Harrow Lake was an intensely gripping horror tale that had me flinching at every turn of the page in case Mister Jitters turned up!

I truly enjoyed Harrow Lake!

The story is very engaging and dare I say, different than what we usually read. It touches the very depths of your soul were you hide all of your childhood fears and your secrets. Harrow Lake is a story about the secrets you keep burried in the depths of your soul that come out to haunt you when you least expect them.

I liked Lola's character, she is a very strong willed young lady that will push herself beyond her boundaries and won'd give up. She always pushes her self to find what the optimal solution would be. I liked how we could get a feel of her mindset with the writing being mainly what was in Lolas's mind at the specific time in the book. There were a lot of moments where I was literally gaping at the screen with my eybrows shot up! The supporting characters were great too and at points pretty creepy!

The ending..well what can I say about the ending.. it was cathartic to say the least. It was where it all came together and even though you were kind of expecting it you still get that aha moment.  You get the feeling of justice being served and that there is hope and light at the end of tunnel even though it all may seem so damn dark in our lifes sometimes.

Overall the book was chilling and dark but not so scary.. for me anyway. Then again you might not want to read it at night if you live on your own.

8 autumnal books that you should read right now
As soon as it turned 1st September, I was all ready to curl up with a book and a blanket. I had a look through my TBR and picked out some autumnal books – and I thought I’d share them with you too!

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis
I rarely watch horror films these days (too scary!), even though I loved them as a child. but I’d like to give more horror stories a shot. Harrow Lake is a can’t-put-down, creepy thriller about the daughter of a horror film director who’s not afraid of anything–until she gets to Harrow Lake.

I will preface this review by saying I do not like scary things as a general rule. Normally books are okay as you can use your imagination to dampen it down a bit, but scary movies, no thank you... No. Thank. You. And you only have to look at the (albeit stunning) creepy cover for Harrow Lake to know that things aren't going to be all sunshine and kittens...

Lola is sent to live with her grandmother when her father (who is a successful film director...) is attacked in their own home. She has never met her grandmother, knows very little about her mother and has a strange relationship with her father who she only ever refers to by his first name. When she arrives, her bag has gone missing and so she must wear her mums old clothes something that seems to both please and annoy her grandmother. As Lola begins to explore the little town which was the setting for one of her fathers most successful films, which coincidentally starred her mother, strange things begin to happen. People look at her strange, they whisper and she begins to see that she isn't welcome. And then she learns about the urban legend of Mister Jitters and how her mother may somehow be involved...

Honestly, Harrow Lake surprised me. I went into it with an open mind, almost expecting to have to shut it and say I couldn't go any further, but I kept going and I am so glad that I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it from the very first page. It's engaging, wonderfully written and has a thriller feel to it, keeping you glued to the page wondering what on earth is going to happen next. There were a few moments that made me jump, moments that made me smile and laugh, moments that made me feel for the characters and the situation they have found themselves in. Harrow Lake has it all. I loved all the little twists and turns.

I loved the feel of it all. The setting that seemed to be stuck in time, never evolving from the moment the cameras finished rolling whilst the film was being made. Everyone dresses old fashioned. It's classic old-school horror aesthetic. Small town. Seemingly cut off from the outside world. Secrets around every corner.

I would highly recommend you read this, even if you aren't a horror fan. It was chilling and fun at the same time and it'll have you jumping at something moving in the corner of your eye for a while after reading it too!

My thanks to Simon at Penguin for my review copy in exchange for an honest review!

This review is part of the #HarrowLake #UltimateBlogTour hosted by TheWritereads.
Thanks a ton, Dave from @TheWriteReads and the author- Kat Ellis , for giving me this opportunity of reviewing this amazing book! Thank you Netgalley for providing me the digital version of this book!

The story engaged me from the very beginning. Lola is a character who seems to be so weird initially, a girl who has a way of hiding her secrets well: secrets which are too close to her heart, bizarre secrets, vile secrets, secrets of all kind! Eventually as if we proceed with the story it comes to light why Lola acts so bewilderingly almost throughout the whole story?? Lola has a Troubled childhood. Her mother disappeared when she was too young, her father- the famous movie director- Nolan Nox, whose “Nightjar” was a major breakthrough in the horror film industry, is a domineering, assertive, controlling dad. Lola’s thoughts are overshadowed by Nolan’s desires and opinions, Lola thinks and does whatever she feels would be “Optimal” (with a capital “o”) for Nolan. Lola’s persona throughout the story therefore seems very justified- how she acts like a paranoid, unsure of the verity of her own thoughts, how her actions are not her own but Nolan’s, how the voice in her head is not her own but Nolan’s and this in itself is like living in a horror story where you don’t belong to yourself. I really liked how the author characterised Lola- readers would find her character to be unlikable or uninteresting at the beginning, sort of vacuous, insipid and dry. But what we really understand as we proceed with the story is that the protagonist does not always has to be personable, rather the flaws and foibles of a character bring the gravity and strength to their persona, thus helping the readers explicate the protagonist’s true self. Lola might be a confusion but the perplexity of her character goes completely in sync with what the protagonist has to deal with (i.e., what makes Lola Lola?) and also the ambience of the story.

Now Harrow Lake. Everything’s in the name itself – “Harrow” Lake or one could say “distressing” Lake- the place where the story is set.

Lola has been asked to live in Harrow Lake with her grandmother (whom she has never met) for a few weeks after Nolan was attacked brutally and had a near encounter with death at his apartment in the city. Lola- who has never been close to anyone except her father, is certainly fazed and finds it really hard to connect with her grandmother (who undoubtedly gave me the creeps. But then again, everything about this story will give you the creeps) and this reticent town of Harrow Lake.

Harrow Lake is a small town which was ravaged by a devastating landslide in the late twenties. Since then not much has changed in Harrow Lake. Urban legends about the cannibal monster- Mr. Jitters- a guy who was trapped in a cave when the land shifted and kept on hollering for days beneath the mammoth boulders and who eventually let his madness and hunger drive him to consume human flesh- circulate the town. People say that Mr. Jitters still goes about foraging for fresh human flesh. Rituals and customs like not burying the dead, the bone tree- where the branches are full of teeth hung by the children so that Mr. Jitters won’t come around looking for them after he’d caught the taste of their bones, are commonly followed among the town peeps. Now, in the story several onomatopoeia have been used like “jitter-jitter” “tap-tap” “chitter-chatter” “snap-snap” to emphasize the presence of this monster and symbolically describe this town which is engulfed in horror and bring an even more eerie feeling to this already uncanny tale. Those sounds will linger on for quite a while within the reader’s mind because these sounds are not something that we really hear in the story but the sounds are always playing inside Lola’s head, like her mind is fabricating those noises. I think this way the author actually tried to give out a clearer picture of Lola’s persona, her psyche, how panic stricken she is deep inside and what makes her character so flummoxing, a complex labyrinth. Now I don’t wish to talk about her character anymore because spoilers but when you know that all the complexities and confusions and questions swarming your mind end at one definite, unforeseen point, then you really have a hard time controlling the urge to talk about it more, ugh!

The 1920s vibe still remains in Harrow Lake and with Nolan Nox having directed his famous movie “Nightjar” in this town, Harrow Lake is like a replica or one could say that the borough has moulded itself into the town that Nolan had created in his movie “Nightjar”. Living in harrow Lake is like living and breathing in “Nightjar”, constantly feeling within the reach of the memories of that one famous movie which made this town a spot for great tourist attraction. Shows how popular commercial movies can have an effect on inconsequential small towns where the shootings take place.

Lorelei- “Nightjar” star, Nolan’s wife, Lola’s mother, once lived in the town of Harrow lake. Lola is just like her mother. Lorelei had mysteries and secrets of her own encircling her life. In fact, she was the one who taught Lola how to keep a secret. The fame she gained through “Nightjar” has had a huge impact on the town that she was raised in. Harrow Lake is a constant remembrance of “Nightjar” and Lorelei’s name is on everyone’s lips. Lorelei might not be there in bone and flesh yet her presence is felt so intensely every minute, at every corner of this small mysterious town. Lola misses her mother and seeks answers about what made Lorelei leave Lola just like that, without a cause? Harrow Lake surely adds up to Lola’s incertitudes and growing trepidations. Harrow Lake certainly does something with your mind. The mysteries and horrors confined in this place and the uncanny actuality of secrets and memories, hunt down Lola. She wants to know what secrets surround this town? How her mother and the spectral Harrow lake are connected? The more she gets tangled up in the mysteries of her past and Harrow Lake, the greater she yearns to delve deeper into the fathomless conundrums encircling this town.

Will Lola realize the truth ultimately? Will she survive till the end to write her own horror story? How will Harrow Lake change her? Can Lola keep her calm and persist to extricate the solutions to the mysteries that encircle her life which is full of surreptitious maze of emotions and intuitions?

I would categorize ‘Harrow Lake’ as a psychological horror novel. Psychological horror tales are certainly creepier and more impactful than slasher horrors. There’s so much more to the story that I can’t talk about here because then I will be giving hints to the whole story and of course spoilers!!!!

All throughout the story you would see how Lola, in spite of trying her best keeps on losing her balance, how her mind pulls tricks on her, how her surroundings, past and the present have a controlling power over her pneuma. Harrow Lake is a spine-chilling journey into the psychology of a person who might have an outward ordinary appearance but whose life has more secrets than could be possibly fathomed. You will find yourself being involuntarily pulled into the tense atmosphere of the story created brilliantly by the author. I enjoyed reading the story after 12 am, alone in my room. It gave me the creeps but I think the darkness and the solitude helped me to take a tour deeper into the tale and experience the enigma of Harrow Lake and the characters in this story! I love books which make you ponder upon its contents for a long time even after you complete reading it. Harrow Lake has been one such reading experience for me. You won’t get a forthright answer at the end of this not so plain sailing story, rather at the end the twist will stupefy you so much that even though you’ll be getting an answer to the questions that you were seeking for so long, all throughout the story, your curious mind won’t be able to rest yet. You will find yourself ruminating about the whole story from the very beginning and I think that’s the power of writing which makes a reader genuinely think about what the story is in their own possible way and I really love when the story becomes so adhering to the mind that you can’t stop thinking about it! I am still thinking about Lola and Harrow Lake and I can still sense the tension!

I would highly recommend “Harrow Lake” to anyone who loves reading horror stories especially the psychological ones which are much more profound and consuming than the slasher ones! Basically, anyone who loves suspense and mysteries! It is a great read indeed and you’ll find the book very much absorbing till the very end!

I really didn't like this book. I found the main character very hard to connect with. She really didn't have any indearing qualities. Also I found the story a bit like one of the old school horror B movies. A lot of urban myths about Mr Jitters and a town lost in the past. At the end of the book you realise the main character had severe mental issues and had disconnected from the real world. This is my personal view and other readers may enjoy it.

The first part of this really dragged and considering the hype I expected better. Towards the middle it did get a bit scary, which was great. The core problem was the lack of payoff, all this work to make this creepy town for it to be a domestic drama? Lola's behaviour, particularly towards her grandmother with whom she never even tries to have a proper conversation, is bizarre. Setting up time slips and visions for no reason? Yes her dad was obviously awful but this isn't reason enough. It's frustrating that this ending takes it back to YA when it could have been a great horror. It's also a missed opportunity to reference so many horror movies but no horror literature, when for many readers this could be a great inspiration source. Really it's criminal that there was no Shirley Jackson reference at any point! It get's referenced twice but no other Stephen King? Or more modern monster stories like NOS4R2? Such a shame.

I have to be honest, it was the cover of Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis that had me intrigued. I saw it on Netgalley and horror isn't really my jam but I was too tempted to pass this one by. And you know what? It's become one of my biggest reading surprises of the year.

Harrow Lake has such a fantastic old-school horror film vibe to it. Small town, old fashioned clothing, the creepiness in everyday items and places. There's such a low-key creep factor to it that really builds throughout. Despite it not being my usual reading material I found it really easy to fall into the story and into these characters.

Harrow Lake is a pretty unsettling place. A small town that has been cut off from everything, not updated for decades and obsessed with the horror film that was filmed there and that made the town famous. Our main character is Lola, who is the daughter of the film director who chose Harrow Lake as his film's setting and it's where her parents met, on set.

But her mum has disappeared and when her dad is brutally attacked, Lola is sent to Harrow Lake to stay with her grandmother in this town that has not moved on. I kind of loved how Lola doesn't really know who to trust or what to make of her grandmother and those she meets in Harrow Lake. The jitterbugs in her mum's old room, the puppet in the town's museum, the abandoned sets used for the film all add different layers to how unsettling the book is. I read bits of the Bone Tree out to my family and they were all suitably horrified.

I think my favourite thing about Harrow Lake, aside from how easily entertaining it is, is that it digs deeper than I was expecting into the buried secrets of their family, into those unanswered questions at the heart of Lola's and Harrow Lake's story. And for that, I found this book utterly fascinating.

Just, you know, keep an eye out - Mr. Jitters is coming.

This is a delightfully creepy little number reminiscent of dreamy psychedelic 70's horror films.
As the book opens an interviewer is questioning the cult filmmaker Nolan Nox about what he thinks happened to his missing daughter, and Nolan Nox is trying to steer the interview back on track. The book then cuts to one year earlier and the event that started the strange chain of events, Nolan Nox attacked in his apartment and Lola sent to Harrow Lake while he recovers.

Harrow Lake is the place that Lola's mother disappeared, and it seems as though the same fate awaits Lola. The locals all seem to have something to hide, the town itself is caught in a strange, nightmarish, time loop with festivals and traditions dedicated to the film that Nolan Nox made there decades earlier, and Lola's Grandma either refuses to talk about her daughter or confuses her for her daughter. The addition of a creepy urban myth about a Mr Jitters complete with song and scary little Jitterbug wooden carved toys that turn up in unexpected places, and I felt the hairs on my neck standing to attention as I turned the pages.

At the heart of the book is Lola, whos bratty, spoiled exterior belies her stoicism and bravery. As the book progresses I found my initial dislike of her melted away as she unearthed far more than she had expected when she decides to find out what happened to her mother. Somewhat confusing at times the creepy tension and atmosphere more than compensates, and the uncertainty between what is real and what is imagined is actually a very good way of understanding how Lola's brain is processing the evidence she finds.

The story wraps up in THE most satisfactory way and I'm looking forward to seeing what the author writes next.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the copy in return for an honest review.

Thank to to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an early copy of Harrow Lake.

I'm really, really confused about that one.
To be honest, up until the last couple of pages, I wanted to give up on it because I just did not manage to get invested in the story and the characters.

Lola is just a touch too superficial, and just, let us be frank there, unlikeable. I could not for the life of me begin to understand why she reacted the way she reacted most of the time, and she just sounded weird from the first page on – which does get a bit of an explanation by the end of the book, but just completely threw me for a loop.
Also, the word "Optimal"? Can't see it anymore. Don't like it. No, thank you.

One thing is for sure, the novel is very unsettling, bordering on creepy. The main villain, Mister Jitters, will make you shudder for sure. He's really creepy, and so is the doll that randomly starts appearing throughout the story.
The unreliable narrator also makes you loose your footing and wonder just what the heck is going on. Are we facing a case of demonic puppets? A case of a mentally ill main character? A case of a murderous mother and haunted town?

Gosh, I was so lost.

And then everything got better during the last couple of chapters. Finally, things started making sense. It was a bit too late to my taste, but at least, it managed to get me to finish the novel and give it a couple more stars than I expected.

So, overall, I really wouldn't say that I liked the book, because I was struggling to finish it most of the way through.
I do, however, admire the creepy atmosphere in every single page, and the monsters (real or not) that were created.
I'm very curious to see what Kat Ellis' next book will look like.

Harrow Lake was my first venture into horror/ paranormal genre and I'm delighted to say I loved it!

Our main character is Lola Nox, daughter of a famous film director and actress. When her fathers life is threatened, she is sent to stay with her grandmother on her mother's side in a small town called Harrow Lake. This is the same town where her father filmed his first horror and where he met Lola's mother who played the lead actress.

The town itself is strife with misery, where many past events have affected the people living there. Their only reprieve is the festival held each year in honour of the movie that put their town on the map. Another thing that comes with small town America is urban myths & local legends, and here we have Mr. Jitters.

The story follows Lola as she gets to know the strange town and the stranger people, as she fills in the gaps about her mother and her association with Mr Jitters, and if he is now following Lola.

I absolutely loved this book. I read it mostly at night, so the atmosphere and eeriness was dialled up to 11. The place Harrow Lake is exactly what you expect from 80's theme slasher horror and just takes you right back there as the town and its people never left that era.

The Characters were all fantastic, the usual suspects of adults who got stuck there and kids who are yearning to leave, all stuck in this time bubble because of the movie the town is famous for. The main character Lola was a great protagonist, I felt my reactions would have been similar to hers, not believing in the bogey man but then somethings are just not adding up and making it all so deliciously creepy!

I'm so happy I read this, out of my comfort zone but so worth the sleepless night! Can't wait to read more by Kat Ellis (I can't believe I'm looking forward to being frightened by her again!)

Thank you to Penguin Random House Children’s UK and Netgalley for an early eArc of the book.

Harrow Lake is a YA thriller/horror novel about a young girl and her connection to the town of Harrow Lake, where her mother is from. Our protagonist Lola is the daughter of a famous horror movie filmmaker, and therefore is a resilient horror buff herself who believes that she cannot be scared by much at all. Lolas father is attacked at their home in New York and Lola is sent away back to her mothers hometown of Harrow Lake for her safety. One weird thing about Harrow Lake is that her mother starred in a horror film made my her father in that very town... and the legacy of the movie has carved the town into the map. But even weirder is the strange experiences and legends that now reside in that town. Lola takes her time getting to know the town, and the more she finds out the weirder and scarier it becomes.

I haven't read a ton of YA horror/thriller, and not a ton of adult horror either honestly, so I was apprehensive but excited to pick this one up. It is definitely a genre I want to read more from and I haven't had much success with YA horror yet, so I was hoping this one might change things. I liked Lola, and I liked the links to her family, her mother and this weird and creepy town. Her grandmother, who she is sent to live with during her time at Harrow Lake, is one of those typical weird old estranged grandmothers who appear friendly, but also slightly off. You know the weird old people in horror movies I'm talking about? She was irritating and creepy, but I also thought her dad was bizarrely protective of her, and this became more apparent throughout the book.

It cleverly gives you little hints throughout the story about what might actually happen at the end, and I really appreciated these. They are little nuggets of information that get you thinking and guessing what their relevance are and how they might link up in the end. Ellis has a clever way of misleading you slightly on one hint, then taking it back and I really enjoyed that. I often changed how I felt the book was going to sum up, and I found myself going back and forth from one theory to the next.

I really appreciated the twists, and although I must admit the way the book actually ended was one of my theories, but I was not mad at it. I assumed she might go down another route, which would have been more cliche and annoying in my view, but she didn't. I also really enjoyed how the book began and ended with the interview with her father, it really helped to tie things together.

The one major downside for me was the lost plots. I felt like a lot of stuff was just left unexplained, which kind of left something missing from the full enjoyment for me. I was happy with the ending, sure. I enjoyed what happened and how the main plot wrapped up, but I also wanted to know how everything else came to be. It just needed to be tied in a neater package.

I basically had a really fun time reading this, and it has proven to me that not all YA horror is boring. I will continue to pick up a few more YA horror and hope to be as entertained by them. I will also keep an eye out for Ellis' future books to see if they interest me too!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange of an honest review.

This was not what I was expecting!
The pace was fast and the plot was complex without being confusing.
Lola was an interesting narrator and I found her journey through the stifling town of Harrow Lake deeply compelling.
The frame narrative of the interview with Nolan sets up the story perfectly and then consolidates it neatly at the end.
The story was genuinely frightening at times, and I would definitely reccomend to horror/thriller fans.
My only criticism is that I am still left with a few unanswered questions regarding the other characters in the book, like Ranger Lahey or Marie. Otherwise a really interesting thriller, you won't want to put it down.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

I liked this book! I’m not a big lover of YA horror, but this kept me gripped. I liked the spooky town setting, it really did feel like an 80s horror film. Definitely can see this being made into a film soon.

"Harrow Lake" has everything for a reader looking to be spooked: underground caves, a mysterious town stuck in the past, missing girls, and a horror movie threatening to come to life.

I did find myself getting a little creeped out in places, which was great! Occasionally a little slow, however, with a little too much introspection: I would have loved more exploration of the historical aspects instead: the mine and the film and the town in particular.

As a teacher of secondary school English, I try to read as much YA fiction as I can. Actually, that's not quite true... I love to read YA fiction and use my job as justification to read loads of it! Teenagers are a very discerning bunch when it comes to fiction - if they are choosing to read, it's because they want a great story, and I find that they don't often put up with slow burns.

The real USP of this novel is the cinematic backstory. There's a load of film references here and it will really appeal to film fanatics. It's set around Nolan, a famous film-director, his wife and star of his hit film 'Nightjar', Lorelei, and the town of Harrow Lake, where the film was filmed. I found 'Harrow Lake' to be cross between 'Chucky', 'Arachnophobia' and 'The Wicker Man' - plenty of creepiness, but at a level of horror that even I could cope with - if it were a film, I'd rate it a 12 rather than an 18. If there is a negative point that I'd make about this novel, it would be that it wants to be all genres of horror (insects, graveyards, monsters and humans) rather than just sticking to one.

I think that 'Harrow Lake' will be a really popular read this year. It's fast-paced, and features interesting characters, fabulous settings, and some great twists.

From GoodReads:
Sounds great: a mysterious backwater town with a box full of urban legends. More often than not though, I wasn't creeped out/scared at all.
I'm afraid I didn't warm to Lola at all (what was with the annoying 'Optimal') and am still not quite sure what we going on at some points.

But, this was quite good fun and a a pageturner and I can see it being a great intro into 'horror' for some YA readers. Good cover on the final version too.

I think I was about the only person on a recent tour who did not like this book. And I am going to be extremely upfront as to why. This was the WORST depiction of mental health related issues I have ever read. I found the use of multiple different health issues from PTSD to dementia as plot devices distasteful, and not once was any character offered help for those issues. I think that is extremely careless in this day and age, to have these front and centre without bringing them back to the key issue of getting help.

This being the primary driving of the plot meant I did not enjoy the plot. The "horror" aspect being intrinsic to the is it real or is it due to the MC's PTSD, hallucinations and compulsive behaviour. I get that the author was trying to go for the unreliable narrator, but again I just didn't agree with this choice especially when no other perspective was offered. I also found it to be quite predictable I could see the big reveal from the beginning.

In terms of character development in my opinion there wasn't much apart from the story of the Mc's mother, who was a main focus. Due to the choice of narration style there was a distinct style to the voice. Again some of these choices I found to be very poor taste. The MC repeats the word "OPTIMAL" in a compulsive fashion as if to sooth her. None of this is discussed in the text. The writing style was quite staccato at points, jumping, chopping and changing which I guess is supposed to be disorientating but instead just threw me out of the story.

On the plus side there was some really atmospherics descriptions and this is what brought the book up to a two star read as these had some great imagery. The ending had an alright little twist. That was until the author wrote herself her own 5 star review of the book as part of the narrative!?! Overall this just left a bad taste in my mouth. I would most likely not have finished it if it wasn't an ARC.

From the outset this book reminded me of 'It', a town with a haunted history, and a number of mysterious disappearances, unfortunately it just didn't come to fruition. I found it difficult to bond with the characters and I have to say I was disappointed with the ending. Maybe I expected too much from it.

Capable of infecting your mind, altering your breathing rate, and shot-gunning your pulse, Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis absolutely crawled beneath my skin and had me lying in bed, wide awake, wondering what that noise was I heard just a few moments ago… The wind rattling the bathroom blinds, surely? In the same league as Slenderman, old folk tales and chilling legends, Harrow Lake had that all-encompassing quality that never truly lets you be, once the ‘what ifs’ have settled in your mind. Terrifying, but on a subtle level, a level which is more disturbing than frightening, the sort of thing you’re scared of but still completely fascinated by. I loved allowing the author to smother me with this tale, I loved the feeling of terror which she evoked, and I found Mister Jitters to be quite appalling, to say the least.

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis is a superbly dark and atmospheric novel, with a certain sense of dread laced around each and every word. It’s a sinister tale that takes the readers’ imagination hostage, and runs wild and wicked with it, slotting strange and feverish images into the mind, and ensuring those images remain long after the final page has been turned. This is a unique and exciting story, one I’m delighted to have discovered in the Twitter-sphere, and one which I’m certain would not look out of place if it were to be adapted for the big screen. You’d see me outside queueing up to watch the movie adaptation for sure.

The story behind Mister Jitters and Harrow Lake was a fascinating one, and it reminded me very much of the stories I heard as a child and teenager. From the bogeyman, to the chilling tale of Bloody Mary, to the more recent arrival of Slenderman, Mister Jitters had that same quality of monster which has people running up the stairs after turning out the lights, too afraid to glance behind themselves. What I found most admirable though, was the authors’ obvious dedication to truly bring Mister Jitters to life by adding vibrancy and colour to an entire history surrounding him, and the place he comes from. It was incredible, and I think it certainly had the desired effect on me as the reader. For the author to achieve such an authentic feel to what can only be described as an urban legend, there is a huge amount of creativity and thought that must have gone into the creation of Harrow Lake and its monster.

The characters within Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis were wonderfully unique and certainly made the discovery of this small town in Indiana memorable. We join Lola, daughter of Nolan Nox, as she is sent away to Harrow Lake to stay with her grandmother while her father recuperates in hospital after a brutal attack. The padding surrounding the Nox family was fascinating to read and again, it quickly became clear how much thought had gone into bringing these characters to life and ensuring they leapt off the page and straight into the readers’ imagination. The relationship between father and daughter in Harrow Lake was a complex one, and one that both intrigued yet confused me. As further details of Nolan and Lola’s life together began to unfold further as the plot progressed, I began to realise that this was so much more than just a scary story with a strange monster at its heart. It went much deeper and darker than I had originally anticipated, and in such a clever, secretive way, I couldn’t help but to marvel at the authors’ skill afterwards. There was a ton of mystery within this novel, so much so I felt certain I’d never figure out the truth behind Lola’s past and her family history.

I really loved the movie aspect of this novel, too. Not only does Lola travel to Harrow Lake to stay with her grandmother while her father remains in hospital, but Harrow Lake also happens to be the place where Nolan Nox’s bestselling movie, Nightjar, is set. It’s the movie which made Nolan Nox famous, and it is visited every year by millions of fans and tourists who are desperate to see the very real setting where the horror movie came to life. Knowing that Harrow Lake has such a history to it already really makes it feel all the more authentic, and rich with secrets. Learning of Nolan Nox and his career, and also what effect it had on his relationship with his daughter Lola, was fascinating, and made me enjoy the story all the more. I also enjoyed watching Lola interact with the other inhabitants of Harrow Lake, those of which all had their own stories to tell about the town. It was impossible not to get sucked into the tattle-taling, and to believe that something evil was lurking in Harrow Lake.

All in all, Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis was a harrowing, twisted and spine-tingling tale, exploring the very essence of childhood, of growing up, and of how some of the worst things we deal with when we’re young can, incredibly, take the shape of anything we choose. Mister Jitters played on my mind long after I turned the final page of this novel, and I’m certain he’ll do the same with other readers, too. I won’t be forgetting him in a hurry…
With thanks to the publisher for the advanced reading copy of this book, that of which has no reflection on me providing a fair and honest review.