Book Review: The Harvest by Sara Clancy

A gruesomely terrifying piece of horror – and I loved every bit of it!

I picked this up on a whim and boy am I glad I trust my whims – this book is absolutely terrifying straight out of the gate.

The premise is simple: four old families are cursed forever by a dead witch, forced to take part in the witch’s harvest, every year.

The twist? The witch picks the four contestants herself – after haunting them for weeks on end – and if they don’t complete the harvest within seven days, they die.

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started reading this (which is how I often throw myself over books), but this impressed me greatly. Right from the start it was terrifying and horrible, and Clancy has an incredible way of painting an image and setting a scene.

There’s something raw and real about horror that keeps pulling me back when I deep down also want to look away – be it in books, movies or video games. It awakens that instinct in me that makes you want to peek through your fingers, that makes you want to investigate the creepy sound from the loft, or call out for whoever’s there when you know you’re home alone – and Sara Clancy does it really well.

This book is part terrifying horror story and part YA adventure novel, and I’d say I liked the horror part the most. It’s not that I didn’t like when the four harvest contestants had to overcome their personal horrors and work together to survive – there’s a battle royale feeling to all of it that I enjoyed a lot – it’s just that I’m much more intrigued by the horror.

Clancy has set this series up for an interesting continuation and any lover of a good horror story would enjoy this – just make sure to lock your doors and maybe have a friend ready on speed dial.