Harmony House

January 4, 2016
Sheff (Schizo) uses Gothic trappings to explore the many forms that addiction can take. Strange things start happening soon after Jen Noonan and her father move into Harmony House on the New Jersey shore as winter caretakers. They are both grieving the death of Jen’s alcoholic mother, yet her already religious father seems to be descending into dangerous zealotry. Soon Jen starts hearing voices, and the spooky old house isn’t helping her mood, but she has met some new friends and hopes to settle in. It’s not to be. As her father becomes increasingly consumed by religious fervor, Jen has visions of the home’s evil past and copes by taking pills. Although entertaining, Sheff’s story is rushed (especially the violent conclusion), with scares served up as if following a horror blueprint. Jen’s burgeoning “powers” aren’t explored much, and Colin, the nice local boy she meets, manifests at highly convenient times, such as to save her from a violent teen’s attack. Even so, the book’s chills might appeal to those looking for a quick, eerie read. Ages 14–up. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM.

April 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-After Jen Noonan and her father, Anselm, are emotionally destroyed by the death of Jen's mother, her father relocates them to a dark, abandoned mansion called Harmony House. Formerly a home for unwed mothers run by the Catholic church, Harmony House, with its sinister presence, drives Jen's father deeper into religious fanaticism and causes Jen to have terrifying nightmares and visions. The book begins with a prologue, set at Harmony House in 1867, describing the unexplained pregnancy of a teenager named Cornelia (the unborn child was possibly fathered by the devil) and her subsequent dramatic suicide. Disappointingly, Cornelia is absent from the remaining narrative, though Jen (in the present) has a terrifying vision of Cornelia, and a new friend is haunted by the vision as well. Creepy cadence and Jen's increasing paranoia propel the narrative forward, along with strange plot points like an earthquake and another unexplained pregnancy. Very strong language and adult themes of sex and religion keep the story entertaining and creepy but can sometimes feel gratuitous. An underwhelming and decidedly weak resolution feels less like a sigh of relief and more like a sigh of disappointment. Horror buffs will recognize the various nods to classic films, such as The Exorcist, The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, The Haunting, and Psycho, but may feel left in the dark by the overstuffed tale and some of the dead-end plot points. VERDICT Give this book to teens who have read all the horror they can get their hands on and are looking for something more.-Amy M. Laughlin, Darien Library, CT

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2015
A girl dominated by her fanatically religious father tries to escape when he confines her inside a haunted house. Jen knows her father is approaching insanity in his religious devotion, but since the death of her alcoholic mother, she has been trapped. When her father takes a job as the offseason caretaker of a notoriously strange hotel, she immediately senses danger. Jen gets vivid visions of the previous occupants. The building formerly had been a Catholic home for unwed mothers, run by a monsignor who, if his ghostly apparitions are accurate, was an evil and abusive person; the nun also in charge was no better. Jen finds herself endangered not only by the house, but by an apparently unhinged local boy who attacks her when she refuses his advances. Jen frequently draws from a stash of drugs she has hidden to escape mentally from the stress, but she begins to realize that she must actually escape the house. Scenes of the miseries inflicted on the building's previous occupants are interspersed with Jen's narration, ramping up the tension. As events build to a truly frightening climax, Jen may have to rely on something supernatural to save her. Sheff writes solid suspense that recalls the classics: both Stephen King's The Shining and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, among others. A solid and quite frightening tale of the supernatural. (Horror. 12-18)

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January 1, 2016
Grades 10-1 Cornelia, a young girl in the nineteenth century, believes she has been possessed by a demon and things do not end well for her. Almost a century and a half later, protagonist Jen is forced to move to the creepy Harmony House estate, where she hears more than just one story of death and downfall. The tiny town of Beach Haven is alive with rumors about the history of the hotel and what has transpired there over the years, and it's enough to terrify Jen, especially in the face of her paranoid father's growing madness. When she starts having visions of previous residents, she is beyond rattled and sure she will never get out alive. This is Sheff's first foray into fiction, and the haunting hells he has brought to this debut are chillingly realistic, evoking the classic Kingsian horror of both Carrie (1974) and The Shining (1977). Though the language is a little more adult than the usual YA fare, this is still a safe bet for most libraries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
Jen and her father move into creepy Harmony House after her mother's death. Jen soon finds herself in peril; visions reveal the house's bloody history, including her father's own childhood stint there. The derivative story is overstuffed with dangers, both paranormal (ghosts, possession) and real-world (religious fanaticismfueled child abuse, attempted rape)--all played for shock value rather than plot or character development.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)