Don't Breathe a Word - by Jennifer McMahon (Paperback)

About the Book

In this dark tale from a "New York Times"-bestselling author, one couple is caught in a seemingly supernatural web of fairies that links them to a young girl's disappearance 15 years earlier.

Book Synopsis

"Don't Breathe a Word is a haunting page-turner that kept me up, spine shivering and enthralled, way past my bedtime."
--Joshilyn Jackson, author of Never Have I Ever

On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn't fear the dark and doesn't have bad dreams--who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam's hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed--a promise that could destroy them all.

"Jennifer McMahon never flinches and never fails to surprise...as [she] weaves a young couple into a perverse fairyland where Rosemary's Baby could be at home."
--Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Murderer's Daughters

From the Back Cover

On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn't fear the dark and doesn't have bad dreams--who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam's hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed--a promise that could destroy them all.

Review Quotes

"A prank gone wrong drives this outstanding novel from bestseller McMahon (Island of Lost Girls)... By alternating the present-day lives of Henry, Tess and Emma with the origins of the Dismantlers, McMahon allows the inexorable sense of dread to build incrementally. Perhaps most memorable are not the young artists but Emma, a child whose intense imagination only adds fuel to the slow-burning fire." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"One of the brightest new stars of literary suspense." - Los Angeles Times (online)
"[McMahon's] smart mystery-thriller grabs you by the throat and won't let go....making this a page-turner you'll neglect sleep for." - People
"[A]n eerie and gripping tale of suspense. And Emma is a triumph of characterization: It's rare that I find an author who can so compellingly convey a child's point of view." - Boston Globe
"Haunting . . . McMahon expertly shifts between pivotal events in the past and present-day action, building tension to a resolution both poignant and shattering." - Publishers Weekly
"Jennifer McMahon never flinches and never fails to surprise as her stories twist down unexpected roads. Don't Breathe a Word balances love and horror as McMahon weaves a young couple into a perverse fairyland where Rosemary's Baby could be at home." - Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Murderer's Daughters
"[A] strange and unsettling shocker ... With the tale's outcome utterly unforeseeable even as it races along, "Don't Breathe a Word" leaves you breathless." - Wall Street Journal
"Jennifer McMahon's novels are like the perfect winter truffle: dark, rich, earthy, and an absolute, decadent pleasure. This time, McMahon led me down a twisted woodland path, lined by long buried secrets, with surprises around every bend. Don't Breathe a Word is a haunting page-turner that kept me up, spine shivering and enthralled, way past my bedtime." - Joshilyn Jackson, NYT bestselling author of Gods in Alabama and Backseat Saints
"Jennifer McMahon's novels are like the perfect winter truffle: dark, rich, earthy, and an absolute, decadent pleasure. Don't Breathe a Word is a haunting page-turner that kept me up, spine shivering and enthralled, way past my bedtime." - Joshilyn Jackson, NYT bestselling author of Gods in Alabama and Backseat Saints
"Beautifully written and spooky, Don't Breathe a Word wraps around you and pulls you into a dark world of fairies and family secrets." - Chevy Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of Still Missing