I’m always on the lookout for great new books to read, so I was super excited when I bought a copy of Harbor from eBay. I had so many other books I had to read first that it sat on my shelf for about a month before I had the chance to start on it. The author, John Ajvide Lindqvist, was said to be Sweden’s version of Stephen King, so my hopes for this book were high. The beginning was promising. Within the first twenty-five pages, a young girl mysteriously disappears while out with her parents. They could not figure out where she had gone. She just vanished. That was an awesome start.
Then things slowed down, way down. The story slowed down so much that it took me a month to finish this 499-page book. I am an avid reader, and I’ve been known to finish books that long in just days. If the book is really great, well, everything else is put on hold and has to wait for me to turn the final page of the book. That definitely did not happen with Harbor.
The author went into great detail about all the characters that lived on this little island. He basically told the story of each of their lives. The writing was good but boring. And very little of this detail had anything to do with the main gist of the story. It bored me, but that didn’t stop me from reading. It just caused me to read it really slow.
When I finally reached page 251, something interesting was finally said. The sea. It comes looking for us and it takes us. Wherever we are. That was said in the middle of a much longer conversation, but it did catch my interest again. As the end of the book grew near, it did become more interesting. And the ending was satisfactory.
Were there any scary parts? Yes, there were moments that kept me on the edge of my seat, but they were rare.
Mr. Lindqvist does have a gift for writing, but there was a huge chunk of the book that, in this reader’s opinion, should have been left out. If all of the boring parts had been taken out and kept only by the author so he knew the backstory of all the characters and events, then the book would have been about 250 pages long and much more enjoyable.
I bought this book from a seller on eBay for my own reading pleasure. There are many that have given this book a great review, so it is possible that you would really like it. If you would like a copy of this book for your own, I have provided an Amazon link below.
Amazon Link: Harbor
About the Author:
John Ajvide Lindqvist is the author of Handling the Undead and international sensation Let the Right One In, which has been made into critically acclaimed films in both Sweden and the United States (as Let Me In). The Swedish film based on the book, for which Lindqvist wrote the screenplay, won top honors at the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as at film festivals around the globe. Of the American film, Stephen King commented, “Let Me In is a genre-busting triumph. Not just a horror film, but the best American horror film in the last twenty years…Rush to it now. You can thank me later.”
Lindqvist became an author after careers as a magician and as a stand-up comic. He has also written for television. His books are published in twenty-nine countries; he lives in Sweden.
