Overall, I enjoyed Albom's idea but I think it could have been approached in a better manner. I thought the most enjoyable part of this book was how Albom played with formatting: very short chapters and switching between 3 major perspectives (there are a handful of minor perspectives thrown in). However, I did not grow attached to any of the characters - major or minor. There really wasn't enough character development, although I could see where Albom was trying to go with each, to make any of the main characters likable. It seemed like Albom was trying to play off a lot of common stereotypes in order to teach his lesson (spoiler: be present in the moment and be grateful for the time you have/enjoy every moment), but this resulted in a multitude of incredibly shallow characters. I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if Albom had chosen likable - or at least redeemable - characters and spent longer developing their stories.

For starters, this is not a genre that I normally pick up or enjoy. This was my first introduction to McMahon (after a recommendation by a friend), and I found myself pleasantly surprised with this book. Overall, I found this to be a quick read that kept me flipping pages and wanting to read more. While not overly terrifying or creepy, I thought McMahon did an excellent job of building and maintaining suspense, and I thought The Winter People was very well written.

However, like many others who have already left reviews, I was disappointed with the conclusion to this book. Unfortunately, McMahon left a lot of questions unanswered despite having a 'big reveal' at the end, and there were scenes where I felt characters did not act according to their nature (such as Ruthie, Candice, and Auntie). Some of the questions I had I feel should have been answered and would not be fit to add into a sequel (for instance, not so much the 'how' of what happened to many of the minor characters, but also including the 'why' since some of the explanations still did not answer many questions). I guess I was just hoping for a more comprehensive wrap-up in the conclusion, especially since there does not seem to be a sequel.

With that said, I really enjoyed McMahon’s writing style, and that kept me reading during the first part of the book where I wasn’t completely interested in Ruthie’s storyline. I thought she did a great job of weaving together multiple points of view and throwing in enough plot twists to keep the reader guessing as to what came next. Maybe this October I will look into more of McMahon's work when I'm more in the mood for suspenseful and creepy tales.