Review: You Are Invited

Picture Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House set in the internet age of influencers and online tip jars. Set in the ruins of a nunnery in the mountains of Romania, You Are Invited does homage to the classic that came before it. A lonely young woman who was made insecure by a emotionally sadistic mother. Strangers who come together in an remote ruin where odd and unexplainable things happen. Is it mental illness or do evil spirits exist? All of this was found in The Haunting of Hill House.

Ms. Denzil, the author takes the bones of the classic and then makes them her own. Once Cath, the protagonist, arrives at the nunnery, a new fright happens on almost every page.  Wolves that may or may not be supernatural prowl the grounds. A dark shape that may or may not be benign stalks Cath. The other members of the party may be your friends or they may be lying and playing tricks. Cath was damaged by her mother but is trying to find a way out, different than the damaged young woman in Hill House that ended up staying the only way she knew how.

The taxi ride to the nunnery seemed a little long, but once she got there the story was a real page turner. I read the book all through the night and the sun was coming up when I finished it. I enjoyed it and hope to read more books by Ms. Denzil in the future.  Thanks to Netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.