Juliet Rose

Teenager, Iris Brubaker, fights for her life after her abusive father brutally attacks her and leaves her for dead. Iris dies on the operating table, but is brought back to life several times and survives the ordeal. Iris’s father kills her mother, aunt and cousin, and Iris is traumatised and scarred for life, both physically and mentally. Around the same time, another teen, Ledger Elliot, faces unimaginable loss when his father tragically commits suicide by jumping from his fishing boat. Ledger takes on the household responsibilities of his father, and decides to keep the fishing boat in use, to honour his father’s memory.

Fifteen years later, Iris and Ledger’s worlds collide when Iris takes residence on a small Island, off the coast of Maine, where Ledger was born and raised. Iris arrives on the island to take over the ownership of the old Crowley Lodge, which she inherited as the only living survivor of the Brubaker family, following the death of her late grandmother. Iris plans to bring the lodge back to its former glory and open a hotel, in her grandmother’s memory. She hires Ledger, now a fisherman and an all-round handy man to help her with some jobs. Ledger feels a presence in the lodge, and experiences strange visions and terrifying nightmares. Ledger starts to develop feelings for Iris, but is scared of taking the relationship forward when he hears about her trauma and near-death experience. As the couple grow closer, Ledger learns more about Iris’s past, the history of the lodge, and the mystery of his father’s death. He discovers evil, demonic forces that have forced the couple together and risk tearing their whole lives apart.

Through the Surface is a gripping horror novel, by author Juliet Rose, with an unexpected and supernatural twist. What starts out as a typical love story (boy and girl have troubled pasts, help each other recover, and fall in love), turns into a haunting, terrifying and gripping thriller. This book is weird and wonderful, serious and surreal, engaging and horrifying. Juliet Rose has a natural gift for storytelling and super characterisation, and this novel does not disappoint.

Star rating: 5 Stars

Summary: A haunting, terrifying and gripping thriller, with an unexpected and supernatural twist.