The Harrowing

Stayed up past my bedtime finishing this weirdly wonderful book. If you like scary, creatures this is it!

With two young kids and little free time, I have to admit I'm a slow reader. I've been poking at THE THIRTEENTH TALE for about a month and a half and have only gotten through 60 pages. Having said that, I read THE HARROWING in two days! When a book captivates me, I make time. It rarely happens. Well done, Alexandra Sokoloff. I LOVED THIS BOOK. The author sustains a narrative drive that is intense, yet lets up just enough when the action gets almost unbearable. She manages to use short paragraphs, which keeps the story hopping, without sacrificing depth. Although the characters had major flaws and at times did disagreeable things, Alexandra Sokoloff makes them all people the reader can identify with and like. There's even some nice surprises within the relationships. Not only for the atmospherics and the characters, but the spine of the book--the central "ghost story"-- is quite amazing. It really makes you think. This book just never let's you go. It's been quite a few years since I started a book that I couldn't stop reading until I finished.

The fortunes of the horror genre have waned in recent years, for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the work itself. There have been indications though that this unfortunate state of affairs may be due for a welcome reversal. One such indication is the publication of THE HARROWING by Alexandra Sokoloff. THE HARROWING builds slowly. However, from the very beginning, there is an uneasy tone to the work, a sense that all is not right, a low-throated holiday hysteria as a dormful of college students prepare for a trip home during a Thanksgiving Day weekend. Those who are left behind include Robin Stone, a withdrawn freshman, a wildflower paired with a southern belle of a roommate who is everything Stone is not. Stone finds herself in the dorm with four other students, each a holiday holdover for different reasons. Strange things begin happening when one of the students finds a Ouija board, and the uneasy quintet begins to utilize it --- some with skepticism, others with anticipation. What they get is a response that may echo back to a tragedy that occurred in the early years of their university --- or it may be just a prank being played by one of their members. When stray manifestations related to their Thanksgiving séance continue after the holiday, however, one by one the students begin to realize that what started as a harmless parlor pastime designed to ward off boredom may have placed them all in terrible danger. Sokoloff's background as a screenwriter is evident in THE HARROWING. As is the case with the best writers, she shows rather than tells, letting the subtle but explosive interaction among her characters propel her narrative. Her choice of characters, by the way, is quite intriguing --- an interesting mix of the extroverts (jock, rock 'n' roller) and introverts (wallflower, goth, intellectual) one would have encountered on a college campus 35 years or three minutes ago. Sokoloff knows each of them down to their last individual nuance, integrating the strengths and weaknesses of each into the narrative and ultimately into the climax. She did not draw these characters out of a creative hat; there is a reason why these particular students are present, which is not immediately self-evident. Sokoloff brings horror archetypes to bear as well within the context of her novel --- think The Breakfast Club meets The Haunting meets...well, that will give too much away. Suffice it to say that even a casual fan of the genre will recognize the archetypal homage that she utilizes within the backdrop of this haunting, and ultimately frightening, tale. THE HARROWING is more than an impressive debut novel; it is an impressive work, period. I have been reading from this genre for a long time, though the book still gave me nightmares for two nights running. I await, and fear, Sokoloff's next work in equal measure. Highly recommended. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I won't synopsize since others have and have somewhat pimped the story, but suffice it to say that this book is a great ride - the proverbial page turner! Ms. Sokoloff deftly paints the characters and setting and then plots the action with no dead spots and plenty of twists and turns. You can literally see exactly what she wants you to see on every page. I found myself second guessing everyone and flipping back to see what I missed. A rare find in that while it's not heavy reading, it still has plenty of intellectual stimulation and keeps your interest every step of the very spooky way! 5 stars - check it out!

Alexandra Sokoloff's debut novel The Harrowing is simply jam-packed with all the things that make for a good horror story. Baird College's creepy Mendenhall dormitory, known to its residents as The Hall, (Hell?) is the feature location, with wings that become distressingly similar once the place empties out for Thanksgiving and all the doors are closed. A stormy Thanksgiving break leaves the five main characters together in The Hall, where they quickly come to recognize the broken, empty, or lonely places in each other. Unfortunately, a malevolent spirit also recognizes those frailties, and manipulates them into releasing it from its dark realm of nothingness. The story is fast paced, but also plenty intellectual: It is filled from cover to cover with references to psychology, spiritualism, and religion that would seem out of place if the characters were not all college students. The action is not confined to The Hall, either, as the students move about over a landscape which includes a Stonehenge-like portion of the campus known as The Columns and a graveyard which holds the remains of a 1920s Baird student who had a fatal run-in with the same entity. Despite the dark nature of the conflict, Alexandra Sokoloff injects plenty of humor as well, from the main character's wry observations about her detestable prom queen roommate to the hilarious appearance of two teen slackers at a moment of high tension. The characters are well drawn, with voices and personalities of their own, and the ending is far from predictable. Don't wait for Hallowe'en to pick this up.

I've seen THE HARROWING compared to teen horror films, but I'm almost two millennia away from being a young adult and have never seen a teen horror/slasher movie. I avoided them like the plague even when I was reviewing a movie weekly for our daily newspaper. But I do like ghost stories and once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down. I thought the characterizations of the five college students was great. The build-up is superb as the five bored students, staying at Baird College for the Thanksgiving break, find an ouija board and strange things begin to happen. It someone playing tricks or have these students actually contacted someone from "beyond," specifically a young man who died years before in a fire at the school? The tension mounts as the "odd" group of students begin to form alliances and try to figure out what is happening to them. Did they "release" a tortured soul trying to affect some kind of closure, or has a more malevolent force been unleashed? I found myself really caring about these young people and being pulled into their struggle. The information on the Kabbalah and other Jewish folklore is fascinating. The plot moves at a great pace and I certainly can see this as a movie, which isn't surprising since the author, Ms. Sokoloff, is a long-time screenwriter. I bought a few copies, after reading the ARC, for some lucky people on my Christmas list. Highly recommended