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The hot young twenty-somethings in Tim Wynne-Jones's THE UNINVITED have problems. Serious problems. First there's Mimi Shapiro, a student at NYU who has to flee the big city after her freshman year and a soured love affair with a professor whose attentions have become increasingly threatening. Then there's Jackson Page, a jazz musician holed up in an idyllic country cottage in Canada who has been receiving ominous token - a dead bird, snakeskin on a pillow - from a covert intruder. Lastly, there's Cramer Lee, an impoverished computer technician working two jobs to support his failing artist mother. The paths of all three unexpectedly cross one summer when the secrets of their common family history suddenly come to light. While the novel is ostensibly a cabin-in-the-woods thriller, it excels mostly as a domestic drama, where the most pressing threat comes not from strangers lurking in the shadows, but from the characters' own families. Each of the young people in the story have been repeatedly manipulated, lied to, and taken advantage of by adult figures who should have had their best interests at heart. Wynne-Jones does admirable job of fleshing out the tentative relationships that Mimi, Jackson, and Cramer slowly build with each other over the course of the story: a playful conversation over a pitcher of margaritas and plate of nachos stands out as one of the novel's strongest scenes. Wynne-Jones also freely explores the sexual tensions at play within his story - a predilection which is perhaps natural for the characters, but also adds a rather voyeuristic level of creepiness to the overall narrative. Mimi in particular is subjected to all manner of lustful menace. Beyond intimidating phone calls from her former lover, Mimi is also forced to tolerate an oafish Peeping Tom haunting the woods outside of her bedroom, being filmed with her own video camera by the cottage intruder, and a half-brother who actively fantasizes about her before realizing the truth of their relationship. And though she faces these perils with bravado, the threatening atmosphere becomes increasingly oppressive for the reader as the novel approaches its final dramatic climax. Atmospheric and hormone-laden, THE UNINVITED is a fast-paced and generally pleasurable read for adults and teen readers alike, offering a healthy dose of melodrama alongside its thrills.
Reviewed by Larissa Kyzer, September 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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