The Invasion Paperback – May 15, 2016

I wouldn't have thought the home invasion genre could be successfully translated from film to the written word but I stand corrected. There is no shortage of character development with McBean's THE INVASION, which is what makes this novel shine. When these characters are put in peril--and trust me, there's no shortage in that department--we care deeply because they're handled with such attention to detail. Highly recommended.

Brett McBean's latest novel, THE INVASION, was ruined, in my opinion, by way too many flashbacks, background info dumps, segues, asides, and past incidents that only served to stall the book's forward momentum, at times, to a crawl. The story should have been more lean and concise, more straightforward and plot-driven, and would have worked better at say...novella-length. As it was, it was simply, and relentlessly, depressing, with the climax involving Debra and Taryn being dragged out for an interminable length of time. It was agonizing. And I won't even touch on the surprisingly fair amount of grammatical errors! Suffice it to say that this tale of home invasion and torture had absolutely no redeeming value: it was merely a gory, depressing tale of pure, unadulterated evil. NOT recommended!

Here is a novel that will hurt you.I cared so much for Debra, Paul, Taryn and the rest that when the violence began--and there are no punches pulled here--there were times I wanted to put my Kindle down. Jack Ketchum's name gets thrown around a lot, but there's enough elegance and passion here that the comparison--especially to OFF SEASON--is well and truly earned. There are shades of King and Joe Hill to be found, too, but McBean isn't an imitator, he's taken his influences and used them to enhance his own unique style.Highly recommend this one.

I tried, I tried to like this book because it had been recommended. To me, the plot was improbable, the tension flimsy, the characters and situations unlikable. Maybe it's just me. Give it a try. I'm not always right.

A wonderfully bleak home invasion thriller written at a white-knuckle pace that doesn't let up. Good luck breathing during this one -- a lot of sadistic, horrific fun, and by fun I mean all-out dark, dark horror. Enjoy!

Gratuitous blood-letting. Sure, I was aware it was about a home invasion, but the torture and violence was too much and seemingly without purpose. If the blood and guts really furthered the plot I could have hung in but it became, not just disgusting but boring. Compared to say, Ian McEwan's book "Saturday" which is literature, "The Invasion" is gore-porn.

Brett McBean is a seriously sick man. His new book, The Invasion, is a frighteningly real home invasion story that I was frightened to read alone. A must buy for anyone who loves a good scare!

A copy of The Invasion by Brett McBean was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publishers, Sinister Grin Press via Hook of a Book Publicity in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.The very excellent relationship between Confessions, Sinister Grin and Hook of a Book continues with Brett McBean’s latest novel being offered up for review. Another person that I have to admit to never reading before.I have seen the name and heard the name before but just never got around to him. This one was not what I was expecting at all.This is what I thought.Debra is a writer. She lives alone now, after splitting with her husband Ray. She has friends and family over for a Xmas meal. This is a very mixed bunch so the night doesn’t exactly go to plan.Once the party is over and she is the last one awake, she notices a strange noise. It’s almost like someone has entered the house.It’s much worse than that. There are unknown people inside her house. She has no idea what they want or what to do. One thing she needs to try and do though is to survive The Invasion.After the party has finished and most people go home, we are left with very few characters. Debra is the owner of the house. She writes romantic crime books for a living. Once successful, things seem to be on the slide a bit. Her brother Paul is also staying along with his partner Adam. Very much in love but very much out of their comfort zones, they just can’t wait to get home. Taryn is Debra’s niece. Struggling to come to terms with her mother’s illness, she is one messed up kid. Carl is Debra’s agent. He wasn’t meant to stay but he is passed out drunk on the sofa.There are a mix of characters that come into the story once the invasion begins. They would all be classed as being on the evil side of the fence. None of them particularly nice but to describe them anymore would give stuff away.The plot is one that, to be honest, didn’t excite me that much. People get into the house. You have no idea of their motives for breaking in or what their true purpose is but that was about the only thing that really surprised me that much.This is a very hard type of story to write I suppose. The whole story is centred around the house. No one can get out once the invasion starts so it all feels very cramped to me. The group who have taken Debra and the rest hostage seem to be a nasty bunch to begin with but there was no real ferocity from them.Certainly, later in the story when some deaths occur, there is some fantastically written, bloody horror which will have you reading with one eye closed and also have you wincing at the level of brutality and viciousness involved.It just didn’t seem to go anywhere exciting for me. There is only so much tension you can get into the story when the same group of people are being held hostage if you like and another group are just continually trying to scare them.This reminded me a bit of The Purge. Once inside the house there is no getting out and there doesn’t seem to be any hope for the hostages other than moving from room to room and trying to hide.I hate being negative about a book like this but this one just left me feeling flat. I wanted more horror and tension and scenes that made me hold my breath for fear of being found.To summarize: a group held hostage in a house by a bunch of crazies. That’s about all I can say really. I know this one didn’t do it for me but if the general plot is something that interests you, then this could be one for you.General rating:★★★ I was disappointed.Horror rating:★★★ and again.

Brett McBean's The Invasion is a horrible, nasty, and twisted novel, and I mean that in the most very positive of ways. It had me squirming and gasping pretty much all the way through.The story is of a group of family and friends after a pre-Christmas meal in a large secluded house. Their night is turned into utter carnage by a group of intruders hell bent on killing them all and watching them suffer, whilst filming it all, obviously. The group is led by the mysterious Mr Fear, who enjoys nothing more than witnessing the absolute terror of someone about to die as they accept their fate.I'd read a couple of reviews of this before diving in, and one of them had complained of a lot of info-dumping going on. Now yeah, that's kind of true, and after the initial intro where the events that are about to unfold are reflected upon, the book does seem to be simply setting up the characters' backstories. But the thing is, it's well written enough for this to not be a problem. You just know things are going to take a more brutal turn, and then suddenly they do.Once the intruders enter and tie up the luckless protagonists, the true nature of their pretty sick and morally-deranged minds begins to take hold. Throughout the stomach-churning gore and horrific moments we are drip-fed more backstory points, but this only serves to make the brutal bits more brutal!The novel is very claustrophobic, every scene is in the house or the courtyard outside. You, like the characters fighting for their lives, feel that there is no escape from this place. It has very much got the vibe of the film Funny Games, another plus!There are a few spoiler-esque points coming up, minute details that prevent me from giving this book the full rating available.Firstly, the house seems almost self-aware, judging by the prologue and epilogue (although not named as these). I just wondered whether the house may have been more of a 'character' throughout the whole book, possibly interfering in how everything eventually plays out. Or maybe it does?Then there's the mention of the ghost that Paul witnessed there a few years ago. I thought that there would be more about this, perhaps it would help the victims escape, or possibly aid the intruders? Although, the lack of any more ghost mentions did nothing detrimental to the novel.And finally, I would have loved a bit more insight into Mr Fear. OK, you could argue that the stuff you don't know about makes the character a lot more sinister and frightening. Maybe he will make another appearance in another of McBean's books in the future? Now that would be cool.But on the whole, a great read. Feeling uncomfortable while reading is what I crave, and not just because my sofa's lumpy! Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this book; the characters and the situation were so well written that I felt like I was living it - which was terrifying! Brett's one of my favourite writers, and this book has reminded me how good he is. I loved the way each chapter was written from a certain room in the house, and how the chapters flowed into each other.I recommend this highly for anyone who loves a good, realistic, gory horror which gives plenty of shocks along the way. I made the mistake of reading it when my husband was working nights so obviously had a sleepless night afterwards!Just brilliant!

Had high expectations for this book as sample seems really good but to be honest starts great but goes nowhere really,mostly blood and gore , rubbish ending and very repetitive,plus the names of the intruders were ridiculous,and it irritated me to keep reading the stupid names,very unrealistic story.. disappointed