I really liked this book, an enjoyable and creepy read!

The Visitors is a slow-to-unfold mystery/character study that tells the story of Marion Zetlander, a fifty-four year old woman who still lives with her brother, John. She was raised in a cold and distant, extremely rich family in which John was favoured and little was expected of Marion. Unfortunately, she has delivered: she is socially inept, easily cowed by conflict, and childlike in terms of her life experiences and desires.

This was an atmospheric mystery that felt very much like We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The story felt as though it inhabited a gothic setting/bygone days, but we eventually learn that we are inhabiting the present time (there are mentions of email, Starbucks, Costa Coffee, etc.). As we meander through Marion’s memories about growing up, there are sinister stories and hints as to the horror that lives in the cellar of Marion and John’s home. Like Castle, though, not everything is as it seems. Initially, Marion turns a blind eye to what is happening in the cellar. When John suffers a heart attack, though, Marion is forced to go downstairs and take care of the visitors in the cellar. This set of events leads to the emergence of a new (but certainly not better) Marion.

2.25-2.5 STARS

Upon reading the premise for "The Visitors," I was extremely eager to start reading what promised to be a unique and compelling suspense thriller. Unfortunately, this odd little story was more of a character study than it was suspenseful, thus, failing to live up to my preconceived expectations.

Oddities aside, the story itself held no true surprises, further fueling my overall disappointment. So, as much as I wanted to love this story, I found it be mediocre at best.

This is a very nicely written thriller about a seemingly mundane brother and sister. I don't want to give away any spoilers because I know how that can ruin a good read, but I will say that while some books classify this as horror I would place it under psychological thriller. The book is written from the sister's perspective and follows her journey from denial into realization of her family's actions, then back into denial as she justifies her own actions. This is a very well done story that emphasizes how the sins of others are far more horrifying than our own because our minds find a way to provide good reasons for our own actions. If you've ever wondered how people who commit horrifying crimes can live with themselves, this book shows how one family did so.

Gruesome, disturbing, depressing, sad, dark. Well done!

It was a well written book. The whole time I read it I felt sad. It was a sad and it was dark.

Marion Zetland is now in her fifties and still living with her domineering older brother, John, in their family home after both of their parents have long since passed. Marion never knew what love was or had a family of her own so John has been the only one close in her life for years forcing her to rely heavily upon him. Marion overlooks things that should be red flags when it comes to John with him being all that she has until one night John suffers a heart attack forcing Marion to confront what he’s been hiding all these years.

The Visitors by Catherine Burns was one of those books I was a bit on the fence about and had to debate on how to rate when I was finished. The book primarily seemed to read more like a family drama looking back at John and Marion over the years showing both of them to be flawed characters in their own ways. Marion who is the main character wasn’t particularly likable but there was also an extreme curiosity that built to know just where the author was taking the story.

One of the biggest things I found with this though that brings my rating down was the extreme slowness of the book to unravel just what the actual plot was going to bring. The official synopsis mentions John having a heart attack but this particular event is well into the book which shows that overall the story is about 80% build up then the huge reveal seemed a bit rushed to a conclusion after so much build.

In the end I decided on giving this one 3.5 stars. The author does have a nice writing style that despite the slowness of the build I still wanted to continue to read so I would definitely try another by this author again.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Now and then I find myself in this uncomfortable position of disliking a book that's receiving a lot of early hype and glowing reviews. So here I am, being the voice of dissension. I'll do my best to explain why without giving spoilers.

I love dark psychological suspense, which, by the description, is what I expected from this book. It is dark, but it's more a study of Marion's character than a suspenseful novel. The pace during the first three-quarters of this book is exceedingly slow and not particularly suspenseful. From the start we - and Marion - have a good idea of what's going on in the cellar. The suspense is lost because we're given lots of information that Marion tries to pretend away.

This story is more about Marion's past and her inability to function within society. Much of the first two-thirds of the book is Marion flashing back to her childhood and family life. These scenes are out of sequence and far too long and detailed. For instance, we spend half a chapter reliving a trip to a wax museum Even the information on the plaques on the displays is included. We also sit and watch TV with Marion, with the TV show playing out for us, dialogue and all. Through much of this, "the visitors" aren't much more than a minor distraction.

The story doesn't pick up and become interesting until about the 2/3 mark, and Marion isn't "Forced to go down to the cellar..." (from the book's description) until late in the book. For me, the suspense and urgency came far too late. I wasn't surprised by the twist, and I didn't feel any of the turmoil and despair this type of story should have stirred up.

This book chilled me to the bone. I was pleasantly surprised to be hooked by the first sentence and gripped through the whole book!
The visitors is wonderfully well written, descriptive and chilling. I felt far too close of an affinity for Marion for my liking!
Her relationship with john and her parents were rich and I would love to read an entire back story of her parents' lives.
A great read that reminds us that there is a monster that lives in every one of us.

Marion Zetland isn't a likeable character. She's a 54 year-old spinster whose life force was crushed and twisted by a cold, manipulative mother. Lost in the shadow of a brilliant, favored, older brother, she retreated into a fantasy world as a young child and never really grew up at all. As the story draws you in, you begin to feel sorry for her, to hope she will find a way to break away from the dark house she grew up in and somehow make a life for herself. At the same time, you can't help despising her for allowing herself to ignore her brother's visitors, young women who come into the house and are never seen again.

Burns brilliantly pulls aside the blinds of a normal looking house in a good neighborhood to show the terrible darkness hiding inside the house, and inside the souls of the people who could be next door to your house.

When you first meet her, you can only pity Marion. She’s in her fifties, plan, overweight. She’s never dated, let alone married, or even held down a job. She helped take care of her mother until her mother’s death and now she haphazardly keeps house for her brother, John. Marion is timid, anxious about any kind of responsibility, and spends hours day dreaming. But as the chapters unfold in Catherine Burns’ The Visitors, it becomes clear that Marion is capable of a lot more than anyone realizes.

The first chapters of The Visitors reveal a pair of siblings who inherited enough money that they don’t need to work who live in a mouldering house full of clutter. Marion leaves everything of importance to John. John, however, is much more interested in whatever he’s been up to in the cellar (which Marion is never allowed to enter) and spending time down the pub. Marion spends her days day dreaming about past crushes or thinking back to scenes from her childhood. The more we learn about Marion’s family, the more sinister it seems. Her mother is a germaphobe. Her father was a lech. If Marion had been a bit brighter, she would have realized that her brother’s “hobbies” are an awful lot like a warm up for becoming a serial killer.

While the title of this book pulls the reader’s attention to the crime element of this story, I found it impossible to take my eyes off of Marion. From the first chapters, I was psychoanalyzing her—only to read something that would completely throw off my amateur diagnosis. What fascinates me most about Marion is how she lies to herself. Because we’re in her head for most of the book, we can see how she deliberately refuses to see things that might be upsetting. Later, we learn about memories she has suppressed because it doesn’t fit her persona of a frightened, prematurely old lady who just wants to feel loved by someone.

By the end of The Visitors, Marion is anything but an object of pity. The transformation this novel brings about in her character is astounding to watch. Each chapter or scene or scrap of an email brings another clue as to what’s really going on in Marion and John’s house. The ending is bold and chilling and absolutely perfect for this twisted family tale.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 26 September 2017.

A dark, chilling look into a deeply disturbed family. You won't forget this one!

Excellent writing and plot and just unbelievably creepy. This is one of those books that is like a car accident - you don't want to see the horrible thing that has happened but you just can't turn away. Literally made my skin crawl at times - but I couldn't stop reading!

She grew up in a wealthy, but cold and dysfunctional family. That was just the beginning of a sad, lonely and socially inept life that tormented and twisted a middle-aged woman into the culmination of every monster that had ever terrified her. Catherine Burns’ THE VISITORS is a raw and brutally dark tale of the horrors of one woman’s life as she lives in self-denial of the horrendous secrets her domineering older brother kept in the cellar.

It is a tale of self-deception, of denial and of finally facing the truth about the life she has lived. It is a tale of always being treated as less until finally, Marion believes it is true. Marion knows she is unworthy of love, of happiness, and with only her brother John to share her life with, she accepts the emotional cruelty he provides, because, after all, he doesn’t mean it, right?

It will all change when John must be hospitalized and Marion must enter the forbidden cellar and face the truths she has always denied. From that day forward, a new Marion will be born, a new Marion will grow and in that growth, Marion will not be a doormat anymore.

Catherine Burns tells a story that will sear your soul, because there is no hero, there is no heroine, there is no joy, but there is an ending you will not see coming. This story simmers across each page, like the smoldering remains of a fire that never grew bright.

I received an ARC edition from Gallery/Scout Press in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press (September 26, 2017)
Publication Date: September 26, 2017
Genre: Literary Fiction
Print Length: 304 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

Very macabre. Not my usual reading material and I found it disturbing. Probably mostly because it could and has happened. I finished this book not because I enjoyed it but because I hoped the characters would redeem themselves in the end. But no, there was no redemption to be found.

Loved this one! The author did an excellent job of telling you just enough to keeping you guessing and being unable to put it down!

First line: Like a white bird, the scream flew up from the depths of the cellar, then became trapped inside Marion’s head.

Summary: Marion, a spinster, living with her brother in their cluttered childhood home, is scared of the secret that is hidden in the cellar. When her brother has a heart attack, she has to face the reality of what he has been hiding. Told through flashbacks and snippets of their past lead you to believe that people are not always what they seem.

Highlights: A slow burning thriller. Little pieces of information are scattered throughout the book leading to theories. I kept thinking I had figured out who and what was happening but then I would second guess myself. Marion and John’s relationship and lifestyle oddly transfixed me. Who are these people? How have they lived this long like this and no one has ever discovered their secret? The end leaves you with a sense of “what happened?” Very unsettling but in a good and spooky way. I had a very tough time putting this down.

Lowlights (or what could have been better): The only problem I found was I kept waiting for some big reveal at the end but it didn’t come. But I wasn’t really disappointed because I still am thinking about the story and the ending and wondering. Who is to blame? Who was the scarier of the siblings?

FYI: Not fast paced but worth every page.

The story pulls you in from the beginning and doesn't let go, A must read.

Well written, purely character driven. Marion is exposed thoroughly. The story unfolds at a snails pace with a sense of heavy foreboding as pages are turned. About a quarter into the story I knew the direction of the plot. The ending was fitting. All in all it was what I expected and met my expectations. I couldn't stop thinking of The Widow by Fiona Barton, somewhat similar but this one is a tad creepier.