Author: Ellery Adams
Published: April 14, 2026 by Hanover Square Press
Format: Kindle, 327 Pages
Genre: Horror
Blurb: Something’s not right in Cold Harbor—more so than usual. While this sleepy small town has seen its fair share of monsters in cheating husbands and leering bosses, none are as hungry as Mrs. Smith. The mysterious resident has finally emerged from her crumbling mansion on the hill, mesmerizing the townspeople with her beauty. Her secret? Nine human sacrifices to feed her immortality.
Natalie Scott is more worried about Mrs. Smith blocking her first real estate sale—the one that will take her from stay-at-home mom to working woman extraordinaire. She's eager to prove herself in a world where the social mores of 1980s suburbia reign, where she's expected to keep a magazine-perfect home and raise beautiful children, all while sticking to her husband's budget. Natalie's two best friends are facing their own demons, and Mrs. Smith and her deep, dark woods are an easy scapegoat for everyone's problems.
But Natalie's twelve-year-old daughter, Jill, and her Icelandic housekeeper, Una, can sense something deeper at play. Armed with library books and a whole lot of grit, Jill and Una team up to save the town once and for all. But as the rest of Cold Harbor sinks into anger, fear, and jealousy, they’ll have to confront the What does it really mean to be a monster?
My Opinion: Invasive Species is not your usual Ellery Adams. I went in expecting her familiar cozy mystery warmth and instead found myself in something darker, creepier, and far more unsettling than I ever anticipated. Not in a bad way, just in a “wait, Ellery wrote this?” kind of way. If I had to label it, I’d call it Horror meets Women’s Fiction with a strong feminist undercurrent, but even that doesn’t quite capture the strange, slippery thing she’s doing here. It’s a mash up I haven’t seen before, and honestly, it grabbed me from page one.
Part of the surprise may come from the fact that she’s working with a new publisher for this occult leaning detour. It makes me wonder what else she has tucked up her sleeve for longtime readers who think they know her lane.
This book is peculiar in a “I can’t look away” sense. Yes, there’s creepy imagery (some of it very creepy), but Adams slips in humor, too, and even a bit of spice that will push the envelope for some readers. It’s a cocktail of eerie, funny, feminist, and occasionally eyebrow raising.
The reader is dropped into 1980s Cold Harbor, a polished town of affluence, golden children, a yacht club, and parents desperate to maintain the illusion of perfection while quietly cracking underneath it. Into this Stepford adjacent setting slithers Mrs. Smith, also known as the “Mother of Eels”, who hasn’t left her home in daylight for decades and who has decided it’s time to make her grand return. Unfortunately for the town, she requires nine human sacrifices, and nine year olds seem to be her preferred entrée.
Twelve year old Jill and her family’s Icelandic housekeeper, Una, are the only ones who recognize the danger for what it is. They realize this demon is targeting Jill’s friends, and the timing couldn’t be worse: a bar mitzvah on a boat, where all the children are conveniently gathered in one floating buffet. The Mother of Eels couldn’t have planned it better herself. But then again, she might have dropped a clue or two.
The ending is intense, the kind of sequence where you realize you’ve been holding your breath and your eyes refuse to blink. Not something to read right before bed unless you enjoy replaying nightmare fuel visuals in the dark.
Some readers have called this a “cozy horror” with feminist vibes, and while that’s not wrong, it still doesn’t fully capture the odd energy here. What I can say is this: you’ll keep turning pages, partly out of fascination and partly out of disbelief that Ellery Adams, queen of the cozy mystery, has delivered something this wild, this creepy, and this unexpectedly bold. Whether it works for everyone is another question, but it certainly shows a new, daring side of her.
If nothing else, Invasive Species proves that Adams can still surprise her readers… and maybe haunt them a little, too.
Natalie Scott is more worried about Mrs. Smith blocking her first real estate sale—the one that will take her from stay-at-home mom to working woman extraordinaire. She's eager to prove herself in a world where the social mores of 1980s suburbia reign, where she's expected to keep a magazine-perfect home and raise beautiful children, all while sticking to her husband's budget. Natalie's two best friends are facing their own demons, and Mrs. Smith and her deep, dark woods are an easy scapegoat for everyone's problems.
But Natalie's twelve-year-old daughter, Jill, and her Icelandic housekeeper, Una, can sense something deeper at play. Armed with library books and a whole lot of grit, Jill and Una team up to save the town once and for all. But as the rest of Cold Harbor sinks into anger, fear, and jealousy, they’ll have to confront the What does it really mean to be a monster?
My Opinion: Invasive Species is not your usual Ellery Adams. I went in expecting her familiar cozy mystery warmth and instead found myself in something darker, creepier, and far more unsettling than I ever anticipated. Not in a bad way, just in a “wait, Ellery wrote this?” kind of way. If I had to label it, I’d call it Horror meets Women’s Fiction with a strong feminist undercurrent, but even that doesn’t quite capture the strange, slippery thing she’s doing here. It’s a mash up I haven’t seen before, and honestly, it grabbed me from page one.
Part of the surprise may come from the fact that she’s working with a new publisher for this occult leaning detour. It makes me wonder what else she has tucked up her sleeve for longtime readers who think they know her lane.
This book is peculiar in a “I can’t look away” sense. Yes, there’s creepy imagery (some of it very creepy), but Adams slips in humor, too, and even a bit of spice that will push the envelope for some readers. It’s a cocktail of eerie, funny, feminist, and occasionally eyebrow raising.
The reader is dropped into 1980s Cold Harbor, a polished town of affluence, golden children, a yacht club, and parents desperate to maintain the illusion of perfection while quietly cracking underneath it. Into this Stepford adjacent setting slithers Mrs. Smith, also known as the “Mother of Eels”, who hasn’t left her home in daylight for decades and who has decided it’s time to make her grand return. Unfortunately for the town, she requires nine human sacrifices, and nine year olds seem to be her preferred entrée.
Twelve year old Jill and her family’s Icelandic housekeeper, Una, are the only ones who recognize the danger for what it is. They realize this demon is targeting Jill’s friends, and the timing couldn’t be worse: a bar mitzvah on a boat, where all the children are conveniently gathered in one floating buffet. The Mother of Eels couldn’t have planned it better herself. But then again, she might have dropped a clue or two.
The ending is intense, the kind of sequence where you realize you’ve been holding your breath and your eyes refuse to blink. Not something to read right before bed unless you enjoy replaying nightmare fuel visuals in the dark.
Some readers have called this a “cozy horror” with feminist vibes, and while that’s not wrong, it still doesn’t fully capture the odd energy here. What I can say is this: you’ll keep turning pages, partly out of fascination and partly out of disbelief that Ellery Adams, queen of the cozy mystery, has delivered something this wild, this creepy, and this unexpectedly bold. Whether it works for everyone is another question, but it certainly shows a new, daring side of her.
If nothing else, Invasive Species proves that Adams can still surprise her readers… and maybe haunt them a little, too.
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