cover image Harbor

Harbor

John Ajvide Lindqvist. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $25.99 (512p) ISBN 978-0-312-68027-5

Lindqvist (Let Me In) turns a young girl’s mysterious disappearance into the catalyst for revelations about centuries-old natural and supernatural forces in this enthralling dark fantasy. When little Maja vanishes on a family outing to an icebound lighthouse off the coast of the island Domarö, her parents are devastated and their marriage never recovers. Anders, her father, returns to Domarö by himself, believing he can still find his daughter, but instead he meets up with old acquaintances, all of whom seem to be driven by malicious, inhuman impulses, and he hears previously unknown stories of a primitive past in which the people of Domarö regularly made human sacrifices to the sea. Lindqvist never quite pulls these elements of his sprawling story together, but he still presents an unsettling portrait of ordinary people discomposed by inexplicable supernatural experiences. (Oct.)