Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A real thriller. I disagree with the tag of "horror" genre, I think it will turn some people off from reading this book. Lindqvist has a way of taking a story and drawing you into it immediately. You can smell the smells, feel the textures, hear the sounds, you know the people he writes about as if you've known them forever.
Harbor is about several different people whose lives are intertwined on a small archipelago outside of Stockholm. A little girl vanishes right in front of her parents eyes, a couple whose love still burns as strong as the day they fell in love still live in separate houses next door to one another, a father keeps a tiny insect wormlike creature called a spiritus (spertus Norse mythology) in a box that requires a daily feeding or the consequences are dire and oddly, people just disappear every so often, without a trace and without rhyme or reason.
Product Description
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.
From the Inside Flap
They only stopped watching her for a couple of minutes. Which was all it took.
On a clear winter's day, Anders took his wife and feisty six-year-old, Maja, for a walk from his home on the island across the frozen sea to the lighthouse at Gavasten. There was no one for miles around, so they stayed to admire the view while Maja struck out alone.
They never saw her again.
Two years later and Anders' wife has left him, he's an unemployable alcoholic, so he returns to what's left of his family on the island. Moving back to the hut where he'd been staying with Maja that last time, he soon begins to feel a presence in the house. Could Maja be trying to communicate with him? Someone - or something - is leaving him messages and he can feel them getting stronger.
Before long, it's not just a feeling and Anders starts seeing people who've been missing for years. Is it the drink or is he going mad?
About the Author
John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish author, born 1968, grew up in Blackeberg, a suburb to Stockholm. He wanted to become something awful and fantastic. First he became a conjurer and came in second in the Nordic card trick championship, then he was a stand-up comedian for twelve years. John has written TV series as well as stage plays and TV drama. Two of his other novels, Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead have been translated into English and published by Quercus.
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