The Visitors
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The island has always seemed such a safe place, such a friendly community. Now the possibility of a killer on Bancree is dangerously close to home.
Nobody moves to the remote Scottish island of Bancree, and few leave - but leaving is exactly what seventeen-year-old Flora intends to do. So when a mysterious man and his daughter move into isolated Dog Cottage, Flo is curious. What could have brought these strangers to the island? The man is seductively handsome but radiates menace; and there's something about his daughter Ailsa that Flo can't help but feel drawn towards.
People aren't only arriving on Bancree - they are disappearing too. Reports of missing islanders fill the press and unnerve the community. When a body washes ashore, suspicion turns to the strange newcomers on Dog Rock.
Convinced of their innocence, Flo is fiercely determined to protect her friend Ailsa. Could the answer to the disappearances, and to the pull of her own heart, lie out there, beyond the waves?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sylvester's first novel chronicles the bond forged between friendless 17-year-old Flora and odd newcomer Ailsa after the latter moves to a small Scottish town plagued by several recent disappearances. While pursuing a history-class assignment on the myths of Scotland, Flo comes across a gruesome book that portrays the mythical half-seal, half human selkies as vicious creatures. The book is so unsavory that it marked the end of a small press, Broch Books, which had survived on walking guides and island trivia for the tourists. As she learns more from a storytelling drifter named Izzy, whose tales corroborate the book's claims, Flo begins to suspect that something is amiss with Ailsa and her father, John. Though Ailsa reveals that John has moved them all over the country to track the missing people that he suspects were murdered, Flo begins to question his real motives. The narrative is mired by stock characters, such as one-dimensional mean girl Tina Robson and spoiled rich boy Lachlan Crane, the savage, reckless heir to the local brewery that keeps the town working. Things come to a head during a violent incident that leaves Flo at the center of a mystery. This story takes some intriguing swings and features a fresh setting and interesting local mythos, but Sylvester misses the mark when writing about teenage girls and doesn't fare much better with plot.
