Book Review / Horrid by Katrina Leno

From the author of You Must Not Miss comes a haunting contemporary horror novel that explores themes of mental illness, rage, and grief, twisted with spine-chilling elements of Stephen King and Agatha Christie.

Following her father's death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor's doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone...and more tormented.

As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident "bad seed," struggling to tamp down her own worst nature in response. Jane's mom also seems to be spiraling with the return of her childhood home, but she won't reveal why. Then Jane discovers that the "storage room" her mom has kept locked isn't for storage at all--it's a little girl's bedroom, left untouched for years and not quite as empty of inhabitants as it appears....

Is it grief? Mental illness? Or something more...horrid?
 

Published:     15th September 2020
Publisher:  Little Brown Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

 

MY REVIEW

 

A haunting contemporary horror novel.  That was the first words I read for this novel and I knew that I had to pick it up.  Well, that and the interesting cover.  Why would someone have roses in their eyes?  That was the one part that intrigued me the most. 

We follow Jane when she, and her mom, move to her grandmother's home in her mom's home town.  There's a lot of history to the house and the family that had lived there for so long  So many secrets that want to be told.  

Just a heads up, but this story does deal with a lot of hard hitting issues such as grief, death, murder and certainly mental illness.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what on earth was going on.   This story was very weird and I loved it!  The best part for me was the secrets both within the house and within other aspects that I won't tell you because I don't want to spoil it for you.  This is definately a very spooky book as you never know what is 'around the corner' and a book that I certainly did not read at night!