The Night Strangers
A Novel
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A family discovers that their new home hides dark secrets in this “beautifully written [and] deliciously creepy” (The Boston Globe) ghost story from the author of The Flight Attendant.
“Boasts all the trappings of a classic Gothic horror story . . . That thump thump you hear as you read is only your heart leaping from your chest.”—The Washington Post
In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has long been sealed shut with thirty-nine 6-inch-long carriage bolts.
The home’s new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters. Together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot, has to ditch his regional jet in Lake Champlain after double engine failure. The body count? Thirty-nine—a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the bolts in his basement door. Haunted by the accident, he and his family struggle to start again—unaware that sometimes the past will find you.
With The Night Strangers, Chris Bohjalian delivers a poignant and powerful story with all the hallmarks readers have come to expect: a palpable sense of place, an unerring sense of the demons that drive us, and characters we care about deeply.
The difference this time? Some of those characters are dead.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Bohjalian's latest novel (after Secrets of Eden) is a gripping paranormal thriller set in a remote New England town. Airline pilot Chip Linton is beset by survivor's guilt after crashing his plane upon takeoff, killing all but nine aboard. His family moves to Bethel, N.H., to escape the media glare while Chip recovers from PTSD, but they soon discover that the sleepy village harbors evil things. Their new home, once the site of a young boy's suicide, contains mysterious passageways, hidden weapons, and a secret crypt. And their neighbors, New Age gardeners and homeopaths, soon reveal themselves to be occultists with designs on the Lintons' twins. Chip begins receiving visits from his dead passengers, including an eight-year-old and her bloodthirsty father, who demands Chip find her a friend at any cost. Meticulous research and keen attention to detail give depth and character to Bohjalian's eerie world, but the spookiness consistently gives way to silliness, and the Lintons' typical response to the strange goings on, an uneasy mix of suspicion and credulity, is a problem. Still, Bohjalian is a master,, and the slow-mounting dread makes this a frightful ride.
