"Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad - or an economist" - Hesketh Lock

Hesketh Lock is an anthropologist who surprisingly works for a consulting company that specialises in determining dysfunctions in work place environments. He is skilled at determining group dynamics and patterns of behaviour, almost piecing together what went wrong in a forensic fashion. Hesketh is also skilled in languages and origami, perhaps explained by his being on spectrum with Asperger's syndrome, which has of course the effect of disassociating him from those around him.

With a rising tide of sabotage in the work place and Children suddenly for no apparent reason killing their adult relatives Hesketh starts making the connections. Society is hurtling toward the abyss as the tide of violence increases and Hesketh is forced to face the reality of what is happening that has no place in his logical fact driven world.

To a certain extent Jensen's novel is almost schizophrenic in its approach to the plot and overall story structure. Aspects of The Uninvited are raised, like a chilling sequence on top of a high rise construction in Dubai, but are then dropped as the book progresses. Jensen becomes so engrossed in the progress of Hesketh's rising understanding that The Uninvited loses all traction in the dark genre. The situation that our main focal character finds himself in simply screams out for a horror like nightmare but shies away from anything approaching the dark heart of the genre as if Jensen is unwilling to stoop to the perceived gutter that horror works in. So while the novel definitely contains dark overtones, it's more a seeping of ideas through the cracks than a central focus on scaring the knickers off Readers. I would love to see Jensen tackle an out and out ghost story, her prose would stand up to shocking people witless in my unwanted opinion.

With Hesketh Lock the Author has created one of the more complex yet memorable characters of modern fiction. The Asperger aspects of the characters nature ring true, anyone who has relatives or friends with the syndrome, will recognise the sensory overload, the mental gymnastics, and the almost brilliant fixation on a defined set of skills that far surpass the average person's ability in them. There is also the apparent lack of human empathy and the unfortunate habit of saying exactly what comes to mind, without any modulating by social customs. Having a focal character and telling the tale from their aspect alone is a difficult task without also having the character unable to interpret the situation in a fashion prescribed by society. Jensen has taken a risk with Hesketh Lock, but elevates The Uninvited by doing so. Perhaps the novel needed someone slightly more aloof than the average punter to convey the deteriorating situation in a successful fashion. For mine the character of Hesketh Lock was the best aspect of the novel, and I kind of hope we get a sequel as I wouldn't mind catching up with him again.

While the novel does have a lot of expose on the situation and theories going off in differing directions there are still plenty of action pieces to keep things entertaining. The various murders all happen off page for the most part but we do get the full details, so draw yourself a mental picture there. Jensen manages to effectively capturing the disintegration of society as things worsen but keeps it to glimpses on the global stage and observations from Hesketh's point of view. There's no in depth coverage of things breaking down more a feeling of things going from bad to worse as the problem spreads from isolated incidents to being the major problem facing civilisation. Just when you think things can't get much worse incidents of cannibalism and worse surface.

While you might be thinking zombie novel, The Uninvited while bearing some similarity to an "infected" yarn, doesn't operate in accordance with the sub-genre. You need to be thinking more Invasion of the Body Snatchers or perhaps a possession outing. Add in a problem to solve and a few other tropes from non-horror genres and you pretty much have the book encapsulated. It makes for an interesting blend that should appeal to horror and non-horror fans alike.

Liz Jensen writes in the proper British fashion ensuring everything hangs together in approved style while retaining a readability aesthetic that will see you finishing the book at a fairly crisp rate of speed. I'm not calling a page turner, there's plenty of time outs available between developments, but I was certainly interested in reading on to see where Jensen might take me by page final. I was happy enough with how the story evolved though the final chapter was a bit abrupt for mine, there needed perhaps to be more explanation of the metaphysics going down, Jensen could have spent slightly more time on this aspect.

I certainly enjoyed the novel but felt another hundred or so pages should have been added to the end to round things out in more detail. There's certainly a feeling of survival as the final paragraph looms into view, but there's no real conclusion. For those needing closure in their reading matter this might prove to be a deal breaker. Worth a read in my misguided opinion for those who like their dark matter more on the serious side of the equation, don't expect the standard dark genre novel however.

Downunder The Uninvited is being distributed by the good folks over at Hachette though I'm not seeing an official page for the book, maybe they don't do that for imprints or something. But you should be able to score the book in both speciality and mainstream bookstores for around the $27 mark.