Review: Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne

Title: Harbinger

Author: Sara Wilson Etienne

Publisher:  G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR

Publication Date: 2.2.12

Pages: 309

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Series: No

Source: ARC from author

Rating: B+

Summary (from Goodreads):

Plagued by waking visions and nightmares, inexplicably drawn to the bones of dead animals, Faye thinks she's going crazy. Fast. Her parents beleive Holbrook Academy might just be the solution. Dr. Mordoch tells her it's the only answer. But Faye knows that something's not quite right about Dr. Mordoch and her creepy, prisonlike school for disturbed teenagers.

What's wrong with Holbrook goes beyond the Takers, sadistic guards who threaten the student body with Tasers and pepper spray; or Nurse, who doles out pills at bedtime and doses of solitary confinement when kids step out of line; or Rita, the strange girl who delivers ominous messages to Faye that never seem to make any sense. What's wrong with Holbrook begins and ends with Faye's red hands; she and her newfound friends--her Holbrook "family"--wake up every morning with their hands stained the terrible brown of dried blood. Faye has no idea what it means but fears she may be the cause.

Because despite the strangeness of Holbrook and the island on which it sits, Faye feels oddly connected to the place; she feels especially linked to the handsome Kel, who helps her unravel the mystery. There's just one problem: Faye's certain Kel's trying to kill her--and maybe the rest of the world, too.

Review:

It takes a lot for a book to spook me, which is why I don’t recommend reading this one at night when the rest of the house is asleep. Sara Wilson Etienne scared the crap out of me in Harbinger—and I loved every second of it.

Faye is a complex character. She hasn’t had an easy life—far from it. She questions everything and has lived under the assumption that she’s insane for years. She took a little while for me to adjust to, but by the middle of the novel, I genuine came to care for her, and the members of her “Family”—her fellow asylum inmates.

I am a horribly impatient reader by nature. I tend to like knowing exactly where a book is going, and I really had to let that control issue go here. I was often times just as confused as Faye was, and had to wait for things to be revealed to me as they were revealed to her. I sort of got irritated by that at first, then I quickly let that go and gave myself over to this novel.

This book is a page turner. Etienne gives just enough tantalizing details to keep you guessing and intrigued. I had to get to the end to find out what was happening. This book gets down right freaky in some places, but it’s totally worth the read. I can’t wait to see what she writes next because I will definitely be reading it.

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