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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Deaths in both timelines; some horror violence; the supernatural threat builds gradually
Language
Some
Some strong language in a thriller-horror register
Sexual Content
None
No romantic or sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Moderate drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
A mother's grief reaching a supernatural extreme; the horror of discovering what the person in your house is; a past that refuses to stay buried
What this book is about
Sara Harrison Shea lives in a Vermont farmhouse with her husband and daughter. When her daughter goes missing one winter morning, Sara discovers a diary hidden in the walls — written by a woman named Visitors in 1908 who was grieving her own dead daughter and found a terrible way to bring her back. Jennifer McMahon's dual-timeline novel works in two registers: domestic grief thriller in the present, supernatural horror in the past. The horror comes from the same source in both — the lengths a mother will go to when she refuses to accept that her child is gone.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
supernatural horror and deaths
child disappearance and grief as central themes
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