Under the Harrow

Flynn Berry's debut publication received an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It is a twisty psychological thriller that explores both the complex relationship between narrator Nora and her sister Rachel and the depths of obsession that love and guilt can lead one to. The book opens with Nora, who is heading for a semi-regular weekend visit with her sister Rachel. Nora lives in London and Rachel lives alone in a farmhouse with her dog near a small town outside London. But instead of finding Rachel in the kitchen preparing dinner, she discovers her body, stabbed multiple times and Rachel's dog hanging from the stairway banister. When they were teens--fairly wild ones based on flashbacks--Rachel was attacked and brutally beaten on her way home from a party. The police never took the case seriously and never found the attacker. For years afterwards, Rachel and Nora went on their own vigilante hunt for the perpetrator until Rachel finally called it quits. Now Nora wonders if the earlier attacker has somehow tracked Rachel and killed her. Based on their earlier experience, Nora has no faith that the police will solve this crime either and so, once again, she undertakes her own investigation, managing to alienate almost everyone that Rachel knew in the process. She becomes so obsessed that she sublets her London flat, distances herself from friends, takes up residence in the small town's hotel, and cultivates one of the detectives assigned to the case. As the backstory is revealed, we realize that Nora is less than a reliable reporter.  And it turns out that Nora knew less about her sister than she thought she did. The ending is definitely a surprise.

The New York Times say of her writing, "Such precise sentences call to mind Hitchcock’s meticulous storyboards and enrich the work with a cinematic scope." Kirkus concludes, "Berry accomplishes the rare feat of making the victim come alive on the page without ever sacrificing the deep, all-encompassing loss felt by those left behind." The Washington Post calls this an "exquisitely taut and intense debut thriller."