Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry

 Under the Harrow

by Flynn Berry

This was a page turner!

Under the Harrow follows Nora as she searches for her sister's killer in the small English village of Marlow. Entering her sister Rachel's house one late afternoon, Nora discovers both her sister and her sister's dog murdered; the dog hung form the staircase and her sister stabbed to death and lying in her bedroom. Nora, panicked calls the police and an investigation ensues. Is the killer an ex-boyfriend? An ex-con who previously assaulted her? A neighbor? Nora, herself?

Nora, impatient with the pace of the investigation and reeling over the loss of her sister stays in the village and puts herself in potentially dangerous situations in order to track the movements of, and to outright question, several people she thinks could give her answers or whom she thinks may have killed her sister. The atmosphere is tense, melancholic, and masochistic. Nora remembers times with her sister, glossing over the bad parts of their relationship until the end where it looks like she had many reasons to perpetrate the crime herself. We learn that Rachel was keeping secrets from her sister and Nora is determined to find out what those are and why, all while dealing with her own overwhelming grief and loss.

I found the ending a little too abrupt and neatly packaged, though. The killer was not someone the reader could have guessed, which bothered me a little. But the vast majority of the story was very interesting, engaging, and had me glued to the page. The voice was close and I was really in it with Nora. The dangerous things she got up to had me nervous for her, but oddly interested to see if something bad would actually happen to her. She almost wished it would. It was macabre and I liked it! The plot and pacing were spot on up until the very end.

Under the Harrow is easily a 4-star read.