

Fans of thought provoking, creepy dystopians will enjoy this tale. I also think fans of horror and science fiction will be drawn to this one as well. I simply loved this book and it left me completely satisfied on so many levels. I will definitely be reading more of this author's work.

I want to thank Bloomsbury USA for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer