The Winter People

November 25, 2013
In this scary thriller, McMahon (The One I Left Behind) explores how far people will go to save the ones they love, and what results when they go too far. In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea, a resident of West Hall, Vt., becomes convinced she can bring her murdered daughter back to life. In the present day, 19-year-old Ruthie Washburne’s mother vanishes from their farm without a trace, forcing Ruthie to research West Hall’s dark history of disappearances, animal sacrifice, and inexplicable phenomena. Ruthie’s chilling discovery that Sara was found murdered with her skin removed a few months after her daughter’s burial raises the stakes. Almost every character is imbued with a great deal of psychological depth, which makes the stereotypical portrayal of Auntie, a Native American sorceress, all the more disappointing. McMahon is more successful when she deftly switches between past and present, using the changes in perspective to increase the tension. Author tour. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House.

June 29, 2015
Bestseller McMahon (The Winter People) combines suspense with fantasy in this convoluted tale. Amy Slater apparently murders her husband and son before killing herself at the Tower Motel in London, Vt., where she grew up. An old photograph with a cryptic note is the sole clue to the crime. Only Amy’s childhood friends, sisters Margot and Piper, understand the note’s reference to a secret that shattered their friendship with her years earlier. Refusing to believe Amy capable of murder, Margot and Piper delve into the motel’s past and the troubled Slater history—which includes Amy’s aunt’s unsolved disappearance. The story moves, not always seamlessly, from the present to 1989, when the girls discover a skeleton in a hidden room, and to the 1950s, when Amy’s mother and aunt were growing up. Teenage Amy is vivid and engaging, but other characters are not as well drawn. McMahon effectively creates an atmosphere of horror, and readers willing to entertain magic realism in their mysteries may find the Slaters’ secrets compelling. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House

March 15, 2015

Twenty years ago, the now glaringly empty Tower Motel in rural Vermont was a terrific playground for Amy, Piper, and Piper's kid sister, Margot. Then they discovered the motel's terrible secret. Now, Margot phones Piper with a shocker: Amy has been accused of a horrific crime. McMahon's recent The Winter People was a New York Times best seller. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

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