Harrowgate by Kate Maruyama

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There are strange things afoot in Harrowgate, an apartment block in New York, where Michael is returning home to his wife after a work trip abroad. In the cab from the airport Michael frets and worries; after receiving the phone call from his pregnant wife over a week ago saying she was in labour he has heard nothing more, can’t get through to anyone, the only contact he’s had was with her sister Anna and that call was cut off before he could establish what was going on....
On arriving at his apartment though everything is fine, Sarah is emotional and nervy, as to be expected after giving birth early but there is his beautiful baby, perfectly fine and his wonderful wife will be fine now he’s home. Won’t they?
But things just don’t seem right; Sarah is acting oddly, it’s not just the reeking rubbish or the fridge full of rotten food that hasn’t been discarded, it’s her behaviour when he leaves the apartment, like he’s been gone for months and her friendship with the strange and peculiar-smelling Greta who has been helping Sarah with the baby in his absence and the fact she won’t let him answer the phone... Then there are the neighbours who are acting like someone died and the group of new mothers who appear in his apartment, Sarah’s support group, and all of them have problems....
And then Anna arrives, a distraught Anna, with news. Impossible news, but then, everything starts to make sense in an eerie and unbelievable way but all Michael has to do is accept and believe and everything will be fine. Won’t it?
This is a totally mesmirising book that keeps you turning the pages, combining a touch of the supernatural with a hint of horror. The detail is extraordinarily believable, certainly well-thought out and I found myself swept up in the story, hooked, not knowing what was going to happen but knowing something would as I read on with a growing sense of unease, fascination and horror. The writing is descriptive and atmospheric, so much so, you can almost smell the fetid air and rotten food and feel the air of malevolence, sadness, fear and loss as you read.
For a reader looking for something that little bit different and with a shiver factor, this is most definitely the book for you.




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