Like many of my young adult reads, Horrid was recommended to me by my friend, Maria.

The story is written by Katrina Leno, the author of several critically acclaimed young adult novels including, The Half Life of Molly Pierce, The Lost & Found, Everything All at Once, You Must Not Miss, and Summer of Salt. Leno also has a new book scheduled to be released in 2022 titled, Sometime in Summer.

The novel is centered around Jane North-Robinson, a teenager who relocates to New England with her mother after her father dies. Jane is a peculiar young person who spends a lot of time internally monologuing her way through life. She is an avid reader of Agatha Christy’s novels and turns out to have quite the temper that she suppresses with an extremely weird habit of eating books.

After her father dies, her mother decides to move them back to her childhood home where her mother (Jane’s grandmother) recently passed. To residents of the area, the house is rumored to be haunted because of its secret history. Jane knows none of this and her mother is not exactly the most forthcoming character.

As Jane settles into her new life she deals with the loss of her father, experiences the harsh east coast winters, makes new friends, and uncovers the secrets her mom and her grandmother’s home hold. Within her first few nights in her new home she experiences unsettling vibes, lights flickering, and creaking sounds throughout the house. Her mother insists that old homes constantly settle and there’s nothing to worry about.

Accepting this is near impossible for Jane, especially after she finds a room in the home that her mother keeps locked. Jane being Jane finds a way into the room and what she finds leads her to eventually find out what her mother has been hiding.

I won’t give it away, but I will leave this quote as a hint:

“Three little girls all eating things they weren’t supposed to eat. Three little girls all eating things in order to fill their bodies with something other than the anger, the rage, that would otherwise consume them.”

I enjoyed the author’s writing style a great deal. She writes the characters within the present times so there are lots of references to social media, the lingo used is very current, and the issues that the writer addresses are modern topics.

I must say, although this novel is labeled as horror it is young adult horror. There is no blood, gore, details of murder or death, aka none of the elements that I would traditionally consider horror. In my opinion, this book is much more mysterious and often makes you feel like you are peaking around a corner watching the plot unfold.

I would recommend this book to young adult readers who like mysterious and suspenseful novels that occasionally have a “jump scare.” The material is suitable for roughly ages 14 and up.

Thank you for reading,