Katherine Harbour's debut novel, Thorn Jack, offers readers a modern retelling of the ancient Scottish ballad of Tam Lin. The original tale centers on a young man's rescue by his true love from the dangerous Queen of the Faeries; Harbour's update is set in the small town of Fair Hollow in upstate New York, where Serafina "Finn" Sullivan and her father have just relocated to escape the memories of Finn's sister, Lily Rose, who recently died.
Finn starts her first year of college in Fair Hollow like any other freshman--and then she meets Jack Fata. What starts as a harmless dance at a party blossoms into something like a full-blown romance, and as Finn is drawn further and further into Jack's strange life, a world of secrets and tricks and haunted mansions emerges. When she begins to realize that this world could be somehow related to Lily Rose's death, Finn is determined to uncover the truth--even if the truth may kill her, too.
Unfortunately, the characters in Thorn Jack are sometimes uneven and clichéd, which can detract from the otherwise haunting, otherworldly feel of the story. But the beauty of Fair Hollow and Harbour's slow reveal of the dark, gothic nature of the town make up for it: old movie theaters become a backdrop for drama and history; college parties boast Shakespearean themes and laced drinks; abandoned Victorian mansions transform into decadent palaces decked in candles. As this is the first in a planned trilogy, readers can look forward to more from Harbour, as subsequent volumes may further crystallize the characters introduced here. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm