Title: Don’t
Breathe a Word
Author: Jennifer
McMahon
Publisher: William
Morrow
Publication Date: May
17, 2011
Genres: Adult
Fiction, Fantasy, Thriller
Reviewed by: Ellen
Fritz
Ellen’s rating: 5/5
SUMMARY
On a soft summer night in Vermont,
twelve-year-old 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
that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and
become his queen.
Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn't fear the dark and doesn't have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam's hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all.
Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn't fear the dark and doesn't have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam's hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all.
REVIEW
A mysterious combination of reality, fantasy, and the
mystical, Don't Breathe a Word
captivated me from the start and kept me reading way past normal hours. A
newsworthy disappearance of a twelve-year-old child becomes the suspenseful,
horrifying center of Phoebe's existence fifteen years later.
Although this story is supposed to be centered round
Teilo, king of the fairies, it is almost depressingly realistic with some
highly dysfunctional families and deeply flawed characters. Nevertheless, I
loved the suspenseful twists and turns this book takes the reader on before the
truth is revealed. Even when the plot unravels, a healthy dose of doubt and
mystery remain for the reader to ponder.
The characters in this book are as realistic as they
come. Coming from a background of alcoholism, drug abuse and neglect, Phoebe is
a troubled person. Despite this, however, she copes admirably with the crisis
that hits her and Sam. Although I often doubted down-to-earth, realistic Sam's
loyalty, he seems to keep his head best throughout the confused and twisted
events of this story.
The best crafted character in this book, however, is
Evie. Often mocked as Stevie as a child, Evie seems to be one of the victims in
this tale. First an impostor Evie appears and then a neglected woman, but,
which one, if any, is the real Evie?
The changing point of view between Phoebe in the
present and Lisa in the past gives the reader a thorough picture of what really
happened. Still, the resolution of the mystery came as an unexpected surprise.
This book kept me guessing right up to the end. Apart from
the nail-biting suspense, there are parts of this story which are simply
downright scary. The woods of Vermont are a very apt setting for such a
haunting tale that treads the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
For a tale full of secrets and pretence, cruelty, and
unnatural love, as well as an imaginatively twisted plot, I recommend Don't Breathe a Word as an absolute
must-read.
I was born in 1968
and grew up in my grandmother’s house in suburban Connecticut, where I was
convinced a ghost named Virgil lived in the attic. I wrote my first short story
in third grade. I graduated with a BA from Goddard College in 1991 and then
studied poetry for a year in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. A
poem turned into a story, which turned into a novel, and I decided to take some
time to think about whether I wanted to write poetry or fiction. After bouncing
around the country, I wound up back in Vermont, living in a cabin with no
electricity, running water, or phone with my partner, Drea, while we built our
own house. Over the years, I have been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up
artist, Easter Bunny, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and
counselor for adults and kids with mental illness — I quit my last real job in
2000 to work on writing full time. In 2004, I gave birth to our daughter,
Zella. These days, we’re living in an old Victorian in Montpelier, Vermont.
Some neighbors think it looks like the Addams family house, which brings me
immense pleasure.
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