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The Uninvited
Late on a snowy November afternoon, while driving from town to her family's farm in upper New York state, Barry Brennan has the accident. From the first it is a mystery: the young man whom she strikes and injured slightly is physically perfect, stripped of clothing and identification, without speech or memory, a seemingly "newborn" twenty-year-old man. He is also strangely like Barry's fiancé, Ned Kramer, who was tragically killed in an accident the year before. It's almost as if Barry's love and longing for Ned had actually willed the handsome stranger into being.
The accident victim's recovery begins only when Barry arouses him from an inexplicable coma. He suddenly "remembers" his name, Mark Draven, by scrambling the letters of Ned Kramer's name. He quickly binds Barry to him by a love deeper than any she has ever known. Obsessed by Draven, Barry is blind to the growing horror she's inflicting on those she loves most: her father, Tom Brennan, the famous painter whose priceless talent will be threatened; Dal, Barry's brother, whose love for Barry will move him inexorably toward destruction; and Alexandra Chatellaine, the elderly neighbor whose secret knowledge of the occult marks her as the only power possible to stop Mark Draven--the handsome stranger who becomes for the Brennans a terrifying and uninvited guest.
The accident victim's recovery begins only when Barry arouses him from an inexplicable coma. He suddenly "remembers" his name, Mark Draven, by scrambling the letters of Ned Kramer's name. He quickly binds Barry to him by a love deeper than any she has ever known. Obsessed by Draven, Barry is blind to the growing horror she's inflicting on those she loves most: her father, Tom Brennan, the famous painter whose priceless talent will be threatened; Dal, Barry's brother, whose love for Barry will move him inexorably toward destruction; and Alexandra Chatellaine, the elderly neighbor whose secret knowledge of the occult marks her as the only power possible to stop Mark Draven--the handsome stranger who becomes for the Brennans a terrifying and uninvited guest.
245 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
176 people want to read
About the author
John Farris
85 books164 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
American writer and screenwriter of both adaptations of his own books (e.g. 'The Fury'), of the works of others (such as Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man') and original scripts. In 1973 he wrote and directed the film 'Dear Dead Delilah'. He has had several plays produced off-Broadway, and also paints and writes poetry. At various times he has made his home in New York, Southern California and Puerto Rico; he currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. Early in his career he also wrote under the name Steve Brackeen.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
American writer and screenwriter of both adaptations of his own books (e.g. 'The Fury'), of the works of others (such as Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man') and original scripts. In 1973 he wrote and directed the film 'Dear Dead Delilah'. He has had several plays produced off-Broadway, and also paints and writes poetry. At various times he has made his home in New York, Southern California and Puerto Rico; he currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. Early in his career he also wrote under the name Steve Brackeen.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 14, 2010
John Farris' "The Uninvited" is a fantastic book. It is a psychological suspense which gradually introduces the reader to the characters and the setting but then explodes with horror and suspense within the last few chapters of the book.
Unlike many books that I read where the ending doesn't live up to the rest of the book, The Uninvited actually has an ending that redeems the rest of the book. While the book was fairly well written and quickly paced, I was not crazy about the plot. I experienced more frustration than enjoyment in the plot, which centered around a stranger who is able to insinuate himself into the lives of an innocent family, taking advantage of them and terrorizing them. While we know that there is something strange about the this man, it is not until the last few chapters of the book that we start to experience the true horror of the situation.
Unlike many books that I read where the ending doesn't live up to the rest of the book, The Uninvited actually has an ending that redeems the rest of the book. While the book was fairly well written and quickly paced, I was not crazy about the plot. I experienced more frustration than enjoyment in the plot, which centered around a stranger who is able to insinuate himself into the lives of an innocent family, taking advantage of them and terrorizing them. While we know that there is something strange about the this man, it is not until the last few chapters of the book that we start to experience the true horror of the situation.
August 13, 2017
Don't be fooled by the cover, it is not a romance book. It's horror and it's GREAT.
February 20, 2016
I don't understand why this book is titled The Uninvited because this guy was so invited. Despite being such a short novel it had a nice build up to a very suspenseful ending though some other parts felt somewhat forced in trying to get the point across but still a solid 3.5 stars.
June 7, 2014
Meh. Not badly written but it read like a YA novel in its simplicity. Don't get me wrong, i love YA stuff but this was touted as an intense psychological thriller.
With the right artist, i think this could be a great graphic novel. With the right director, a great movie. The concept and story are interesting enough but the prose and execution fall a bit flat for me.
Meh.
With the right artist, i think this could be a great graphic novel. With the right director, a great movie. The concept and story are interesting enough but the prose and execution fall a bit flat for me.
Meh.
May 14, 2019
I appreciated the Celtic otherworldly references as well as the traditions from Asia brought in by my favorite character. The book was definitely spooky, but it did start off slow, the final third of the book is by far why it earned three stars rather than two. I loved the ending, it really brought on the creep factor. It is a quick read and that was a good thing.
July 22, 2020
It’s always good to find a new author to shock & entertain me & from the cover blurb ("America’s premier novelist of terror" from no less than the esteemed Stephen King & "The evil in The Uninvited is utterly convincing" from Peter Straub) I thought I’d be in good hands. Mmmm….mixed opinions on this I’m afraid!
Now before I start this review may well end up containing *spoilers* so read on at your peril…
Firstly I’ll get my rather petty niggle out of the way as petty it might be but it did niggle at me! From the cover blurb this is talking about Barry knocking a man down in a snowdrift & discovering, quote: "The man was naked. Naked & horribly familiar. She was staring at the stripped, perfect body of her former fiancé Ned."….only he wasn’t was he?!! Well yes, he was naked but NOWHERE (& I’ve triple checked!) is there any mention of ANY resemblance to Ned. How misleading is that? And…to make matters worse, in her inelegant attempt to seduce this man, now known as Mark, she notes that a certain part of his body is "splendid, like carved faintly blushing ivory" compared to Ned as she’d never cared for the "appearance of his bulky brutish member" Now this can be explained by the fact that " she wished her old love back again but in more perfect form…" however it's still not the " perfect body of her former fiance" as blurb would lead you believe. Okay I know it doesn't really matter but inaccuracies like that bug me.
Actually come to think of it that takes me to another niggle…. which is that the title of "The Uninvited" does seem wholly inappropriate given that Mark was brought into being by Barry herself so I’d say he was definitely invited!
Gripes over & onto the storyline… well initially I enjoyed the setting of the scene, the descriptions of the area were quite evocative yet I was unconvinced of Barry as an eighteen- year- old & as the story progressed rather than warm to her, I found her rather irritating. After running down the stranger, Barry takes him under her wing & eventually he moves into her family home she shares with her artist father & brother. Although a "creation" of Barry’s he’s no Frankenstein’s monster, becoming articulate & growing in strength with a talent for art seemingly sapped from Barry’s father’s. As Mark’s ability to paint grows, Tom becomes a shell of his former self & while it’s obvious what is happening it never seems to be confirmed, much seems to be left for the reader to work out – or assume – for themselves.
There are references to Irish legends of fairy folks & from new acquaintance Alexandra come tales of Tulpas & magic rituals. For me, I would have liked the story to develop more into this paranormal side, as it was it seemed to be in limbo: not enough folklore & mysticism to be what I'd class as a supernatural tale but lacking in shocks & surprises to be a terrifying horror.
Of course, poking her nose into Mark’s business has sealed Alexandra’s fate but as the supposed villain of the piece I can’t say I found him particularly threatening – he’s no Pennywise or Hannibal Lecter that's for sure. Mrs Prye, on the other hand, had all the makings of a really creepy character shame she never had chance to really come into her own.
Finally, I’m not one for being content with a book’s ending but I did find this one rather satisfying with Barry thinking she was going to get things right this time (guess we’ll never know for sure as there’s no sequel!) However, there were some loose ends left dangling, the stranger in her mother’s car at the time of her death being one thing I’d have liked clarifying. I have my own thoughts on it but it seems to have been a throwaway comment that was never revisited.
All-in-all an entertaining enough read but not one that racked up enough tension to have me on the edge of the seat & certainly nowhere near scary enough to have me worried about turning the lights out ;o)
Now before I start this review may well end up containing *spoilers* so read on at your peril…
Firstly I’ll get my rather petty niggle out of the way as petty it might be but it did niggle at me! From the cover blurb this is talking about Barry knocking a man down in a snowdrift & discovering, quote: "The man was naked. Naked & horribly familiar. She was staring at the stripped, perfect body of her former fiancé Ned."….only he wasn’t was he?!! Well yes, he was naked but NOWHERE (& I’ve triple checked!) is there any mention of ANY resemblance to Ned. How misleading is that? And…to make matters worse, in her inelegant attempt to seduce this man, now known as Mark, she notes that a certain part of his body is "splendid, like carved faintly blushing ivory" compared to Ned as she’d never cared for the "appearance of his bulky brutish member" Now this can be explained by the fact that " she wished her old love back again but in more perfect form…" however it's still not the " perfect body of her former fiance" as blurb would lead you believe. Okay I know it doesn't really matter but inaccuracies like that bug me.
Actually come to think of it that takes me to another niggle…. which is that the title of "The Uninvited" does seem wholly inappropriate given that Mark was brought into being by Barry herself so I’d say he was definitely invited!
Gripes over & onto the storyline… well initially I enjoyed the setting of the scene, the descriptions of the area were quite evocative yet I was unconvinced of Barry as an eighteen- year- old & as the story progressed rather than warm to her, I found her rather irritating. After running down the stranger, Barry takes him under her wing & eventually he moves into her family home she shares with her artist father & brother. Although a "creation" of Barry’s he’s no Frankenstein’s monster, becoming articulate & growing in strength with a talent for art seemingly sapped from Barry’s father’s. As Mark’s ability to paint grows, Tom becomes a shell of his former self & while it’s obvious what is happening it never seems to be confirmed, much seems to be left for the reader to work out – or assume – for themselves.
There are references to Irish legends of fairy folks & from new acquaintance Alexandra come tales of Tulpas & magic rituals. For me, I would have liked the story to develop more into this paranormal side, as it was it seemed to be in limbo: not enough folklore & mysticism to be what I'd class as a supernatural tale but lacking in shocks & surprises to be a terrifying horror.
Of course, poking her nose into Mark’s business has sealed Alexandra’s fate but as the supposed villain of the piece I can’t say I found him particularly threatening – he’s no Pennywise or Hannibal Lecter that's for sure. Mrs Prye, on the other hand, had all the makings of a really creepy character shame she never had chance to really come into her own.
Finally, I’m not one for being content with a book’s ending but I did find this one rather satisfying with Barry thinking she was going to get things right this time (guess we’ll never know for sure as there’s no sequel!) However, there were some loose ends left dangling, the stranger in her mother’s car at the time of her death being one thing I’d have liked clarifying. I have my own thoughts on it but it seems to have been a throwaway comment that was never revisited.
All-in-all an entertaining enough read but not one that racked up enough tension to have me on the edge of the seat & certainly nowhere near scary enough to have me worried about turning the lights out ;o)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2017
Well done and with an ending most of this genre fail at.
September 29, 2025
Bullet point review
* slow start. Hard to get through the first half
* the ‘twist’ of who Draven is is given away in straightforward prose that signals to the readers but not the characters what is going on. This is a bad thing.
* no -genuine- explanation of where the Tulpa came from. This is a bad thing.
* plays out in a humdrum way. ‘Tulpa no wanna die!’ Well I guess not but we all know you’re on your way out buddy…
Avoid.
* slow start. Hard to get through the first half
* the ‘twist’ of who Draven is is given away in straightforward prose that signals to the readers but not the characters what is going on. This is a bad thing.
* no -genuine- explanation of where the Tulpa came from. This is a bad thing.
* plays out in a humdrum way. ‘Tulpa no wanna die!’ Well I guess not but we all know you’re on your way out buddy…
Avoid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2022
A few weeks later and I'm still thinking fondly enough of The Univited, so I guess that's a win. It's certainly... vintage feeling (?) in its commentary about the world at large (hello alcoholic anti-femanists), but it's also about art and family and feeling safe and how we react when we feel unsafe. It's a thumbs up.
June 24, 2021
Going in, I thought this was going to be another stupid devil book. The cover is misleading, for which I'm grateful. There is nothing of Satan or Hell or anything of the likes here. Barry is a young woman who hits a naked man on a snowy night with her car. He has no memory of who he was, and he doesn't remember how to speak. She helps nurse him back to health, but then strange things start to happen. Then again, one of the delights of this book is that strange things happened to Barry's family ever since she was a child. Weird supernatural things. Her houseguest is just another in a long string of this sort of thing, but she's about to find out that he might be the worst trial of them all.
I really enjoyed how things turned out in this book. Getting there seemed tedious a few times, but when the ending starts happening, it's like a brisk punch to the face. And then there's that last chapter . . .
I really enjoyed how things turned out in this book. Getting there seemed tedious a few times, but when the ending starts happening, it's like a brisk punch to the face. And then there's that last chapter . . .
December 21, 2015
A brisk enjoyable read that was mostly entertaining despite being very silly. I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I read it over a shorter period of time. I was busy with other things, so it got really drawn out and I only really finished it out of obligation. The prose was a little too flowery - though that seemed suitable considering the protagonist's family were artists. Not a bad book, but not at all memorable. The last 50 pages were a lot of fun though. I don't recommend this to anyone unless they stumble upon it at a 2nd hand store for a buck like I did. Also, the cover is pretty rad, so there's that.
July 25, 2016
John Farris isn't as common a name in the horror game as I would like. He wrote some pretty decent stuff back in the day, this book included. Sure, it doesn't pack the same punch compared to some of the work out there now, but it's still a fairly effective spooky read with a touch of Celtic mythos in there to keep things interesting. The reader stays unaware for a good portion of the book, which I like. By the end though Mr. Farris has everything wrapped up nice and neat and in a very creepy manner.
April 19, 2016
A good, short novel. I tend to like The Fury a lot more. Engaging characters, but the end tends to remind me of the horror films of the '80's in its predictability. Kind of a turn off there, but overall, a good read.
August 8, 2020
A “careful what you wish for” horror story that mixed in Irish folklore and even Lamaism for a truly unique ride.
How powerful is the human mind? The heart? What are we willing to give up to have what we believe we want?
How powerful is the human mind? The heart? What are we willing to give up to have what we believe we want?
July 15, 2020
This book had an interesting concept but it was so... incredibly... slow...
September 26, 2014
I did not actually finish this. I found the more I read, the less I cared to finish.
October 27, 2019
Started strong (lonely house in the winter, freak car accident), but as I read on the characters stopped feeling like real human beings. Didn't want to keep reading.
February 6, 2020
A bit of horror brain candy, and I savored every bite.
March 15, 2021
Solid enough 70s style book
October 3, 2022
I loved ir!
August 25, 2023
A quick creepy read that begs the question - when does creativity become a burden instead of a release?
October 18, 2023
The first half was pretty slow, but the second half more than makes up for it.
December 24, 2023
Lots of twists and turns. Some ideas seemed to be not entirely fleshed out but I liked the ending.
February 10, 2012
Stephen King recommends it so it was good enough for me.....
Great little story, a young girl whose boyfriend has recently died, dreams up the perfect male companion.
He appears to enter her life and terrorizes her family and friends.......
Great little story, a young girl whose boyfriend has recently died, dreams up the perfect male companion.
He appears to enter her life and terrorizes her family and friends.......
July 8, 2008
Strange book, old-school horror, I liked it okay.
October 16, 2011
Finished this book and found it very intriguing...unusuak too.
July 3, 2017
The narrator ruined it and the book doesnt make much sense.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews