I ended this book with no small feeling of conflict. Soon, Lola begins to worry whether Mister Jitters, the cannibalistic monster who is said to steal girls upon whom to feast, truly exists. The more she digs, the more strange, the more terrifying, her daily life becomes. Nevertheless, the whispers of Lorelei’s strangeness, of her badness, have the power to both sting and entice. Lola has been provided with precious little information on her mother, so when she discovers that the folk of Harrow Lake hold a strange aversion to her mother, who are seemingly unable to separate Lorelei from her role of Little Bird, she dismisses them as a gaggle of superstitious hicks. More crucially, perhaps, is the fact that Lorelei has been missing for over a decade. Lorelei’s story tastes strongly of Sharon Tate: local girl accidentally discovered by an aloof director whose predatory nature is barely concealed, made the starlet of his film, whisked from small-town-dom to New York. It is also the place where he met her mother, Lorelei. A hastily rewritten clause in Nolan’s will states that, in the event of his death or injury, Lola is to be sent to live with her maternal grandmother in Harrow Lake – an isolated town where Nolan Nox filmed his most iconic project. Not that Nolan Nox would ever describe his daughter, or anyone, as a friend.

When her father, a reclusive, Polanski-esque film director, is stabbed in their New York apartment, Lola Nox is robbed of her only friend.

Thanks to Penguin, and TheWriteReads, who granted me an advanced copy of this book for TheWriteReads’ Ultimate Book Tour!

Harrow lake