Harbour
As seen:
By John Ajvide Lindqvist and Marlaine Delargy
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1 review
It was a beautiful winter’s day. Anders, his wife and their feisty six-year-old, Maja, set out across the ice of the Swedish archipelago to visit the lighthouse on Gavasten. There was no one around, so they let her go on ahead. And she disappeared, seemingly into thin air, and was never found. Two years later, Anders is a broken alcoholic, his life ruined. He returns to the archipelago, the home of his childhood and his family. But all he finds are Maja’s toys and through the haze of memory, loss and alcohol, he realizes that someone – or something – is trying to communicate with him. Soon enough, his return sets in motion a series of horrifying events which exposes a mysterious and troubling relationship between the inhabitants of the remote island and the sea.
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I would only recommend this to a more advanced reader. It is the kind of thing I would have read as a teenager but is not suitable for younger students. This is an adult book that would suit year 10 or 11 students who enjoy character based stories and writers such as Stephen King. It has some swearing and supernatural violence, but this is not overly detailed in description. It deals a lot with the fear of the sea and includes references to a child going missing.
As someone who enjoys cosmic horror themes and character driven stories I really enjoyed this book. At the start it feels a bit slow and a little disjointed but it is worth persevering with as this pays off later. The end of the book works well as it leaves unanswered questions which works in this genre.
