Book Review: Horrid | Katrina Leno

The Stats

📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚

BOOK: Horrid

AUTHOR: Katrina Leno  @katrinalenobooks

Publisher: Little Brown Books #littlebrownbooks⁠

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Published: September 15, 2020

https://amzn.to/3kQW3eo

The Review

The Title/Cover Draw:

• Besides the cover being absolutely gorgeous, I got this book in an Owlcrate and had to read it!

What I liked:

• I read this book in a day. It was fast paced and the mystery really keeps you going. 

What I didn’t like:

• The ending (see below). 

What kept me reading:

• “She couldn’t remember the first book she had eaten.” This is the first line of the book and believe me when I say it’s a large part of the plot!

The Characters:

• I loved her friends Alana and Susie as well as her boss, Will.

The Ending:

• Kind of off-putting and leaves you unsure of what is still happening. However, this does not mean the book was bad!

Consider if you like:

• Eerie and creepy books. 

All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Small Summary:

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?