Book Review: The Uninvited by Tim Wynne Jones |

Mimi has come to Canada to get away from a creepy professor who has abused her trust. Her father owns a cottage over a snye (a narrow channel) which he hasn't visited in years. He tells her she can have all to herself for as long as she needs. However, no sooner does she arrive, than more creepiness ensues. For starters, there is a guy living in the cottage already who seems to feel he has every right to be there. His name is Jay and he is an aspiring musician.

Jay believes Mimi is the one who has been breaking into the cottage and leaving animal corpses on the table to frighten him. Someone has also been fooling around with his recordings leaving strange sounds on the unused tracks of his most recent recordings. The only problem is that Mimi was still in New York City when this started. Jay doesn't believe her, but the day they met was her first day in Canada, let alone at the cottage. Eventually Mimi finds out a little more than she was prepared to about Jay, but accepts that he too has a legitimate connection to the place.

Mimi soon has her own encounters with the mysterious intruder. Having left a car door unlocked, she returns to find someone has rifled through her belongings and stolen from her. Later, she finds her computer has stopped working. Taking it in for repairs, she meets a good looking guy her age named Cramer who has some interesting theories about her computer problems. Mimi find him alluring but hasn't had much luck with prospective men. One has turned out to be a stalker, another already has a girlfriend and is decidedly off limits. Besides, for every guy who attracts her there's at least two others who repel her, like the latest one, an old lecher named Stooley who seems to have taken an unhealthy interest in her.

Cramer has his own problems with Stooley too, but then Cramer has a lot of problems that he'd rather not tell Mimi about. His mother's boyfriend Waylin is an abusive dolt, and come to think of it, his mother is also a piece of work. It would be nice to talk to someone, and it's also proving hard to get Mimi out of his mind. But before he ever gets the chance to do either, events soon take their own violent course.

The Uninvited is a suspenseful thriller with strong, empathic yet troubled characters.