ALA Booklist

After a stormy affair with a professor, NYU student Mimi Shapiro heads to a remote Canadian farmhouse owned by her father, Marc, a famous painter. On arrival in the idyllic riverside setting, though, she finds Jay, a 22-year-old musician, already ensconced in the house. Jay, she discovers, is her half-brother, and he welcomes her into his comfortable life with his mother and her lesbian partner. Readers learn long before the newfound siblings, however, that Marc fathered another child: Cramer, a twentysomething loner who supports his mentally unstable mother. Is he the sole intruder who stalks and then breaks into the river house? The distance between what readers and characters know creates the story's central coil of tension, and Wynne-Jones adds extra measures of creepiness in teen-movie scenes of vulnerable Mimi, alone and threatened in the house, and in the flashes of sexual attraction that the half-siblings share. The mystery's violent conclusion will shock many, but it's Wynne-Jones' atmospheric prose and sophisticated exploration of elemental coming-of-age themes that will involve readers most.

Horn Book

After an affair with a professor, Mimi flees to her father's cottage in the Canadian wilderness. She finds it already inhabited by a young man, and the two soon discover they're half-siblings. A disturbing problem remains: somebody is watching the house and breaking in. Wynne-Jones has consistently raised the bar for literary thrillers, and this may be his best one yet.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Merging a contemporary setting with a believable speculative premise, Jordan (the Firelight series) introduces Davy Hamilton, who appears to have it all-a gorgeous boyfriend, a future at Julliard-until she is diagnosed with "Homicidal Tendency Syndrome," a genetic predisposition toward violence. She is "uninvited" from her private high school, assigned an unsympathetic caseworker, and forced to attend school in a "Cage" with other HTS kids. Among them are the sweet, smart Gil, and Sean, a lifetime "carrier" who's more protective than violent. Jordan skillfully hints at a rapidly disintegrating, near-future America, using chilling chapter interstitials-texts, fragments of interviews, lists-that illustrate a society prepared to sacrifice civil rights for an illusion of safety. Are those diagnosed with the HTS gene really destined to kill, or is their behavior the outcome of being treated like criminals? The first half is slow, as Davy feels the impact that the HTS label has on her privileged life, but the action becomes more immediate when Davy, Sean, and Gil are recruited for an elite government school designed to exploit their violent instincts. Ages 13-up. Agent: Maura Kye-Casella, Don Congdon Associates. (Feb.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Mimi Shapiro, film studies major at NYU, leaves her predatory professor lover and escapes to a remote Canadian cottage that belongs to her father, Marc Soto, a prominent artist who walked out on Mimi and her mom years before. She finds the cottage occupied by Jay Page, a music student who is also Marcs progeny by a local woman. Despite knowing nothing of one another, the half-siblings forge a quick bond and investigate a series of odd occurrences at the cottage. They discover a hidey-hole under a trapdoor in the floor with an escape tunnel, raising alarm that escalates after a break-in. The story unfolds in alternating viewpoints between Mimi and local loner Cramer Lee, yet another secret Marc Soto offspring, who lives nearby with his mentally unstable artist mother. Cramer supports her by working two jobs and spends his spare time working out with weights and spying on Jay and Mimi. Despite the thriller premise, the tension tends to be tepid, bogged down by overly picturesque descriptions of surroundings, clothing, and cuisine. Cramers character is well developed and sympathetic in his pathological shyness and twisted maternal relationship. City girl Mimi enthusiastically takes on rural life and travel by kayak, growing past self-absorption, but Wynne-Jones devotes more space to her possessions than her qualities. Jay remains peculiarly flat for a passionate musician. The complications and improbability of suddenly becoming family thrust upon the three are largely untapped. Joyce Adams Burner, National Archives at Kansas City, MO

Voice of Youth Advocates

Uninvited is a wonderfully fast-paced, gripping novel that hooks the reader from the very beginning. Davy Hamilton, a talented senior at a promising prep school, finds herself "uninvited" from her school when she tests positive for HTS, otherwise known as the "kill gene." Her life turns upside down based on the test results. One day she is loved and adored by her friends and boyfriend, and the next she is feared and shunned. The real action begins when Davy is sent to another school and meets other carriers, one of whom is Sean, who has been marked with the "H" tattoo, proving his violent nature. Together, they find romance, adventure, and danger as they try to survive as marked individuals.Jordan's Davy is a believable character. She is a regular teenage girl who gets thrown into a very scary situation. She does not have unique powers or traits to get her through it; instead she shows the characteristics of any young woman, making her easily relatable. This novel lends itself to some interesting discussion topics including nature versus nurture, fear and group mentality, as well as government involvement in social issues. Uninvited is a quick read filled with romance, action, and danger that will appeal to both boys and girls. This is a page-turner. Lona Trulove.