The Intruders

Written by Louise Jensen

Narrated by Helen Keeley

They were told to leave. They should have listened.

The perfect opportunity…

A manor house available rent-free to house-sitters is an offer too good to miss for Cass and James, who have been saving for a deposit on their own home for so long.

Although it had been abandoned for almost thirty years, after a home invasion left almost all the inhabitants dead, it is an amazing chance for them to build their future.

But is it worth the price?

Shortly after moving in things take a sinister turn. Objects disappear and turn up in odd places, the clock always stops at the same time, the house is strangely oppressive and sometimes it feels like Cass and James are not alone.

Newington House may have bad energy, and a dark reputation. But surely there’s no reason for history to repeat itself, is there?

‘A galloping pulse-pounder’Heat on Louise Jensen

‘You’ll be left open-mouthed’ Woman’s Weekly on Louise Jensen

Readers are CAPTIVATED by The Intruders!

‘Heart-stopping suspense and jaw-dropping twists make this thriller an absolute must-read. I couldn't put it down’ NetGalley reviewer,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Another fabulous read’ NetGalley reviewer,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Atmospheric, haunting and so unpredictable’ NetGalley reviewer,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Probably the best psychological thriller I've read from Louise Jensen!’ NetGalley reviewer,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Apr 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9780008508579

Reviews for The Intruders

[Melanie Beaulieu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I would have given this a five, the story is well written, keeps up a good pace and is creative. The only thing that was a little less enjoyable for me was one of the main characters’ antics made my eyes roll several times and I felt myself get annoyed with her . To be fair, the fact that I felt anything is a positive meaning the characters were sufficiently dimensional to stand out from the pages. Would recommend.

[theampersand · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked up a copy of "The Intruders" because I loved (loved!) "Only Forward", Michael Marshall Smith's sharp, inventive, unbelievably inventive first novel. I regret to inform that this one, while not a bad book, just isn't in the same league. Not that it's a bad novel: there's a lot to like here. The ideas that the author plays with aren't exactly new: I've seen them dealt with in other works of science fiction, and I haven't read all that much sci-fi. Even so, Marshall Smith's a genuinely good writer, and he draws out his plot expertly, feeding both his reader and his characters just enough information throughout the length of the book to keep the narrative taut and suspenseful. "The Intruders" also deals very well with the human aspect of these sci-fi ideas: the book's portrayal of the main character's slowly disintegrating marriage would be worthy of any "literary" novel you'd see reviewed in the New York Times. And, while I admittedly haven't read much crime fiction, the book's protagonist, Jack Whalen, a former police officer who's trying to make it as a writer, is a wonderful study in what you might call "cop logic." Jack himself isn't all that memorable, but the author makes sure that you understand the way that a police officer perceives the world, an element that that becomes integral to the novel's progress. But much of the fun of "Only Forward" lay in its wild setting, in which cordoned-off neighborhoods were defined by the their residents' extreme lifestyles. "The Intruders", on the other hand, is set in a pretty -- but drearily generic -- small town in the Pacific Northwest. It's just not the same, and so bland that it didn't exactly surprise me that this one had been made into a series: there's a lot about this book -- from creepy kids to secret societies -- that would probably play better on the small screen than on the page. The novel's language and tone contributes to a certain feeling of ordinariness, too. I missed the charming, obscure Britishisms of Smith's first novel: his American voice isn't bad: he doesn't make any obvious dialect-related slip-ups, which is a testament in to his skill as a writer. But the prose in "The Intruders" is flatter and less invigorating than what we saw in "Only Forward," and while this novel is well-constructed, enjoyable, and, in places, chilling, thought-provoking, and poignant, it's possible that I came to this one with expectations that were just impossibly high. Recommended, but with reservations. I'll read "Spares" next, but I have to concede that it's possible that lightning sometimes only strikes once.

[dorie.craig · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A well-written story with a bizarre premise that went on far too long. I gave up about 3/4 of the way through and jumped to the end.

[carol420 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a genuinely creepy book. It was written in the same style as Koontz and King. You will never, for sure figure out just who "the Intruders" are. It was the kind of story that you had to go back to be sure of what was what. That being said, it was a very entertaining read.

[planetmut · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Really wanted to like this book. It started out well but I just couldn't get into it.

[daftboy1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Sorry this book wasn't for me starts off well, I thought I was going to enjoy it. To be fair super natural stories aren't my thing. It took me about 300 pages to realize this wasn't my cup of tea but I wanted to finish it. Potentially a really good idea if you are into these types of stories. But not for me.

[ennui2342 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Everything Marshall writes is a pleasure to read, and this thriller doesn't disappoint. As usual his writing moves at a pace, with short chapters dense with fascinating characters and vivid locations which jump out of the page. As is his tendency, what seems simple at first develops into a backdrop of conspiracy with a tinge of fantasy/sci-fi underpinning it all.Highly recommended, I just wish he'd go back and apply his talent to some more pure sci-fi as Michael Marshall Smith.

[stephenaturton · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm really not all that into his thriller/airport fiction stuff, but I'll keep reading it in case it shows any of the aceness of his quirky scifi books from the 90s.I've started reading this one, it's better than The Straw Man books.

[tundranocaps · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Very good book, makes me happy to see Marshall back to form.Be advised, this book contains supernatural elements, if that sort of thing bothers you.

[mrhig · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Intruders is about people not acting as they usually would. About the actions we cannot explain, decisions we've made that we can't come to terms with - it's just not something we normally do.It's apt then, that Michael Marshall is really masquerading as somebody else. He used to be Michael Marshall Smith, began writing out-there sci-fi action, then decided to go the Iain Banks route, and write under two identities. Michael Marshall Smith would write the futuristic sci-fi; Michael Marshall would write the "real-world" thrillers.Except "The Intruders", Marshall's latest novel, isn't really a "real-world" thriller. It's pretending to be, but it's actually something else. The Smith part of Marshall's writing personality begins to creep in around the edges. And it's that, if anything, that saves the book.The story begins slowly - Jack Whalen is an ex-police detective, living with his marketing-executive wife in a little town in Oregon. Nowadays, he's a struggling writer, unsure of how to follow up the reasonable hit that was his first book. His writer's block finds an easy way to distract him from work, when a childhood friend shows up on his doorstep with a mystery for him to solve. It has a personal stake; the friend hints that Jack's wife, Amy, is somehow involved. Jack, irked and with growing frustration that he is not being told all the facts, begins to realise that his wife has been very distant of late. She's started smoking again, now wears bright-pink nail polish, and exhibits a number of other new habits, all of which are beginning to tell Jack that Amy is not the woman she once was.How right he is.Feeling guilty for doing so, Jack begins to investigate what Amy may or may not be telling him about her work, and a whole other life that she seems to be living in secret. Gradually, the job his childhood friend has for him and the mystery of his wife begin to merge into one confusing jumble of illicit photos, enigmatic text messages, a man on the run and others out for blood. And we find that Amy isn't the only one hiding secrets under the surface...Alternating chapters tell the tale of a confused young girl on the run, as well as the people she runs into along the way, and the disturbing impressions they get of her. The contents of these chapters are confusing. That, of course, is part of the mystery, and you do get the impression that all will be explained later on. Indeed it is, but being confused every other chapter begins to grate after awhile.Something makes me think that reading this book in one long session, possibly over a few nights, would work really well. When reading it over the course of a month, however, you begin to forget about things you have already been told. When names are brought up again later in the book, instead of thinking "Aha! I remember who that is!", you think "Who?", and find yourself flipping back to earlier in the book to work out just who that person is.Despite these downsides, from around halfway through the book, the strands of story begin to join together, and the central mystery begins to reveal more of itself, becoming vastly more intriguing as a result. The overall concept itself is fantastic - when it is eventually revealed, it makes perfect sense as a great idea, and you wonder why you hadn't considered it before. Marshall Smith's greatest asset in his science fiction has always been the overall concepts behind each book - each time, something banal and utterly ordinary is given a bizarre twist. He deals in mysteries that typically only children would wonder about, adults having come to accept as a rite of adulthood that some things defy explanation, and that we will never truly know how the world works."The Intruders", then, begins as a by-the-numbers thriller with a number of twists and turns, and is reasonably enthralling as the story unravels itself. Once you reach the halfway point, however, the story really picks up, takes a turn into the unexplained and the supernatural, and the reader will find themselves engrossed until the very end of the book. Whether one enjoys the story or not depends on whether they like their thrillers with straight-up "realism" or whether they are open to more fantastical story-elements. I, for one, am in the latter category.