Under the Harrow

In Flynn Berry’s debut novel, the narrator, Nora Lawrence, travels from London to spend time in a small country village visiting with her sister Rachel. The visit never happens. When Nora arrives at Rachel’s isolated house on the edge of the woods she discovers that her sister has been brutally murdered. Nora calls the police, and the investigation is underway. From this compelling beginning, Berry has fashioned a taut, chilling and tightly written psychological thriller that, chapter by chapter, ramps up the tension and keeps the reader guessing until the final pages. Nora speaks in a voice that is terse and jittery and just a bit off-kilter. Irked by the slow pace of the investigation and the official cloak of secrecy that show more surrounds it, she conducts a haphazard unofficial inquiry of her own, finally becoming fixated on a town handyman. Nora’s impulsive behavior and sudden mood swings make her an engaging and sympathetic protagonist as well as, at times, her own worst enemy. She trusts no one. She often breaks things and sometimes confronts people who would be better left alone. As the detectives plod through the particulars of the case, they also dig into Rachel’s checkered history, in the process uncovering facts that Nora wasn’t aware of along with a few unflattering truths that she knew about but hoped to keep to herself. Gradually, Nora’s erratic behavior and the frequent unreliability of her memories cause the reader to wonder what else she is hiding and what she is really capable of. Throughout the book the writing is richly atmospheric; the prose shimmers with detail that is precise and cinematic. Berry depicts the English countryside as a shadowy and eerily menacing place where even the most seemingly benign character is capable of anything. Under the Harrow is a quick and enjoyable read, and the suspense it generates is unrelenting. You will not be able to put this book down. show less

Under the Harrow is Flynn Berry's debut novel.

Nora is traveling to her sister's home for the weekend. She's a bit late, but when she arrives Rachel isn't there to meet the train. Nora instead walks to the house where she finds Rachel and her dog - brutally murdered.

Rachel was attacked as a teenager and the crime was never solved. Since then, she and Nora have always combed the crime reports, attended trials and more in an attempt to find the man who assaulted Rachel. Could he have found her after all this time? Is it someone in the village? A lover? A jealous wife? A stranger?

"Rachel said there was something wrong with the town, only a few weeks ago"

The search for answers consumes Nora - she stays in the village, unable to return to her show more own life. She becomes obsessed, certain she can find the killer as she feels the police aren't making any headway.

Under the Harrow is of course a mystery - there are many suspects offered up. And I liked that I was kept guessing until the very last pages.

But Under the Harrow is also an exploration of the relationship between the two sisters. How well do we really know those we love? How well do we know ourselves? What does such a calamitous event do to a person's psyche? For me, this was the strongest part of the book. Berry puts us in Nora's head - her staccato thoughts, memories, hazy recollections and fractured thinking is mirrored in her dialogue and actions. The reader is kept off kilter, trying to keep up with Nora's galloping 'stream of consciousness' thoughts. And I began to question Nora's memories. Are they true or her remembered truths?

The title? It's a C.S. Lewis quote from A Grief Observed:

"Come, what do we gain by evasions? We are under the harrow and can't escape."

This was a strong debut and an author I would pick up again. show less

Wow. This is a really well crafted mystery. The main character is the sister of the murder victim and not since Wuthering heights has there been a more unreliable narrator. At times I found myself not just wondering if she'd done it, but wondering if she had a sister or there really was a murder. The hints about her reliability are fairly subtle, but definitely there. A great accomplishment for any writer, but for a first time novelist, an amazing job

Tumultuous would be an understatement to
describe the current political climate in the
states, so I found it quite pleasant to immerse
myself in a very British novel, albeit a murder
mystery. As I’ve said before, I am no fan of the
dime-store whodunits and refuse to read
anything by James Patterson. Sorry, James.
However,I received Flynn Berry’s debut novel,
Under the Harrow in a holiday book exchange
and was hopeful and intrigued. I was not
disappointed!

What hooked me on this book had little to do
with plot. I never care who the murderer is. I
want to get lost in the journey.Berry’s prose
is haunting and beautiful. Her protagonist, the
grieving sister of a murder victim, begins to
lose the self she once was in increments, and
it’s not show more necessarily a bad thing. Instead of
attempting to act sane and move on, Nora
voices her compulsive thoughts, her demons,
at least through the narrator, if not to other
characters, though she does a bit of that as well.

Under the Harrow has a distinct voice. It speaks
up and speaks out for battered women without
being trite or overbearing. I found that I liked
both Nora and her late sister Rachel as people
and respected them for the traits and truths
Berry used them to convey about women.Both
have trouble with romantic relationships and
what society expects of them in regard to these.
There are also fringe female characters whose
lives have taken different turns, cheating
housewives and happy mothers, who serve as
contrasts to the sisters.

Though I wasn’t completely blown away by the
ending, I didn’t need to be. I much more
enjoyed and appreciated Nora’s journey than
the aha! moment near its conclusion.
Still, it wasn’t a bad close and unlike Claire
Mackintosh’s I Let You Go, its ending and
unraveling of secrets is purposeful and
believable. I will follow future Berry
releases but hope she doesn’t limit herself
to crime fiction. show less

this is well done. the writing is tight and clean, if a tad unusual, and the story definitely interesting. i'm not sure why i wasn't more into it because i can't pinpoint anything really wrong with it. the idea is good, the execution is good, the questionable reliability of the narrator is good - and probably my favorite thing to read. i liked the resolution, even as it sort of seemed to come from nowhere, and there was suspense laden all the way throughout.

i think i was hoping for a more gritty, intense read, and one that i couldn't put down. while i could put this down and not need to pick it back up immediately, i still thought it was really good and kept me thinking. i love an unreliable narrator, and the more i think about this show more book, the more unreliable nora becomes. and i really loved this bit near the end:

"If she told me she knew him, she wouldn't be able to forgive me if, for even a second, I suggested it was somehow her fault.
But I don't understand why she thought I would have." it so captures both of their vulnerabilities and the reality that each of them would be facing after an assault.

i think berry handled trauma well, and the way both of the sisters' lives were completely upended because of one traumatic event in the past. (i kept wondering what they would have been like, who they would have been, if that hadn't happened to rachel.) grief, too, and how it can change you or make you do things that maybe don't make sense to anyone else. (and the obsession certainly didn't make sense to me, on the face of it, but it worked for nora.) this is haunting. in a good way. show less

Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry is a tense suspense novel that keeps the reader wondering about what the truth really is. The tension is tweaked continuously and several times an explosion seems immanent, but instead we are wound a little tighter.

Speaking of being wound tight, Nora narrates and is definitely wound a bit tight. It is through her consciousness that we experience the ongoing investigation, her own investigation and the story of her and her sister's life. We question her reliability, her sanity and maybe even her guilt/innocence throughout.

The writing is very conducive to the mood, descriptive to the point of distraction and often very flat. In this work these are not negatives but rather an excellent way to present Nora's show more thoughts, which tend toward flat and distracted. She is as likely to drift to a memory in the middle of questioning as she is to actually answer the question.

I found the ways in which Flynn provided flashbacks to be wonderful. In addition to what we usually expect, a clearly delineated scene, we also get comments from the deceased sister (made in the past about perhaps a tangentially related topic) within the flow of Nora's conversation with someone in the present. Once you become aware of it I believe it helps to fully round out Nora's unusual mannerisms.

This is a mystery so I think most mystery readers will enjoy it, just be prepared for a unique way of presenting the facts. I find it more of a psychological suspense novel and as such I think it is exceptional, so highly recommended for those fans. For those who enjoy reading something that pushes the boundaries of popular storytelling, I am sure you will find much here to consider.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads. show less

In a world where now every single psychological thriller that is released is praised as the next [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276], it's hard to find the real gems out there that stand on their own.

Under the Harrow is a fast-paced read that never lets the reader feel comfortable in their thoughts and opinions both about the narrator, Nora, or the surrounding characters Nora suspects to be guilty of her sister's horrific murder. As Nora slowly starts to unravel more and more towards the novel's end, the fact that she becomes an unreliable narrator helps to heighten the suspense of the story as a whole. What ultimately makes this enjoyable is that show more the author, Flynn Berry, does this in her own unique way - this is no Gillian Flynn copy cat.

The only gripe I have about this book is that the ending felt a bit rushed and neatly tied together. For all the beautiful language the author uses throughout the novel, the ending leaves you feeling a bit breathless in how quickly it comes upon you. Because of how much I enjoyed the rest of the storyline and can appreciate not being left in the dark as to who really murdered Nora's sister, Rachel, I'm quick to forgive this slight detail. This is a great first novel and I'm looking forward to the next book Flynn Berry writes! show less