Katrina Leno’s Horrid is a great young adult horror/mystery novel that makes for a perfect fall read and draws the reader in from the adapted nursery rhyme at the beginning and keeps them engaged until the climactic end. Seventeen-year-old Jane and her mother Ruth have left California after the death of Jane’s father and Ruth’s husband, Greer. The two are headed to Bells Hallow, Maine where Ruth grew up and left abruptly when she was younger; not ever wanting to return. When Jane and Ruth end up back in Ruth’s childhood home, North Manor, strange things begin happening around the house and Jane sets out on a mission to find out what secrets have been kept in this family home for decades.
Leno has given such a unique voice to Jane who is a lover of books, especially Agatha Christie novels, and suffers from a terrible anger that seems to only be eased when she eats paper from books (which is known as pica). What is so fascinating about Jane is that she is so level-headed and strong yet she still is shown to have these flaws, something that a lot of authors seem to forget about when creating characters. Jane and her mother both seem to deal with the same anger issues, something that Jane has had trouble controlling her entire life. As the story progresses, Jane often has flashbacks to when she was younger and unable to control her anger.
Leno touches on some different themes throughout Horrid including loss, grief, mental illness, the mother/daughter relationship, intergenerational trauma, and paranormal activity. All of these themes impact one another and intertwine effortlessly with each other. As the reader makes their way through Horrid they will notice how the paranormal things that happen in North Manor start out slowly and then build up to the end, this same thing happens with the other themes in the story, they all increase together creating a climactic end that you won’t see coming.
The writing in Horrid is incredibly fluid and Leno has created an entertaining novel that is very easy to read. I personally devoured Horrid in a day and was engaged the entire time. The story is well thought out and everything had its place and purpose. Something that I personally loved about this book was the inclusion of the adapted nursery rhyme at the beginning of Horrid and then used each line of the poem as the start of a new chapter rather than numbering them. Katrina Leno has written a brilliant novel that is bound to capture reader’s attention from the very beginning. Horrid is dark, clever, engaging, and spine-tingling.
Horrid is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 15th.
Will you be picking up Horrid? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
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?
