Dismantled is a book about secrets, and how damaging they can be to people's lives. I was drawn into the world of the Compassionate Dismantler from the beginning, and as the secrets started to unravel, I was hooked. Who doesn't like secrets?

What really grabbed me first were the characters, they were really well written, and clear cut. The author was throrough in describing them, and giving them voices, making sure we understood who they were. Suz, by far left the strongest impression on my. In the beginning I was indifferent to her, but as the book progressed, I really started to dislike her. We learn about Suz through flashbacks, because at the start of the book she is already dead. Tess, and Henry's memories, and flashbacks of her make her seem larger than life, and later very manipulative. Another strong character was Emma, who is Tess, and Henry's daughter, she plays a big part in this book, and she helps move the story along.

The pacing of the book is great. The suspense just kept on building up as you turned each page. At times I found the book scary, it would give me chills. Danner, Emma's imaginary friend, is very creepy, but I wished she was explained more. Dismantlers will definitely keep you reading until late in the day. The ending is impressive, and creative.

Dismantled is a well written thriller with great memorable characters. If you are looking for a wonderful suspense/thriller book, I would suggest picking this one up. ( )

This is my favorite book of McMahon's! The story is wonderfully crafted so it stays grounded in reality, but as more strange things happen you can't help but wonder whether something is going on, and if you don't believe that it is paranormal then how do you explain it. A page turner from the beginning, I would recommend it highly! ( )

Does life imitate art or does art imitate life?

For the Compassionate Dismantlers, this is an absurd question as the two are one and the same. Suz, Tess, Henry and Winnie, all passionate art students, connect at a small college in Vermont, bonding over their mutual interests and talents. Dedicated to the messages behind their art more than the actual material itself, they begin a practical application of undoing the oppressions of institution and regulation. They consider themselves young radicals, “freeing” people from the clutches of society by dismantling property, social constraints and even their own artwork.

However innocently their actions were at the start (although it is debatable that their fearless leader, Suz, ever intended to be benign), compounded, their pranks begin to take a dark turn, fast. When an intended joke pushes the group too far, Suz goes out with a bang, leaving the remaining members guiltily disbanded.

Nine years after the disintegration of the Dismantlers, Tess and Henry have moved on but not far away. They live close to the school with their daughter, Emma, a sensitive introverted nine year old with a rather particularly creepy imaginary friend named Danner. While they are not miserable, they seem to have lost the passion they possessed as young artists, creators and destroyers. They are struggling to find themselves, the selves that went missing the night everything came completely apart.

When Winnie’s ex boyfriend and longtime subject of Dismantler pranks, ends his life, things begin unraveling quickly. Strange things being to happen, a majority of them involving Emma and Danner. Someone is determined to dredge up the secret buried within the summer, a decade ago and they are not going to go away quietly.

McMahon’s style is a conglomerate of voices, primarily Tess, Henry and Emma with side notes by the other members of the group including journal entries by Suz. The story works from the outside in, gathering speed as the characters’ story lines weave together into the tighter whole. There is a linear progression but the story also jumps back to photographs, journal entries, small asides and all too vivid memories. Each narrative is beautifully, if eerily, constructed to flesh out the desires, passions, fears and shortcomings of the player.

Dismantled is so much more than a murder mystery. It is a dark observation and dissection of human thought from the lightest feeling of summer diversion to intense paranoia of a life not truly lived. I fell in love with the idea of each person as an artist as it allowed for great discussion of what constitutes art and how this is not always the same answer for each person, nor for each piece of art.

This is an incredibly addictive book both for its creepy suspense element and the well cared for beauty that brings a deeper understanding to the story than the usual two-dimensional thriller. I highly recommend the book but you’ll want to finish it before bedtime and you may also want to find yourself far away from a lake. ( )

Reason for Reading: The write-up had me drooling to read this thriller .

Comments: Four artist friends from college formed a group called the "Compassionate Dismantlers" whose manifesto was "To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart". They spend their final summer after graduation together in a cabin in the woods to experience the ultimate summer of dismantling until things go too far and one of them, Suz, is killed and they cover up the murder. Ten years later signs from the past show up, the remaining members are contacted, haunted, reminded of the past and that fateful summer. A former victim of their pranks commits suicide and the remaining three "Dismantlers" are frightened. Their lives become fraught with eerie events. Does someone know what they did that summer and is now trying to reveal the secret? Did Suz survive? Has she come back for revenge? Or maybe she's found a way back to get revenge anyway ...

An awesome book. Nail-biting suspense all the way through with twist after twist. I thought I had this figured out early on and just when I was about to be proven right, whamo, another reveal and my jaw dropped, of course! what an amazing ending!

At first glance this may appear to be horror, based on the write-up but it's not. The book is not gruesome and while it does carry a paranormal element that element is small. I read this book in two days as I just couldn't put it down. This is certainly a plot-driven book and while that leaves the characters a little flat it didn't really matter, as so much is happening to them I really wasn't interested in any greater insight into their psyche. Fascinating plot, very tense and fast-paced but also well-paced with plot moving episodes that allow the reader breathing space before the action picks up once again. I really loved the ending. I found it very satisfying with complete closure and yet with just a hint of eeriness that makes you smile when you close the book.

If this is an example of what to expect from Ms. McMahon I'm quite anxious now to read her two previous books Island of Lost Girls and Promise Not to Tell. ( )