Published 15th May by Salt Publishing.
From the cover of the book:
Evie Mathews and her son Alfie flee from her abusive partner Seth to spend New Year with her half-brother Luke at their late father's summer home on the Suffolk Coast, only to find Seahurst abandoned and Luke missing.Evie searches for her brother, filled with a deepening dread that something is very wrong at Seahurst and their father's death may not have been suicide after all.
As Seahurst's ancient and sinister secrets unfurl around her, Evie fears the souls of the dead will soon claim another terrible revenge.
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After a desperate flight from her abusive partner in Toronto, Evie Mathews arrives in Suffolk with her young son Alfie, to spend the New Year with her half-brother Luke and get some perspective on their future. But when they arrive at Seahurst, the modern cliff-top house Evie and Luke's father built as his summer home, the place seems hastily abandoned - and Luke is nowhere to be found.
As Evie tries to reconnect with former friends, and cope with the odd atmosphere at Seahurst, she is plagued with worries about the disappearance of Luke - especially given his obsession with the research their father had been undertaking into Seahurst's past, and his new found conviction that his death might not have been a suicide after all.
As she searches for clues, she becomes convinced that something is very wrong about Seahurst. Might there be some truth in the folklore tales about a curse connected with this place? Will she and Alfie become the next victims of the ghosts that demand revenge from beyond the grave?
Having really enjoyed Sally Harris' deliciously chilling, debut ghost story Haverscroft, I could not wait to dive into her follow-up novel Seahurst - and it was every bit as unsettling as I hoped. This time around Harris flips the ghost story trope in terrifying style, from a creepy old house to a modern construction of glass and steel that forms a conduit to sins of the past...
This is all about ancient history and the burden of secrets, both in terms of the ghost story elements and the threads of the personal lives of the characters that weave around them. Harris makes the most of folklore tales of witches and curses that ooze from the fabric of places like the wild and windswept Suffolk coast, using them to flood this story with a jarring sense that something is really not right about Seahurst. Strange sounds, foul smells, mysterious happenings, and stormy weather, all come together to enhance the menacing feeling of dread as you wait for the inevitable shoe to drop. The past is waiting to pull the characters down to their doom, and this works so well with the backdrop of a coastline battered by the unpredictable power of the sea, where the cliff-edge creeps closer with sinister intent.
I am very impressed with the way Harris' writing has grown since Haverscroft in terms of her character development. As in Haverscroft, you have a mother as the leading character, but Seahurst has a much more complex ensemble cast, and their personal stories and interactions reflect the pull of history, and turmoil under the surface. The intricacies of dysfunctional relationships, guilt, regret, and the weight of things not said complement the overall themes nicely.
This is an accomplished ghost story that holds you fast, and scares you witless. There is an unmistakable echo of Michelle Paver's excellent chill-fests Dark Matter and Thin Air in the feel of this book, albeit in a modern setting, which I thoroughly enjoyed too. I cannot recommend this book enough if you love a ghost story done well, and apolgise in advance for the nightmares you will sure be left with about bone rattles...
Seahurst is available to buy now in ebook and paperback formats. You can support indie publishing by buying direct from Salt HERE.
Thank you to Salt for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Richardson PR for asking me to join this blog tour.
About the author:
She won the Retreat West Crime Writer Competition in 2017, was shortlisted for The Fresher Prize First 500 Words of a Novel Competition and published in their anthology, Monsters in November 2018.
When not writing, S.A. Harris is a solicitor living with her husband and three children in Norwich, Norfolk. She tries to spend as much time as possible on the Suffolk coast, walking the beach at Covehithe, visiting cafes and bookshops in Southwold and wandering amongst the ruins of Greyfriars Medieval Friary at Dunwich.
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