The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has long been sealed shut with 39 six-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 70-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain due to double engine failure. The body count? Thirty-nine.   

Review:
Let me start by saying that I'm a fan of Chris Bohjalian's writing style, his gift for creating a scene, his commitment to relevant research, and his ability to create truly human, truly flawed characters that readers can care deeply about. I've read and loved many of his books. Unfortunately The Night Strangers isn't one of those. I had multiple issues with this book. First, I understand that the Chip Linton is suffering from PTSD and is likely forever scarred by the tragic accident that caused his plane to crash and many people to die - but I didn't need to read about it again and again and again and again in order to understand that fact. The crash memories/flashbacks quickly became tired, repetitive, and uninteresting. Second, the novel's key characters were both unlikeable and unbelievable. I cannot believe that anyone, no matter the depths of despair and misery they are experiencing, could have failed so completely to see the sinister intentions of their wacko neighbors in time to act. These 'friendly' neighbors insisted on renaming Emily and her children despite their protests, forcibly kept the children apart from their mother, and made MANY not-very-subtle references to questionable past acts. Emily was flat-out warned by multiple people she met, yet somehow determined that all of her own instincts and all of those warnings were false? No. And finally, the ending was SO disappointing. The story, which had meandered along with no urgency and little plot, suddenly came to a maddening, perfectly pat conclusion that simply left me feeling even more anger toward the characters and the book. I was hoping for a good ghost story, maybe with a bit of family drama tossed in, but this book did not deliver. 2 stars.