The Harbor

by Al Lamanda

Harbor Island is a sleepy little island town off the coast of Maine. When an old man dies, his eighty year old secret is revealed and the power of Satan is unleashed upon the island. Slowly, the power of the anti-Christ spreads throughout the island, possessing citizens and driving them to insane murders and suicides. Seemingly unstoppable, the power is determined to kill every resident on the island and spread to the mainland. The Harbor is classic horror that will frighten and leave the reader breathless as the story races to its startling climax.

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 14, 2011

About the author

Al Lamanda was born and raised in The Bronx, New York. He worked for many years as a private investigator and crime prevention specialist. He has authored five published novels, two feature films with another under option and more than a dozen books for Kindle.

Reviews

[Stacey Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read The Harbor, by Al Lamanda, because of something I saw on Facebook. In one of the groups I belong to, Al (can I call you Al?) had posted a message he'd gotten from a woman requesting a refund. Her reason? She thought the book was too scary. What better praise for a horror writer, I ask you. So I immediately downloaded the book to my Kindle. Holidays finally finished and I realized that I had about 30 books to read. Where to start? Well I'm always looking for a good scare, so I started The Harbor.

I finished the book last night. It took me three nights to read, as I have a reading period from about 10pm to midnight every night. Last night I stayed up until one to finish the book. Yes, I was that hooked. And after I put the light out, I was still thinking about the premise of the book. And, I'll admit, I was a bit uneasy lying there in the dark. That's the ultimate praise I can give a horror novel- if it makes me uneasy after I put out the light, then it was well done.

I went to amazon.com today to see what other reviewers had said. Most were favorable, but there was one two star. He pointed to flaws (typos, wrong words, ect.). I did notice those things (I can't take off the editor glasses when I read), but they weren't bad enough to distract me from the story itself. He said the writing was bad. I disagree. Each to his own, but I feel pretty qualified to judge storytelling skill. And he pointed out that there was a lot of cigarette smoking and eating in the book (I wondered why I was so hungry!) and there was, but it fit the storyline. I don't even smoke, but had I been a character in this book, I think I would have started.

The basic story is about a small island off the coast of Maine which seems to have a habit of erupting into bloody, unsolved murders every so often. It happens again and Sheriff Mark Blaine wants to get to the bottom of the problem. There is a host of other characters in the story, but Blaine is ultimately my favorite. He's a flawed character and it lends a depth of vulnerability that really makes him likable. The murders are sufficiently gory and the plot speeds along. The central premise of possession and evil is well explained and plausible. I don't think the religious aspect was overdone at all. I liked that explanation of why some were possessed and some were granted absolution. And oddly enough, with all the gruesome axe murders in this book, it was the one accidental death that left me the most horrified. Now you have to read it, just to figure out what I'm talking about!

Overall, I'd recommend this book. The story was a good one, the characters well developed, the premise sound and the action swift. It left me thinking about it long after I'd put the book down. I'll definitely read more of this author's work.

[Canyonxplorer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Harbor treads familiar ground with a small town Sheriff trying to figure out a series of brutal murders and the links to events decades before in the town's past. Without giving too much away - all the murders stem from an item which affects people who are exposed to it. I didn't have high hopes for the book but I was more than pleasantly surprised, in fact as a result I've bought another of the author's books "Apocalypse Then".

Spelling errors aside (which seem to plague many e-books) I really enjoyed the first half of the book. The atmosphere was good, the characters were interesting and the dialogue credible. It is written similar in style to a police procedural but with supernatural overtones and moves along at a fast pace.

I lost a little interest in the second half as the book was becoming somewhat repetitious - introduce a character, expose them to the item and they meet their demise. The narrative slowed down and overall the book probably goes on 50 pages too long. The story bogs down and introduces elements which contradict the information that you think you have already learnt - some of this works, throwing the reader off-balance, some of it, in my opinion, didn't work.

And then there's the ending - 300 pages of build-up, there is a short climatic scene, probably no more than 5 pages, a brief wash-up which doesn't give any closure and then the book abruptly ends. I was actually quite shocked when I saw "The End".

In summary - mostly well-written, good central concept, great first half but weaker second half - ending could do with being rewritten.

As an aside I don't think I have ever read a book where characters eat so much.