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The Harrowing (A Ghost Story) Kindle Edition

4.0 out of 5 stars 517 ratings

---- Nominated for the Bram Stoker and Anthony Award for Best First Novel ----

Baird College's Mendenhall echoes with the footsteps of the last home-bound students heading off for Thanksgiving break, and Robin Stone swears she can feel the creepy, hundred-year-old residence hall breathe a sigh of relief for its long-awaited solitude. Or perhaps it's only gathering itself for the coming weekend.

As a massive storm dumps rain on the isolated campus, four other lonely students reveal themselves: Patrick, a handsome jock; Lisa, a manipulative tease; Cain, a brooding musician; and finally Martin, a scholarly eccentric. Each has forsaken a long weekend at home for their own secret reasons.

The five unlikely companions establish a tentative rapport, but they soon become aware of a sixth presence disturbing the ominous silence that pervades the building. Are they the victims of a simple college prank taken way too far, or is the unusual energy evidence of something genuine---and intent on using the five students for its own terrifying ends? It's only Thursday afternoon, and they have three long days and dark nights before the rest of the world returns to find out what's become of them. But for now it's just the darkness keeping company with five students nobody wants and no one will miss.

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Reviews:

"Poltergeist meets The Breakfast Club as five college students tangle with an ancient evil presence. Plenty of sexual tension... quick pace and engaging plot."
--- Kirkus Reviews

'Absolutely gripping...It is easy to imagine this as a film...Once started, you won't want to stop reading'
---London Times

'Sokoloff's debut novel is an eerie ghost story that captivates readers from page one. The author creates an element of suspense that builds until the chillingly believable conclusion."'
--Romantic Times

What better thing could strangers isolated in a big, near-deserted building while a raging storm takes out the electricity and compels the use of flickering candles possibly discover than an ancient, charred Ouija board? The previously unacquainted in question are five students sitting out Thanksgiving weekend in a 100-year-old residence hall. And that Ouija board turns wicked, of course, when it manifests a ghost named Zachary, who turns the place into a chaotic battleground for the forces of evil versus cosmic goodness and light. What seemed a sick joke one of the five was playing on the others has morphed into a situation in which no one can be trusted. Sokoloff sustains pace and suspense while encouraging the reader to identify with Robin, a young woman from a poor, alcohol-ravaged family, who yearns for acceptance. Will she get it from the all-American jock she lusts for; the slutty tease; the quiet, intellectual rabbi's son; and the brooding musician who are her companions for this scary ordeal? Good, engrossing fun.

--- Booklist, Whitney Scott (© American Library Association)

"The Harrowing is a real page-turner, a first novel of unusual promise."
---Ira Levin

"The Harrowing is a find: fast, original, and genuinely creepy."
---F. Paul Wilson

"Alexandra Sokoloff conjures up a demon older than time and humanity and yet rooted in modern psychology. She brings all her skills as a screenwriter to a tale of supernatural terror as swift as a film."
---Ramsey Campbell

"Sokoloff's debut novel is a furiously paced, deftly plotted joy, bursting at the seams with disquieting imagery and carrying a disturbingly dark undercurrent. It gave me a nightmare…and that's rare."
---Tim Lebbon

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About the Author

ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF is the Thriller Award-winning author of THE UNSEEN, THE PRICE, THE SHIFTERS, THE SPACE BETWEEN, THE HARROWING and the Huntress FBI series (HUNTRESS MOON). She is a produced screenwriter and the author of the writing workbooks SCREENWRI
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of screenwriter Sokoloff's first novel, a teen terror flick in prose, generic Baird College is emptying out for Thanksgiving break, but a few stalwart students have decided to stay on campus to avoid going home to their dysfunctional families. One night, under the influence of booze and drugs, they whip out a ouija board and inadvertently summon what they believe is the spirit of a student who died there decades before. In truth, it's something nastier, and the quintet spend the rest of the story desperately trying to send back to the void an evil entity that won't go gently. The characters, who include the mousy good girl and the nerd whose scholarly skepticism grows increasingly grating with each repeat expression, develop little personality outside of their carefully crafted types. The pyrotechnic climax, in which the kids prove unusually adept at occult subterfuge, stretches credibility but provides a suitably cinematic finale. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up–Robin, an outcast college student, has problems connecting with others because of her dark past. When she stays at school over the Thanksgiving holiday, she believes that she is alone in the gothic castle of a dormitory. However, four other students are also there. The first evening, they find themselves in a lounge together, and, after drinking and smoking pot, they discover a Ouija board. When Robin and another girl use it, they connect with a spirit who calls himself Zachary, a student who died in a fire in the dorm years before. But the five students have actually contacted something far more sinister and dangerous than a ghost. Soon the question becomes whether any of them will survive the encounter. The book reads like the script of a low-budget horror movie, and the characters never rise above stereotypes. Additionally, the story is undermined by the rushed ending. Skip this derivative work in favor of more original titles.–Tasha Saecker, Menasha Public Library, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006K5RVXI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Piatkus Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 9, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 388 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 225 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 517 ratings

About the author

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Alexandra Sokoloff
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"Some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre." - The New York Times

ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF is the Thriller Award-winning, Bram Stoker & Anthony Award-nominated author of the Amazon bestselling Huntress/FBI series (HUNTRESS MOON, BLOOD MOON, COLD MOON, BITTER MOON, HUNGER MOON, SHADOW MOON) - now in development for television), and the supernatural HAUNTED thrillers (THE HARROWING, THE PRICE, THE UNSEEN, BOOK OF SHADOWS).

As a screenwriter she’s sold original scripts and adapted novels for numerous Hollywood studios. She’s also written the non-fiction workbooks for writers: STEALING HOLLYWOOD, and WRITING LOVE, based on her internationally acclaimed workshops and blog.

Alex is a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where she majored in theater and minored in everything Berkeley has a reputation for. She lives in L.A and in Scotland with her crime author husband, Craig Robertson. Book 1 of their new LOST HIGHWAY mystery series is out in 2026.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
517 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers thoroughly enjoy this novel, praising its fast-paced narrative and interesting horror elements with just the right amount of creepiness. The book features rich character development, particularly in the portrayal of the five college students, and is well-written with fantastic descriptions of the environment. Customers appreciate the superb build-up, and one customer highlights the great use of Kabbalah lore in the story.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

76 customers mention "Readability"67 positive9 negative

Customers find the book thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining, with one customer noting it's a well-written tale of good vs evil.

"...I thought it was well-written, entertaining, and creative. This is Sokoloff's first novel and I'm looking forward to more from her...." Read more

"...original, but it was well written, well-paced, and engaging enough to keep my attention, so I enjoyed reading it and felt like it was worth the $3 I..." Read more

"...Would be a good film." Read more

"...relationships, interesting Hebrew religious history and you have a great story...." Read more

50 customers mention "Scariness level"35 positive15 negative

Customers enjoy the horror elements of the book, finding it suspenseful with just the right amount of creepiness.

"This was a fun supernatural YA thriller that was not to elaborate. Would be a good film." Read more

"...The Harrowing is a bone chilling book filled with so much gore and ghost-ish that's a the perfect read for anyone obsessed with horrors, thrillers..." Read more

"...I agree with many of the other reviews - this would make a great horror movie...." Read more

"...Very enjoyable with the right amount of creepiness." Read more

21 customers mention "Pacing"16 positive5 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book well-executed and fast-paced, with one customer noting the quick twists and turns.

"...and other Jewish folklore is fascinating. The plot moves at a great pace and I certainly can see this as a movie, which isn't surprising..." Read more

"...a great book, and is not terribly original, but it was well written, well-paced, and engaging enough to keep my attention, so I enjoyed reading it..." Read more

"...It seemed to me that this book peaked too early. The pacing was very good up until about 2/3 of the way through...." Read more

"...There are no great surprises but it is well-written and nicely paced with wonderful atmosphere and some very interesting characters...." Read more

20 customers mention "Character development"20 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, finding them rich, with one customer particularly praising the portrayal of the five college students.

"...I thought the characterizations of the five college students was great...." Read more

"...Robin's character is well-drawn, although I would have liked more...." Read more

"...But they were still well developed enough as characters that I became interested in them and concerned for them...." Read more

"...While the characters are pretty commonplace in describing a school setting, the jock, the slut, the innocent, the scholar and the artist, the story..." Read more

19 customers mention "Writing style"16 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, finding it well written and readable, with one customer noting its fantastic descriptions of the environment.

"...been so, but Sokoloff does an admirable job of evoking some very haunting imagery without resorting to any tricks, and brings out the story in a..." Read more

"...is not a great book, and is not terribly original, but it was well written, well-paced, and engaging enough to keep my attention, so I enjoyed..." Read more

"...Throw in the fantastic descriptions of the environment and personal relationships, interesting Hebrew religious history and you have a great..." Read more

"...I did like the writing style and the bits of Freud and Jung that were slipped in as part of one student's POV...." Read more

7 customers mention "Development"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the development of the book, with several noting the superb build-up, and one customer highlighting the great descriptions.

"...The build-up is superb as the five bored students, staying at Baird College for the Thanksgiving break, find an ouija board and strange things..." Read more

"This was a fun supernatural YA thriller that was not to elaborate. Would be a good film." Read more

"...But I really enjoyed it - for what it was The build-up is superb as five misfit/unusual students, staying at Baird College for the Thanksgiving..." Read more

"...The concepts are simple, the visuals easy to imagine, and the sheer scariness of it leaves the hair on the back of your neck standing up because..." Read more

6 customers mention "Lore"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's use of Kabbalah lore, with one customer highlighting its fascinating Jewish folklore elements.

"...of the environment and personal relationships, interesting Hebrew religious history and you have a great story...." Read more

"...I also liked the usage of Jewish mythology-something that I was not familiar with at all...." Read more

"...The information on the Kabbalah and other Jewish folklore is fascinating - especially considering I do study Kabbalah" Read more

"...I liked the mythology that was used here to explain the supernatural happenings...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2006
    I've seen THE HARROWING compared to teen horror films, but I'm almost two millennia away from being a young adult and have never seen a teen horror/slasher movie. I avoided them like the plague even when I was reviewing a movie weekly for our daily newspaper.

    But I do like ghost stories and once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down. I thought the characterizations of the five college students was great. The build-up is superb as the five bored students, staying at Baird College for the Thanksgiving break, find an ouija board and strange things begin to happen.

    It someone playing tricks or have these students actually contacted someone from "beyond," specifically a young man who died years before in a fire at the school?

    The tension mounts as the "odd" group of students begin to form alliances and try to figure out what is happening to them. Did they "release" a tortured soul trying to affect some kind of closure, or has a more malevolent force been unleashed?

    I found myself really caring about these young people and being pulled into their struggle. The information on the Kabbalah

    and other Jewish folklore is fascinating.

    The plot moves at a great pace and I certainly can see this as a movie, which isn't surprising since the author, Ms. Sokoloff, is a long-time screenwriter.

    I bought a few copies, after reading the ARC, for some lucky people on my Christmas list. Highly recommended
    30 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2008
    Robin is a college student with a few issues - an alcoholic mother, no friends or social life, a snooty, bad-tempered roommate, and a bit of depression. When the Thanksgiving holiday arrives and it seems like the entire population has abandoned the picturesque university, Robin feels herself sinking into the familiar mire of darkness and despair, not helped by the gothic, Victorian dormitory house and its gloomy atmosphere. After another particularly illuminating conversation with her drunk mother, Robin snags a bottle of her roommate's prescription pills and heads down to the common room with the intention of finally ending it all.

    When she gets down there, though, she realizes she's not alone after all, and at least four others - Cain, Martin, Lisa and Patrick - have also stayed behind. These five very different personalities find themselves spending the evening together out of sheer boredom, discovering an old spiritboard in a cabinet and having what they think is going to be a bit of tipsy fun. When a spirit named Zachary, a young man who died in a dormitory fire in 1920, seems to be connecting with them through the board, they have no idea how far it will go as things turn very nasty, very quickly. Robin is confused by the gentle soul she feels Zachary is and the violent, malicious force that appears to be gaining power through whatever the five students released that night, and determines to learn the truth.

    It sounds like a schlocky, B-grade teen horror rag and could easily have been so, but Sokoloff does an admirable job of evoking some very haunting imagery without resorting to any tricks, and brings out the story in a very original way. Robin's character is well-drawn, although I would have liked more. The story, while featuring young adults, is not officially classified as a YA novel, probably due to the strong language and other adult themes. I thought it was well-written, entertaining, and creative. This is Sokoloff's first novel and I'm looking forward to more from her. From other reviews I've read here it appears that it's being made or has been made into a movie. I hope they do the book justice!
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2013
    My title says it all--this certainly is not a great book, and is not terribly original, but it was well written, well-paced, and engaging enough to keep my attention, so I enjoyed reading it and felt like it was worth the $3 I paid for the kindle version.

    I described this to a friend as The Breakfast Club meets The Haunting of Hill House, and it's something like that: a group of teens, some angst-ridden, and a haunted dorm. True, the teens were pretty much types: the depressed girl, the jock, the slut, the musician, the nerd. But they were still well developed enough as characters that I became interested in them and concerned for them.

    The plot is pretty basic, though the writer does a good job of bringing in a lot of interesting horror story elements: ghosts (or not?), Ouija boards, possession, etc, and the book is wonderfully atmospheric. Often, in a book like this which is not a new tale, what I'm interested in is the way the writer plays with tradition--adding her own touches to something done before. I liked the way she played with weather (dark and stormy nights, but she made her descriptions much more original) and with the elements of haunting and possession. And the book is well paced. Honestly, I wasn't going to buy it after reading some of the reviews, but I read the sample chapter and found I wanted to know what happened to the characters, so I got it, and I meant to take this book to read on a trip, but found I'd compulsively consumed it all before I ever left! So the writer gets good marks for pacing and plotting that makes you want to continue reading, even if it's not new ground.

    There was a lot of willing suspension of disbelief for me in this novel, though. There were so many things that just didn't ring true (an odd thing to say about a horror novel, I know, when being "realistic" is not the point). There appeared to be no adults supervising the dorms at the college, and no employees there at all. I kept thinking how so many of things were a lawsuit waiting to happen : fireplaces, leaving students entirely unattended over a break, and of course, the fact that the police let suspects go without a real questioning. Power was out sometimes, though apparently there was still a "blue glow" from the laundry room--how would that be if the power was out? I decided just to let go of all those things, and go with the story, and that made it enjoyable.

    At least it was well written enough on a sentence level that I would be willing to read more of this writer's work, and it was very readable. So not a great book, but not bad if you can pick it up cheap or at your library, and if you enjoy classic horror that is more about atmosphere and tension that is about gore and shock value. I like those kind of books, myself, so I found it worth reading.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2024
    This was a fun supernatural YA thriller that was not to elaborate. Would be a good film.

Top reviews from other countries

  • Elle Ess
    4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant (But Not a Ghost Story)
    Reviewed in Canada on January 26, 2015
    Despite the novel focusing upon 5 stoned/drunk college kids, this book was intelligently written and permeated with a nearly-tangible atmosphere of horror. This novel was very much "The Breakfast Club" meets "The X-Files"- in a positive way, incorporating believable (even if somewhat cliche) characters in a rapidly-paced plot that explores psychology, the supernatural occult and the minds of the angst-ridden teens. The story flowed smoothly and maintained my rapt attention until just about the end which was a bit Hollywood-predictable with the violence and the anticipated ritual. Nonetheless, I look forward to reading more from this author.
  • BookEater
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fantastic
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2019
    An absolutely fantastic read. Would make a fantastic film. Nicely paced. Good characters and scares a plenty.

    A must read

    BookEater
  • Grant N.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing Suff Indeed
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2015
    It’s Thanksgiving and all the residents of Baird College are going home for the holidays. All of them that is except for the disenfranchised and discarded boys and girls of the Mendenhall dorm. The five members of Sokoloff’s very own ‘Breakfast Club’ stick around in the dark, lonely rooms and empty corridors of the old building rather than heading home to households they no longer want to be a part of. It appears that for each of them a lonely four-day weekend in the deserted building is preferable to having to endure the torments of spending time with their respective families.

    Martin, the overly-serious, studious and withdrawn Jewish law student is undoubtedly the brain of the outfit hiding himself away in the library hunched over law books in his self-imposed scholastic solitude. He would prefer no company at all to frivolous company and is more than happy to point this out to the others if not with words then with his body language and unmistakable withdrawal.

    Patrick, the jock of the ‘club’ is a stereotype and an enigma all at the same time. His princess girlfriend Waverly is one of the ones heading home for the break and he is happy to see the back of her. Yet for whatever reason he would rather stay and drink on his own instead of seeking out like-minded company elsewhere.

    If there is a basket case in the group then it is definitely Robin Stone who starts the story off with an aborted suicide attempt with her roommate’s (Patrick’s girlfriend, Waverly) spare medication in the dark as soon as she thinks she’s alone. When she discovers that she’s not the only one hiding out in the building for the Thanksgiving break she hides the pills and attempts to cover up what she was about to do but still harbours a dark desire to die.

    Then we have our two other outcasts to make up the five members of Sokoloff’s ‘club’. Cain, we’ll call him ‘the musician’, is a brooding, intellectually superior artist with a cynical heart and a mind to match. Lisa, we’re going to have to call her ‘the promiscuous one’ because I don’t think I should call her a slut. She is damaged and loathes many things in her life but probably herself most of all.

    Five disparate individuals and highly unlikely allies thrust together by fate and boredom and loathing who ostensibly have nothing in common until they decide to sit around in the dark together after a power cut and share a few beers and joints. As you do. I certainly did a lot of that in the dark when I was their age. Despite their uneasy alliance they find themselves initiating a séance with the help of an unearthed Ouija board and a distinct lack of anything better to do.

    Scepticism is slowly replaced by an uneasy feeling that they have really stumbled upon something and their lives soon begin to run in an agonizing parallel with the original users of the board. From here on in there is a comparison to be drawn with William Peter Blatty’s great novel of 1971 but to say anything more would be inappropriate and might get me in trouble in this life as well as the next.

    The main problems that the characters face throughout the remainder of the story is finding a way to cooperate with each other. They are all just so different but that is the fun of what is basically a locked-room mystery with supernatural overtones. Only the room isn’t as singular or as locked as you might think. Sokoloff does a great job of building tension between the characters as they attempt to navigate their way through a hazardous minefield of conflicts and arguments with each other, the tension between Lisa and her polar opposite Patrick being particularly delightful to watch unfold.

    I actually read this over Thanksgiving in the middle of a really nasty storm in Reykjavík and for much of it I was actually there with them. Locked away in my 4th floor attic bedroom the banging windows, the flickering candlelight, the howling wind and pounding rain took me into the heart of their nightmare. Once alone in their brave new world their struggle to get on with each other is soon superseded by a struggle just to survive. Haunting, engrossing and thoroughly spooky this is exactly what a horror story should be like.
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2018
    Cracking book keeps you enthralled and the descriptiveness of the writing is sublime. Great read and worth a go in my opinion
  • Claire
    4.0 out of 5 stars OK
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2018
    The Harrowing was OK, Characters likeable enough and quite an interesting story, Really disliked the ending though, it felt rushed.

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