Horrid

By: Katrina Leno

Narrated by: Heather Costa

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?

©2020 Katrina Leno (P)2021 Tantor

Nancy Drew

It’s good for young people on 🎃 Halloween. Spooky but not “Horrid!” Too mild for Stephen King or Agatha Christie fans.

Decent Teen Mystery, Terrible Narrator

It feels harsh to say this but the narrator's voice was so nasally & singular in tone that it made all the characters sound the same and the entire book difficult to listen to, even though the story was entertaining.
There was some redundancy and a blatantly obvious attempt at foreshadowing which took place so late in the narrative that the twist was very, very obvious. The ending was so abrupt & left so many unanswered questions that it feels more like a 3rd draft.
Still, I admire the creepy, dark vibe but would probably have enjoyed it more if I was closer to age 17.

Unsatisfying

The ending feels like it was too abrupt like there was just no idea where else to take the story so it just ends. I can’t decide if I love it or hate it but I’m mostly just wanting answers on what the hell happened. Why are they so angry? Is Jemima going to keep possessing Jane? Are they becoming janemima? What was sal trying to talk to Jane about? Did sal notice her friend was possessed because Jane’s behavior was that odd? Why did Melanie's sister want the teddy bear back?

The ending was not what I expected

I loved reading and listening. It has so many great catches and keeps you wanting more. It’s the perfect thriller

So Good!!

It was so good that you will never see it coming! Must Read!! The details & hidden twists were so satisfying!

Reader

My comment Is relating to The Reader: if you are going to audibly read a book, you should check the pronunciations of important returning words. In this case, the pronunciation of Hercule Poirot is not Herculee Poirot, and Agatha Christie’s Last novel is called “curtain” not curtains.

spooky but ehh?

Great narrator but I was disappointed with the quick ending. I definitely needed more.

Skip it

The only positive part of the book is the narration.

I wish I remembered that I don’t like how this writer fictionalizes real mental health disorders for the purposes of plot sensationalization in books geared toward teenagers. Anyone can google psychiatric disorders for a definition of a disorder, but a definition is different than an understanding.

Pica, eating objects other than food, with no nutritional value, possibly causing averse physical complications. The causes can be neurological, biochemical deficiencies, behavioral and/or psychological.

Jane eats books and loves Agatha Christie. She sees/hears the ghost of her dead sister or is she crazy, standard for horror novels, not a big deal for a master like Stephen King. Readers understand he’s writing horror. Even younger readers understand this. Katrina Leno is no Stephen King.

Underwhelming

This book is just…empty air. No character development, very simplistic plot, ending was just dumb. It’s annoying that my time was wasted on it.

I didn’t like the Audio narration at all. The voice is always kind of hoarse/whispery, like I just wanted her to clear her throat and get some enunciation up in here! Also the mom/daughter have the same voice, the BFF’s voice is so whiny and annoying, I just didn’t enjoy it really.

Horrid and Unsatisying

The title says it all. It’s plain horrid and the abrupt ending doesn’t help either.