The Night Stranger
By Chris Bohjalian
Chip Linton, his wife Emily, and his two twin daughter, Hallie, and Garnet live in Pa.
Chip has been a accomplished pilot for years. On his last flight tragedy occurs. Some geese fly into the engines of the plane, and a forced landing occurs because of the stalled engines. The plane strikes the water, and crashes into Lake Champlain in NY. 39 passenger die from the accident, including a few children.
Of course,after the accident Chip has tremendous guilt, and sadness and loss caused by the accident. He can't live without thinking about the victims.
His wife, Emily wants to uproot the family and start all over in NH. Strange things start happening when the family move in.
Chip notices a door in the basement with 39 bolts. The same number of passengers that died on his flight. He later learns that there are bones in the shaft behind the door, human bones. You find out, eventually about the house. The house takes it own personality. The house had a family with twins. Whats up with twins? You keep reading, In the house, was it a suicide of one of the twins? Or was it murder?
Is Chip seeing ghosts,? or is he having a melt down?
The community of rural NH is strange. The town, the people, the women are not what they seem. Are they really herbalists? What is going on in this town?
My Review:
I recieved a copy from Chris Bohjalian. I am a big fan of all his writing even before Oprah. I discovered his writing when I visited Martha's Vineyard many years ago. I have read most of his books. He's books are social commentary novels, not ghost stories. Psychological suspense is not my genre, but willing to give it a try.
I thought it was interesting for the setting to be in NH, Since the area is very secluded, this worked for the setting of the book as well as the character of so called herbalists, and witches.
The one part that annoyed me, was telling the story in the second person. I don't usually like to read book as second person. Second person gets me a bit confused, and have to reread the paragraph to get who they are talking about.
SPOILER:
The novel is slow moving at first then builds up momentum of suspense, the 3/4 of the book it turns to something more. Are the communal of herbalists, friends or foe? Why are the herbalists so friendly to the children? We find out later why the communal of women need the Linton family children.
IT IS STEPFORD WIVES MEET STEPHEN KING. These community of women reminded me of the Stepford Wives, why you ask? They were living in a area with a small population. The community of women and a few men were in on it. Knowing what they were planning to do. But the main characters had no idea what was happening until it was too late, to get out. That is why I said, that the NH was the perfect setting secluded, it would not have worked anywhere else.
I finished The Night Stranger last night, a perfect setting, of freezing cold, and blistery wind whipping through my house. This is the perfect read for this kind of setting. I just wish I had a cozy fireplace.
The story scared me, gave me goose bumps, and I practically jumped out of me skin when my son touched me, towards the end of the novel. I still enjoyed it, and I am still thinking about it after a few days.
I thought Chris was very creative and original writing The Night Stranger. I would recommend this novel if you like more than gothic, ghosts and psychological suspense.