The Uninvited Guests, by Sadie Jones

I thought I knew what I was getting into with what appeared to be a cozy, gothic novel – however, the author employs a devious “switch and bait” to spoof the traditional genre.

The Uninvited Guests starts out as a typical English manor house mystery – complete with an isolated dilapidated English estate, an elegant dinner party, and a dark and stormy night.

The characters are, on the surface, typically English Gothic novel stereotypes with spoilt children, a disinterested mother, and a father worried about money to keep up their manor, and the usual upstairs/downstairs “tempest in a teapot” crises.

Suddenly, as the house is preparing for a dinner party they get word of a nearby train crash and the house is put into service to host the survivors until the storm passes.   One of the survivors is a strange and menacing man who has a connection with the mother and puts the rest of the family under his spell.

So far so good right?

The bewildered and confused passengers are cruelly locked into the drawing room where they become restless, mysteriously grow in number and become increasingly creepy.

There, I’ll stop – not to give away too much.

I must admit I enjoyed the first three-quarters of this novel – as it has good writing with a delightful setting, quirky characters, and unexpected plot twists. I especially enjoyed a scene involving the youngest daughter sketching a horse outline on her attic bedroom wall – again won’t reveal the full scene – laugh out loud, miraculous writing.

Up until the end, most was believable — albeit bizarre.

However, the ending left me shaking my head in horror and disbelief – as if Stephen King came in and high-jacked the last chapters. Read this book with that caution.