Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Don't Breathe a Word: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Don't Breathe a Word: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Don't Breathe a Word: A Novel
    Ebook438 pages6 hours

    Don't Breathe a Word: A Novel

    By Jennifer McMahon

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    “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

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 17, 2011
    ISBN9780062079459
    Author

    Jennifer McMahon

    Jennifer McMahon is the author of Dismantled, the New York Times bestseller Island of Lost Girls, and the breakout debut novel Promise Not to Tell. She lives in Vermont with her partner, Drea, and their daughter, Zella.

    Read more from Jennifer Mc Mahon

    Related to Don't Breathe a Word

    Related ebooks

    Crime Thriller For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Hide

      May 18, 2022

      RELEASED 24 MAY 256 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Kiersten White Publisher Del Rey “The book you need after Squid Game!” yells the hype for Kiersten White’s latest. Well, sort of. In fact this well-written horror novel feels closer to The C

      1 min read

    • Article

      Cat World

      Oct 2, 2020

      Cat World
      12 min read

    • Article

      Drawn to THE MOORS

      Feb 8, 2022

      Drawn to THE MOORS
      11 min read

    • Article

      Six Sonnets

      Jan 1, 2021

      Goldenrod, I could say, you know, everybody wants somethingfrom me, but, well, everybody wants something and nobody wantsnothing from me, goldenrod, towhead, beast. Goldenrod, you packthe meadows like gold-plated sardines. I have heart palpitationsbu

      3 min read

    • Article

      For a Good Time, Call

      Sep 30, 2020

      For a Good Time, Call
      15 min read

    • Article

      STEPPING Out

      Feb 26, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      10 min read

    • Article

      Manhattan, 2035

      Mar 26, 2021

      There were problems with being the daughter of a former it girl. First of all, the designation, which, as her mother grew older, warped slightly across the society pages, affecting her mood. Most people remembered her mother’s modelling stints, brush

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      All My Tomorrows

      May 10, 2022

      It was Misha’s first day minding the shop, and already she’d broken the fifth rule. Always lock the door immediately. When you had the most valuable merchandise in the universe, you had to take the utmost precautions. She hadn’t meant to disobey. It

      13 min read

    • Article

      HELLO It’s Halloween

      Sep 18, 2018

      HELLO It’s Halloween
      10 min read

    • Article

      Just Passing

      Aug 17, 2020

      Zoe cracks the curtain in the bay window and watches as he bounces from one foot to another in the cold. Tap, tap, tap, he goes at the letterbox. But she shouldn’t even let him in. He’s trouble. He throws his arms out and shouts through the glass: “S

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Way Things TURN OUT

      Jun 3, 2020

      The Way Things TURN OUT
      7 min read

    • Article

      STEPPING Out

      Mar 4, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      9 min read

    • Article

      Blackjack

      Jan 15, 2024

      Blackjack
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mount The Sky To

      Jan 1, 2019

      Mount The Sky To
      18 min read

    • Article

      The Other Side Of THE FENCE

      Mar 1, 2023

      The Other Side Of THE FENCE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      Too BAD

      Aug 30, 2022

      Too BAD
      6 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      from SCENES FROM LATIN POETRY

      May 1, 2024

      Qui tacet consentire videtur. Silence gives consent.Veritas odium parit. Truth creates hatred. You know how you can know some thingsbut forget you know until it’s time to remember.Mom met her third husband Billy whenshe was a teacher helping convicts

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Other Side Of THE FENCE

      Mar 1, 2023

      The Other Side Of THE FENCE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Like Ripe Fruit

      Nov 5, 2020

      Like Ripe Fruit
      7 min read

    • Article

      Bucksaw

      Jun 3, 2019

      From the back seat of the car, Benjamin read the gold-lettered sign at the edge of the rolling green lawn and said, “Why do they call it a correctional facility?” He’d meant only to think the question, rather than speak it, but lately, more and more,

      23 min read

    Reviews for Don't Breathe a Word

    3.5/5

    95 ratings59 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This was a rather strange little story that kept me hooked and not wanting to put the book down. Lisa and her cousin Evie think there are fairies in the woods in the deserted village called Reliance. Lisa's brother Sam isn't quite a believer. The story of the fairies has been handed down in their family for many years. Lisa wants to go to the land of the fairies and with the King of the Fairies. The book flips back and forth between 15 years ago to the summer of when 12-year-old Lisa disappears and the present with Sam, who is 25 and his girlfriend Phoebe who is 35. This story makes you wonder, is there really a land of fairies? Do the shadows you see out of the corner of your eye a fairies? But also, you know when a girl goes missing, it's not fairies, it's real life people. The story takes a twist and turn that is a little surprising at the end and the very end leaves you wondering...was it real or not?
    • 3/5
      When they were children, Sam's sister Lisa disappeared. She told everyone she was crossing over to the world of the fairies, and would meet the Fairy King. Everyone figured she was kidnapped, or worse. Fifteen years later, odd things begin happening to indicate Lisa was returning to her family. But the more Sam and his girlfriend Phoebe get involved in uncovering Lisa's whereabouts, the more bizarre the situation becomes. What really happened to Lisa, and do fairies really exist?

      I loved the way the narrative switched with each chapter, so that both the stories of Lisa's childhood and the present unfolded simultaneously. It was like watching two mysteries unfold into one giant reveal at the end. Only, at the end, you are still not sure what you believe.
    • 4/5
      This lightweight but suspenseful page-turner by Jennifer McMahon has two timelines, a main thread involving the supernatural, lots of plot twists and turns, and deeply layered, interlaced family secrets that make just about any nuttiness we're living with look tame.This is a reviewlet and not a full-fledged review, so I'll give it three words instead of my usual six: I enjoyed it.
    • 1/5
      This book held my attention somewhat. At least enough to finish it. I kept waiting for the story to clarify but t just continued to be convaluted. Not worth the paper it't written on.
    • 4/5
      I don't know exactly, but the book warns not to cross them. The fairies can grant wishes, bring good luck, but if you get on their bad side...." Page 219Phoebe received a phone call asking to inform Sam to look in the attic in the crawl space. When Phoebe delivered the message, Sam knew what he would find.....the book his missing sister of 15 years had left there before she disappeared.More strange happenings occurred after the phone call and after finding the book. When Sam and friends went on a camping trip....someone resembling Lisa appeared at their door singing a familiar song; then that same person broke into the cabin even though none of the doors or windows had been tampered with. The camping trip then turned into a true nightmare....the campers were being accused of holding someone hostage and of not actually occupying the cabin. To make matters worse, a note on their car had the same picture that was on one of their camping companion's legs.....it was of Teilo, The King of the Fairies. When Sam and Phoebe arrived home from the camping trip, their house had been ransacked, but nothing had been taken....were they looking for the book? About a week later, Teilo also ransacked their friend Evie's place.As Phoebe found things out about Lisa's disappearance in Reliance, a town that has nothing left but foundations, more strange facts surfaced about the disappearance and of Lisa and Evie's childhood friendship. She even found things out about Sam that she really didn't want to know. Another phone call came from a girl/woman that urged Sam to meet her in the woods at their usual childhood place in Reliance. Things got a lot more involved after this most recent phone call.The book went back and forth from present-day events to events that took place 15 years ago when Lisa disappeared. The book was intense and mostly about changelings, how fairies live, and the puzzle that needed to be solved....the puzzle was: Where had Lisa been for 15 years, and were there really fairies doing all this damage and mind control? Even though this isn't my genre of choice the book's premise did get you hooked as you continued reading. You will find out that fairies are not a very nice sort of people. The book was somewhat “creepy.” This is one of the last entries in a Book of Fairies…it will show you the eeriness of the book. “If you have read this book all the way to the end, you know the truth. We are here, walking among you. We are stronger, faster, smarter. We walk with silent footsteps. We can see into your dreams. And we lie. Always remember that we lie.” 4/5
    • 3/5
      I found the book to be okay. I enjoyed reading it, but it dragged on at times. The end of each chapter had a pang of excitement that made me want to continue, but the overall narrative didn't play out as believably to be satisfied. The twist-on-a-twist ending felt like the book was undoing everything it was setting up, than redoing it all over again. I think the story could have used a little more working to find a way to hit the points the author wanted to include, but without losing energy like it did.
    • 4/5
      This was one of several books I checked out from the library recently after seeing ads for it on Goodreads. I'm glad I did, as this was a perfect blend of mystery and fairy tale that kept my guessing even after I was finished with it. There was a startling twist every few pages and I never could figure out what was coming next. I plan on checking out the rest of the author's books and I'm really glad I discovered her.
    • 3/5
      I have read three other books from this author enjoyed her writing very much, that is not the case with this book. Like all the others it is told in alternating chapters between the past and present, the problem with this book was the story and the characters. Non of the characters seemed real or believable, with Phoebe being at times so dim you wondered if she was breathing. The whole story regarding "fairies" may have seemed like a good idea, but the book got bogged down with completely unneeded details, and when everything was finally revealed at the end, I felt cheated. It was almost concluded as an afterthought. This book definitely did not work for me, at all.
    • 1/5
      Taking out the word fairy would eliminate half the volume of this book. It got to where I could not concentrate on any of the genuinely creepy characters or immerse myself in the terrifying story, because every time they breathed they mentioned the fairies.
    • 4/5
      Excellent book! What starts as a whimsical fairy tale takes a dark turn. Characters are complex, flawed, and so interesting. Couldn't put it down.
    • 5/5
      Creepy!!!! Kept me on the edge of my seat the whole book.
    • 1/5
      Lots of tropes and twists. Not much else.
    • 2/5
      Don't Breathe a Word is the story of the disappearance of Lisa, a young girl who lives near the abandoned village of Reliance. When a mysterious note is discovered supposedly from Lisa, the mystery begins to be revealed.When I started reading this book, I was expecting a nice, light, fantasy novel. This is not what I got.This book started off really well. However, as the novel progressed, it got very strange. I was very frustrated at times. Some clues were obvious, yet the characters in the novel took FOREVER to figure them out. Despite this, I was unable to predict the ending. Occasionally, I had a hard time keeping the clues and facts straight, and there were jumps in logic that seemed unrealistic. Some of the events that occurred in the novel would be impossible in practice (ones that were supposed to be possible without supernatural help).Also, I was not happy with ending. The whole plot line was huge and deep and confusing. The end was a disappointment. Some awful things happened to Lisa, as well as the other characters in the book. It was hard to read at times.While I found this book riveting, the ending ruined the book for me. However, if you enjoy a good mystery, this book should definitely be on your "to-read" list.
    • 4/5
      Creepy but very good.
    • 3/5
      Missing children and fairies. This novel alternates between current time and the time that the little girl Lisa disappeared. Apparently, the fairies took her. Or she went with the fairies willingly. Or she was kidnapped. Whatever happened, she is gone, and modern-day Phoebe is in love with Lisa's now-grown brother, Sam, and is dragged into the mystery..This sounded like an exciting book, but it just dragged on too long. I thought I'd never stop reading about the dang fairies. The six-fingered glove, and multiple dysfunctional families. The tale was rather convoluted, and I occasionally had to stop and think about who did what to whom. The story got quite dark towards the end, but I really didn't care much about the characters and the suspense certainly didn't keep me reading until the wee hours of the morning.
    • 4/5
      This book was creepy, but a great read! I loved the ending and has me hoping there's a sequel.
    • 5/5
      Fifteen years ago, twelve-year-old Lisa disappeared after telling people that she was going off to live with the King of the Fairies. Twenty-year-old Phoebe found herself briefly fascinated with the case, little knowing that she would eventually begin dating the missing girl's brother. He doesn't talk about the incident much, and would really rather put the past behind him, but suddenly it's all being dragged up again, and new evidence may be coming to light. What really happened that day? Who knows the truth? And were there really fairies in the woods, or is what happened to Lisa an entirely mundane sort of horror? The story alternates modern-day chapters narrated by Phoebe as she attempts to understand, and to deal with the strange turns her own life has taken, with chapters narrated by Lisa in the days leading up to her disappearance, letting us see things as Lisa saw them, although how much she might or might not have understood about what was going on is another matter.I... I almost don't even know where to begin with this book. It's nuts, but in a good way, full of twists and turns and creepiness and darkness, and a never-ending parade of revealed layers of secrets, and moments of "Oh my god, what is even happening?," and I pretty much ate it up. Much as I want to, I can't talk about my reaction to the ending, because it would totally be a spoiler, but I will say that, while I'm sure not everyone would agree, I found it surprisingly effective.The novel certainly isn't flawless. McMahon doesn't have much of a gift for dialog, for one thing. But it was still the most engaging, disturbing, wild ride of a story I've read in quite a while.
    • 3/5
      Good read, but thought the ending was weak
    • 4/5
      Much better than I expected! A mix between a fantasy and a mystery.
    • 5/5
      a must read
    • 2/5
      There was always something a little bit odd about the small town of Harmony, Vermont. It’s proximity to Reliance, where all the residents, save one crying baby, disappeared in one day didn’t help its reputation. But it was home to Lisa, Sam and their cousin Eve. Lisa was always fascinated by fairies – what little girl isn’t? But her stories began to include a dark fairy king who wanted to take her to be his queen – then, one evening she walked into the woods behind her house and disappeared. Fifteen years later Lisa’s mysterious fairy book reappears and Sam begins getting telephone calls from someone claiming to be Lisa. Could it truly be Lisa or some cruel hoax?

      The story sounds intriguing doesn’t it? In many respects it was, and it managed to keep me enthralled for about 2/3 of the book. Then the story began taking so many different twists and turns (which I usually do not mind), but I could get past the feeling that Ms. McMahon had many plot ideas she wanted to explore and tried to fit them in to the last third of this book. I lost a little bit of interest and found myself skimming just to get it read. That didn’t do the book justice, so when I got the end I was a bit disappointed.
    • 4/5
      I don't know exactly, but the book warns not to cross them. The fairies can grant wishes, bring good luck, but if you get on their bad side...." Page 219Phoebe received a phone call asking to inform Sam to look in the attic in the crawl space. When Phoebe delivered the message, Sam knew what he would find.....the book his missing sister of 15 years had left there before she disappeared.More strange happenings occurred after the phone call and after finding the book. When Sam and friends went on a camping trip....someone resembling Lisa appeared at their door singing a familiar song; then that same person broke into the cabin even though none of the doors or windows had been tampered with. The camping trip then turned into a true nightmare....the campers were being accused of holding someone hostage and of not actually occupying the cabin. To make matters worse, a note on their car had the same picture that was on one of their camping companion's legs.....it was of Teilo, The King of the Fairies. When Sam and Phoebe arrived home from the camping trip, their house had been ransacked, but nothing had been taken....were they looking for the book? About a week later, Teilo also ransacked their friend Evie's place.As Phoebe found things out about Lisa's disappearance in Reliance, a town that has nothing left but foundations, more strange facts surfaced about the disappearance and of Lisa and Evie's childhood friendship. She even found things out about Sam that she really didn't want to know. Another phone call came from a girl/woman that urged Sam to meet her in the woods at their usual childhood place in Reliance. Things got a lot more involved after this most recent phone call.The book went back and forth from present-day events to events that took place 15 years ago when Lisa disappeared. The book was intense and mostly about changelings, how fairies live, and the puzzle that needed to be solved....the puzzle was: Where had Lisa been for 15 years, and were there really fairies doing all this damage and mind control? Even though this isn't my genre of choice the book's premise did get you hooked as you continued reading. You will find out that fairies are not a very nice sort of people. The book was somewhat “creepy.” This is one of the last entries in a Book of Fairies…it will show you the eeriness of the book. “If you have read this book all the way to the end, you know the truth. We are here, walking among you. We are stronger, faster, smarter. We walk with silent footsteps. We can see into your dreams. And we lie. Always remember that we lie.” 4/5
    • 3/5
      First, I need to say that I bought this as an e-book months ago and just got around to reading it now. So, instead of looking up the book and finding out what it was about, I just looked at the cover. I've done this before and sometimes it works out great and sometimes not so great.

      In this case, let's just say that I guessed completely wrong. On the cover, the book is described as a "haunting page-turner that kept me up, spine shivering..." So, I expected a scary or thrilling book. I think the problem I had with the book was the fairies. I didn't expect the book to include fairies. Andhere were times when I wasn't sure if the fairies were supposed to be real or not. I guess trying to figure that out was part of the suspense of the book. But I just didn't buy into it.

      The author did a great job of tying the characters together from the three different times: the time before Lisa was abducted, the time (15 years ago) when Phoebe first found out about the abduction and the present day when Phoebe is a grown woman living with her boyfriend. The twists and turns are interesting and kept me guessing until the end. But I can't say that I was ever on the edge of my seat. In the end, the author does wrap up all the loose ends nicely.

      Recommended to:
      If you are looking for a book about fairies or a book about mysterious happenings, you might want to give this book a try. But, if you are looking for a haunting page-turner, well there are better options. Perfect example of don't judge a book by it's cover. And proof that you can't always trust reviewers. ;)
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this one. Whimsical ,yet frightening. Kept me turning the pages.
    • 2/5
      SPOILER ALERTI'm not really a fan. The book keeps swinging back between now and 15 years ago, which I found confusing at the beginning and annoying later on. The characters are not really sympathetic. Lisa (the girl that goes missing) is a bit of a dreamer. Evie, her cousin, comes off as underhanded. Later on it seems that she means well, but then again, she could have just opened up to Sam or Lisa about her home situation, instead of betraying Lisa to the town kids. That might have had some effect. And I'm sure she had enough opportunity to set things right later on, but she didn't. Sam, Lisa's brother, is annoyingly rational and unbelieving as a child and annoyingly closed as an adult. The most sympathetic is Phoebe, Sam's girlfriend, even though she is not portrayed very positively in the beginning. But that's not enough to carry the story.Then there's the story itself. I think the main theme about the book (and I'm sure that's what is supposed to make the book interesting) is the BIG question: are there really faeries, or is everyone who thinks so nuts? It keeps going back and forth between the two options, in the end the story sort of chooses one of the two (and in my opinion it's not the best one even though I usually prefer it if magic wins out), but even then it's possible to argue the other way. Sure, you could call it artsy or clever or whatever, but I just found it annoying. On top of everything else, the faeries were no fun either. Overall, I suppose it was well thought out, but this was really not my thing.
    • 4/5
      Gaah. The evil that men do. For a minute though, I really thought she might say that faeries are real. Hard to put this one down.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It had the feel of a V.C. Andrews novel, who being one of my favorite authors, made it a nice surprise. Suspense was built nicely throughout the whole book. Some things I figured out rather quickly but some took to the end to give me the light bulb effect. The only thing holding it from a 5 star is I thought the ending was a little confusing and left me with a few unanswered questions. Will definitely read more from this author.
    • 5/5
      Don’t Breathe a WordI loved this book. It wasn’t anything like I expected. This isn’t a average fairy story. You are better off without any preconceived notions about this story, so I’ll be brief on its description. A 12 year old girl, Lisa, tells her brother that she has found a door into another world and is leaving to meet the King of the Fairies. She goes to Reliance, a mysterious abandoned town of the past within the woods behind her home, and disappears. Nobody seems to know what exactly happened to her.Years later, Phoebe becomes involved with Sam, Lisa’s brother, and questions Lisa’s disappearance, the fairies, and Reliance. Her quest for the truth leads to so many twists and turns I couldn’t begin to describe them all. The characters in this book are so real. I soon forgot there are no such things as fairies…or are there? The character descriptions and imagery are strong. An imaginative tale that kept me glued. A creepy and entertaining read.
    • 2/5
      What do I think? It's written well enough(but in a disjointed way, due to chapter by chapter changes in time frame) but, honestly, I wish I had never read it. It's creepy as heck and a really unpleasant story.
    • 4/5
      A small girl dreams of fairyland and the fairy king, then disappears. The mystery of her disappearance remains unsolved and grief and guilt color the life of her brother as he grows to adulthood. In the present day, his girlfriend struggles with her own dysfunctional childhood and her anxiety about an undisclosed pregnancy, but begins to realize that her boyfriend's family history may be even more horrific than her own. This story is a chiller, and suspenseful to the last few pages. Some of the plot twists stretch the reader's credibility and the children, as portrayed, seem unbelievably naive, but still, a good read.