When Death Comes Knocking On Your Door

When Death comes knocking on your door,

you’ll think you’ve seen his face before.

When he comes creeping up your stairs,

you’ll know him from your dark nightmares.

If you hold up a mirror, you shall see

that he is you and you are he.

                                                       ~ from The Night Sister

Two sisters, beautiful Sylvie and plain Rose, grow up under the shadow of a family curse till a tragedy separates them forever. Two best friends, troubled Amy and loyal Piper, try to uncover the truth behind the tragedy only to suffer the same fate and are never together again. What tragedy links these lives?

Jennifer McMahon is back and how! Her latest book easily wins hands down as the creepiest read of early 2016. Jennifer has long been one of the favored authors whose books I eagerly await and read the minute they are released. Having read all her previous novels, I can claim without any doubt whatsoever that her work simply cannot disappoint.

The Night Sister is a shiver-inducing and fraught-with-suspense gothic mystery that has all the right ingredients in place. The Tower motel (with a Tower of London replica) provides a chilling setting, a family shape-shifting curse infuses the paranormal, a disappearance arouses curiosity, siblings and best friends add complex relationships, scary grandmothers with scarier folklore build apprehension, and finally the past-present link keeps you guessing on your feet as you try and find out who or what is responsible, from all those years ago, for leading to the horrific crime with which the book opens.

Piper, her younger sister Margot, and best friend Amy are an inseparable trio in their childhood till a disturbing discovery shatters their bond. In the present, Amy and Margot have stayed back in their native Vermont, though not in touch with each other, while Piper has moved away. Margot, now married to her childhood crush Jason, is about to have a baby. All three seem to have adjusted to an adulthood without each other till Amy is accused of an impossibly cruel crime. A photograph of sisters Sylvie and Rose is discovered on the crime scene and carries a cryptic message '29 rooms'. The message makes no sense to the police but awakens some very unpleasant memories for Margot and Piper. Piper flies back to Vermont and both sisters try to uncover the truth behind Amy's desperate act. The past is back with a vengeance!

What happened to Sylvie? Where is Rose? What has the Slater family been hiding all these years? Where is the 29th room in the 28 room Tower motel? Are curses real? Can the truth be discovered before it is too late?

I was quite impressed with Amy’s fortitude. Growing up in a completely dysfunctional family and burdened with secrets so dark and disturbing they cloak every bit of happiness, she stills finds the courage be happy, to make friends, to love, to get married, and build a family of her own. She couldn’t have known that this courage would cost her all that she holds dear.

Piper left me with mixed feelings. For her to be Amy’s best friend, do everything she wanted, bravely partner with her in all her escapades, and yet give up on the friendship so easily left me a bit taken aback. Would we not try harder to keep them, those who we profess to love, in our lives?

Margot is pragmatic in approach, caring towards others, and more stalwart than Piper. Her loyalty towards her husband Jason, her town Vermont, and her sister Piper make her very likeable. She is not only brave enough to insist on investigating the circumstances that changed Amy but also fights hard to keep herself and her baby safe in the face of unexpected danger.

My strongest emotions, though, are reserved for Lou. The beautiful and cursed orphan whose future would forever be haunted by her birth.

An utterly compelling and tightly plotted novel, 'The Night Sister' progressively ratchets up the tension till everything explodes in a shocking revelation. Densely populated with surprises and strengthened by the author’s highly accomplished writing skills which bring to life her vivid descriptive storytelling, this book will keep you unbearably fascinated all through the race to the end.