Harrow Lake

This book is for fans of Stranger Things and Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls. If you want to go to the Upside Down of Stars Hollow and instead of it being deserted, find some creepy people there, pick up Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis. A thriller with horror elements, this book is bound to caught some active imagination. Let’s start with the synopsis.

Welcome to Harrow Lake. 

Someone’s expecting you.

Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker – she thinks nothing can scare her.

But when her father is brutally attacked in their New York apartment, she’s swiftly packed off to live with a grandmother she’s never met in Harrow Lake, the eerie town where her father’s most iconic horror movie was shot. The locals are weirdly obsessed with the film that put their town on the map – and then there are strange disappearances, which the police seem determined to explain away.

And there’s someone – or something – stalking her every move.

The more Lola discovers about the town, the more terrifying it becomes. Because Lola’s got secrets of her own. And if she can’t find a way out of Harrow Lake, they might just be the death of her . . .

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Themes for Thoughts

Harrow Lake, as its name suggests, is set in the town of Harrow Lake. It is not just the people or the weather that make this a chilling experience for a read – the characters themselves have depth and give the feeling that they are either hiding something or there is something that they do not know yet.

On Identity

When Lola’s dad has an accident, she is sent to her grandmother’s in Harrow Lake. Her mom, Lorelie, left her when she was 5 years old and being in her mom’s hometown, sleeping in her room, and discovering town legends and secrets, Harrow Lake presents an opportunity to Lola to confront her memories and understand who she is. The town is eerie, the people reminding her constantly of the legacy of her mom. Lorelei was the lead in Nightjar, the movie directed by Lola’s dad, and the town is stuck in the time when the movie was being staged there.

Lola has seen the movie numerous times and when her suitcase goes missing, she turns to portray Little Bird, the character her mom played in the movie. That obviously brings up the connections about her mom in the town people’s folks. Even her grandmother mistakes her for Lorelie a number of times.

This constant struggle for Lola to carve her own identity in the mix of all the legends, questions and stories appealed a lot to me. The atmosphere of the town and people’s memories and relationships to Lorelie played an important role in Lola’s character development.

Also related to identity, Lola befriends, Cora, one of the town girls, and Cora’s need to leave the town shows how oppressive a town can become.

On Mister Jitters

This review would be incomplete without the terror of the town. He gave me the jitters! Mister Jitters highlights the supernatural and mythical elements of the story and how they affect someone who is trying to ground herself in reality. Mister Jitters represents the bad guy who is coming to get the girls. He was an integral part of Lorelie’s life and now haunts Lola.

Lorelie’s secrets and inventions to warn her about this supernatural entity are metaphorical and physical at the same time. Quick handwritten notes tucked away in hard to find places and bugs that warn of impending doom, I loved how Mister Jitters’ presence in the storyline adds an additional tension to the plot. It also did the job of exposing Lola’s reliability as the narrator (and this is something El touches on in her review, which I highly recommend checking out).

On Secrets

To me, the power of a Horror story comes from secrets, whether it is the attempts that the characters make to hide them or to find something to answer their questions.

Lola arrived at Harrow Lake, knowing very little about her mom. In this town, there is no ignoring the fact that Lorelie existed and lived a life, even if she left Lola years ago. There is history here that needs understanding and some of it requires going down memory lane and confronting the way that Lola sees her reality.

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Overall, I really enjoyed this book. As someone who does not read Young Adult often, I connected with the protagonist. The town of Harrow Lake successfully gave me the creeps. This is a fast-paced book and if you like Psychological Thrillers with the horror twist, I would highly recommend it.

** Harrow Lake will be available July 9, 2020. You can preorder a copy below if you are interested or add it to your wishlist for later. **
Amazon Print
Amazon Kindle

Many thanks to the author, publisher and The WriteReads for the complimentary review copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to check out the other wonderful book blogs on the tour. Come back tomorrow for an exclusive interview with Kat!

Cover image: Photo by Alexey Shikov on Unsplash