Customer Reviews

The Night Strangers: A Novel

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4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Several other reviewers gave you plotline, so I will add my two cents tempting you into this psychological novel that terrifies. I usually avoid this genre like wasps at a picnic. I am so easily frightened which gets my PTSD going.(a prominent subject in this read) However, because I have read all books Bohjalian, I went to the edge and hung on, excitedly reading his latest effort. It was so brilliant that I ended up on the cliff, dangling my feet, shivering, shaking but also acknowledging I made it through and it was worth every ounce of fear!

This book involves the occult? Witches covens? Ghosts? Demonic possession? Crazed herbalists? Derangement of the mind? Read for your own conclusions of what is going on in Bethel, N.H. and why half the town is living in terror of greenhouses. "Are you a good gardener or a bad gardener?" *evil grin*

Research into multiple subjects had to be vast. In all of Bohjalian books he roots out the subject matters, demanding of his work plausibility and passion. The prose is simply spellbinding.

Here is the potion I would concoct to describe "The Night Strangers." Pinches of Stephen King's(The Shining) John Updike's (Witches of Eastwick) William Peter Benchy's(The Exorcist)Alfred Hitchcock's (Psycho) get stirred into Bohjalian's rich imagination, creating a recipe of terror no one else could create. It is Chris's savory dish if you enjoy blood in your stew.

I dare you to read it.

The Night Strangers begins with a bang and draws the reader into a story that cannot be denied. Unfortunately, everything that works in the first half of the book is abandoned to an inferior sub plot and finally ends in one of the most dissatisfying conclusions that I've ever read.

Chip Linton suffers extreme depression after failing to land his passenger plane on a lake. This failed attempt results in thirty-nine people dying. Bohjalian depicts an incredibly captivating and horrifying crash, and he won me over right then and there thanks to his mastery of both tension and pacing.

The Linton family moves to a new state and a new home in northern New Hampshire. A ghost story ensues, one that is smartly written and enticing. Is it the house that is haunted, or is it Chip himself? Will this haunting cost Chip his marriage, life, or perhaps even the lives of his twin daughters? I honestly couldn't wait to see what happened next. Bohjalian captured the tone of a family in distress; he delivered a suffering father; he made me care about the Lintons.

And then, sadly, Bohjalian deserted this family to focus upon a group of herbalist/witches that need the twin girls for their own nefarious intentions. The Night Strangers, at that point, became a boring, genre-driven work that failed to connect to the reader on any emotional level. The author gave far too much attention to these herbalists, their green houses, and he became too preoccupied with getting each and every herb just right. Frankly, I didn't find the herbalist the least bit interesting and their herbs were of absolutely no concern to me.

I wanted my story focusing upon the Lintons back, but Bohjalian refused. In fact, after striving so hard to make us relate to them, to see ourselves in them, to love them, he turned them into nothing more than tools to provide an insipid, heartless ending that proved to be extraordinarily inconsistent with previously established characterization.

The first half of The Night Strangers was an amazing, creepy, disturbing read that I couldn't put down. The last half of The Night Strangers was an utter contradiction of the first, and I've never felt more cheated and disappointed by an ending in all my years of reading.

~Scott William Foley, author of Andropia

I am a huge Chris Bohjalian fan and have read most of his books. As with any author with multiple works, I have enjoyed some more than others. I truly thing NIGHT STRANGERS is his weakest work to date.

There is a great set-up to this story. A plane has a bird strike right after take-off and the captain, Chip Linton, tries to make an emergency water landing, but unlike the "Miracle on the Hudson", thirty-nine people die. Based on this, Chip, who is traumatized and depressed, moves with his wife Emily and twin daughters Hallie and Garnet to a small northern New Hampshire town to begin a new life in an old Victorian house they have recently purchased. Chip finds an old door in the basement of his new home that is sealed with, coincidentally, thirty-nine bolts. Okay, this sounds like this is going to be great idea for a ghost story, right? Well, not so fast.

Enter the "Herbalists." Now, I'm sure it's difficult for authors to come up with unique and creative ideas for their stories, but this aspect of the book is what truly makes the story weak. These are the lamest "Bad Guys" I have ever read in any book, and how Emily seems to willingly turn her girls over to these people seems like an all too-convenient plot point. Emily is by far the weakest, dumbest character in the story.

All the female herbalists are named after some sort of herb or plant or flower (cute, huh?), and I'm curious as to why Bohjalian decided this couldn't also be true of the male herbalists. Are the women more "sinister" than the men are are? No, not really. The thirty-nine bolts equaling the number of people dying on Chip's flight never ends up being of any importance to the story. Also, there is one scene in this book that I found gratuitous and totally unnecessary Involving Emily and Reseda. I realize that this was supposed to make the reader understand that Reseda has the ability to read minds, but it was totally out of place and never ended up being relevant to the story in any way. It seemed like a cheap ploy to get a little sex in the book.

The best part of the story is Chip's interaction with the "ghosts." This is where the story shines and where I think Bohjalian should have concentrated more of his efforts. I also like how Bohjalian wrote Chip in the second person voice. That worked very well.

Without giving away the ending, I'll just say it was very unsatisfying for me and left some unanswered questions that genuinely do not make sense. This book was ultimately a real disappointment.

I downloaded the free Kindle sample of this book and, even though I thought the pace was a bit slow, I enjoyed the premise and writing enough to purchase the full book. Not only did the pace never really pick up but the characters I initially liked became ridiculous at best and completely implausible at worst. The worst case was Emily. Supposedly an attorney in a high end law firm in downtown Philadelphia but, once she and her family moved to New Hampshire, she becomes a mental and emotional basket case completely incapable of recognizing the fact that a group of creepy locals are trying to manipulate her and her family. The entire story is made up of a series of incidents where Emily the lawyer and her husband, a former airline pilot, are toyed with like a couple of puppets by the locals.

SPOILER ALERT

The absolute worst part of the story is the climatic ending that falls with an absolute thud as the evil, manipulative, murderous cult members get away with all their misdeeds and are actually befriended by Emily and her dolt of a husband, Chip.

Do NOT, under and circumstances, waste a single penny on this rubbish. It's a tedious, aggravating story with a maddeningly silly ending. I was actually angry that I wasted so much time reading it. Please learn from my mistake and stay away from this book.

The premise of the story -- a pilot and a plane crash that kills 39 people, then a move to a new house that has a mysterious door with 39 bolts -- sounds intriguing and I was so excited to read it. The idea of the pilot being haunted by the deaths of these passengers has so many elements it can explore and I couldn't wait to see how the "ghosts" manifested into the overall storyline. However, this part of the story seems to fall to the wayside as Bohjalian shifts to other characters and their fascination with twins and herbs. The only parts of the book I enjoyed were the parts about Chip, which were written in the second person voice. This style works for me, as Tom Robbins has done it masterfully, but others might be bothered by it.

The book could be compelling and create a grander storyline than it actually does, instead going for a campy climax. I was very disappointed, having read all of Bohjalian's books and always finding the endings satisfying. In this case, I was reading as fast as I could just to get it out of my hands.

Chris Bohjalian is a popular American novelist whose books have explored several genres. In his latest and thirteenth published work NIGHT STRANGERS he tries out a blend of psychological suspense and ghost/horror story with mixed results.

The protagonist of NIGHT STRANGERS is Chip a fortyish married man formerly employed as a commercial pilot. Chip's last flight became tragic when his plane ran into a flock of birds forcing him in to dramatic water landing that almost worked but because of some unforeseen circumstances ended badly and with the deaths of the majority of his passengers. In the aftermath of the accident Chip battles post traumatic stress syndrome as well as intense scrutiney of his actions. He, his attorney wife Emily and their ten year old twin daughters leave a comfortable home in an upscale Philadelphia suburb to start a new life in a three story Victorian home in Northern New Hampshire. Unfortunately Chip's problems increase after the move. Some of his deceased plane passengers have attached themselves to him and follow along to the new location while making increasingly dangerous demands on Chip. The newly purchased house has a sad history and the family keeps finding bizarre articles left around by the previous owners. And most of the townspeople that befriend the family seem to have an unhealthy obsession with gardening and everything concerning Chip's ten year old daughters.

NIGHT STRANGERS is decently written though I found it quite derivative of other horror stories most noticeably ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE SHINING. Bohjalian employs the second person voice for the portions of the novel told from Chip's mentally mixed up viewpoint and though I often find that type of narrative voice annoying it works in this case particularly in the disturbing ending. NIGHT STRANGERS will likely appeal to fans of spooky psychological suspense but is not particularly original or memorable.

In The Night Strangers , The Linton's, Chris and Emily along with their ten-year old twin daughter Hallie and Garnet are looking for a new home and a new start. The couple decides to move from West Chester, PA, after Chip, an airline pilot, crashes a 70 passenger plane over Lake Champlain in Vermont. A flock of geese flew into the engines, causing them to become inoperable. Some 39 passengers died in the crash and only 9 miraculously survived. Ever since that tragedy, Chris has been plagued by nightmares, flashbacks and depression. He is being treated by a therapist for PTSD. He strongly believes that a change of locale is just what he and his family need.

The family finds a 3-story Victorian home in a secluded area of Bethel, New Hampshire. The house has been vacant for a while, but it seems perfect for them, so they buy it. Only after they move in do they find several oddities about the new house. The major one being a basement door, believed to lead to an old coal cellar is bolted shut with 39 carriage bolts--the exact same number as passengers who lost their lived aboard Chris' plane. The former owners, who lived in the house for some 50 years, also had a set a twins (boys) however, one was said to have taken his own life when he was only 12 years-old, and the old woman who had lived there was said to be "a sociopathically skittish old woman". Greenhouses are everywhere in this town, and some of the townspeople are very odd, popping up when least expected.

What's behind the door with the 39 carriage bolts? Why do a few of the townspeople seem overly chummy and fascinated with the Linton's twin daughters? When strange things begin to happen, it becomes apparent, at least to the reader, that their new place in Bethel, New Hampshire is not quite the miracle new start that the family was hoping for.

My thoughts - I have been a huge fan of this author, and have read and loved most of the books he has written. This new novel is a bit of a departure from what he has written previously. I loved the writing, it's very descriptive and atmospheric, and it is told from multiple POV, which included even the family cat at one point, and even that worked well. What didn't sit well with me was the fact intelligent parents like the Linton's, Emily was a lawyer, and Chip, even if he was suffering from depression and PTSD, could act so clueless, allowing their young daughters so much freedom to spend time with such very new, and obviously oddball neighbors. I saw the ending coming, and I'm not really sure how I felt about it either.

I am still happy I read this book, but it wasn't a favorite. I think this book will appeal to readers who enjoy a bit of paranormal fiction or psychological thrillers.

First, let me say that I have read all of Chris Bohjalian's previous novels and some I have liked more than others. I should have known when someone compared this to The Double Bind (Vintage Contemporaries) that it would be one of those that I liked less.

This was a good story IF you like paranormal (ghosts) and books that tend toward the horror side of the spectrum. I don't tend to like that type of fiction, but I did want to give this novel a chance.

What I liked: the details about the pilot, Chip Linton, suffering PTSD in the aftermath of his plane crash and its relevance to current events and present day airline activity. Reading about Chip's attempts to come to terms with the tragedy was interesting to me. I also liked the details about the plants and tinctures which I assume that the author researched thoroughly.

What I did not like: the fact that the mother seemed clueless and naive, and I could never generate any empathy for her. The twins seemed like stereotypes and the "bad guys" were so obvious that I couldn't believe they weren't all run out of town! The foreboding and ominous feeling that I hope to get from the narrative when reading a thriller was lacking, and events were predictable. I also didn't care for the second person voice of Chip throughout the book.

Ultimately, I liked The Night Strangers: A Novel well enough, but it won't be one I'll urge others to read as I have with his past books. It might just be me -- I'm not a paranormal, supernatural, ghost and haunted house person. I don't care to read about covens and witchcraft, spells or potions used for harm. When I read the book was a "ghost story", I was just expecting something a little different.

If you want to check out other Bohjalian books, I urge you to consider the titles I liked better: Midwives (Oprah's Book Club), Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel, Trans-Sister Radio or even Secrets of Eden: A Novel.

THE NIGHT STRANGERS

Chip Linton is an airline pilot with a good flying record, great reputation, loving wife, Emily, and twin daughters. His life is pretty much perfect until the fateful day he has to crash land his jet into Lake Champlain. Life as Chip knows it is over.

Chip is dealing with survivors guilt, is in a deep depression, and hates himself for not being able to save more lives. He can't seem to get out of his funk even though he has been seeking professional help. Emily decides a change of scenery is necessary and moves the family into a large old Victorian home in the White Mountain area. The house is old and dilapidated; however, it holds a certain charm. The house also seems to hold Chip under its charms and spells; one of them being a door in the cellar that is bolted shut with carriage bolts -- 39 bolts to be precise. The same number of passengers who lost their lives on Chip's jet -- 39. Hmm ---

Chip and family try to take on their new lives with a gusto that is totally counterfeit. Emily doesn't care for the many new neighbors whom seem to attach themselves to the Lintons and show an unusual interest in the twins. The twins, Hallie and Garnet, can't seem to make friends in their new town, miss their old stomping grounds, and to make matters worse -- seem to be spending every free minute with the older ladies of the town. These ladies love to work in their green houses -- which are very popular, wow, most people have one -- and the girls find themselves with these ladies almost constantly. And the icing on the cake? Chip is being visited by the ghosts of three of his passengers who simply will not leave him alone.

Things are going downhill quickly for the Lintons. The ladies of town, most who love to garden, grow herbs, and who make up all sorts of potions and brews, will not give the Lintons any space and force themselves upon the family, especially the twins. Emily isn't happy in her new job, their cat is acting strange, and Chip is going from bad to worse depression-wise.

Bohjalian has weaved a good story, partly ghost and partly mystery/thriller. The description of the plane crash made this reader vow not to fly again anytime soon. Bohjalian's characters are alive and creepy, -- well, some of them are alive !! -- while your heart goes out to Chip for all the mental pain and suffering he endures.

Who are these women who love to grow herbs and plants? Why are they so seriously interested in Hallie and Garnet? Why are the 'normal' citizens afraid of the little group of 'garden ladies'? Why do the parents of other children ostracize Hallie and Garnet and refuse to let their children come to the Lintons to play? What is behind that door in the basement? Will Chip continue to be visited by the souls of those in the plane crash? Read this book and find out.

While, for me, this was not the best of Bohjalian -- I'll save the best category for MIDWIVES, SECRETS OF EDEN, THE BUFFALO SOLDIER -- this book is still one worth reading and enjoying. I still have SKELETONS AT THE FEAST AND THE DOUBLE BIND to enjoy and look forward to those.

Thank you.

Pam

This book is awful! It reads like Rosemary's Baby meets a bad 70's devil worship movie. Blessed be and let it be...