...an exquisitely taut and intense debut thriller ... Under the Harrow is such a superbly crafted psychological thriller, it deserves to be celebrated for its own singular excellence.
Told in first person from Nora's perspective (and in present tense), this psychologically intense and darkly atmospheric mystery reminded me of Patricia Highsmith in its vivid style and toxic substance. I was completely drawn into Nora's grief as it propelled her on a hunt for the killer, so much so that even when I knew something was a bit off-kilter I was too committed to Nora to care.
...underneath its hard-driving, page-turning, compulsively readable narrative is a striking, original voice all Berry’s own ... Berry has a keen instinct for plotting and pacing, knowing just what to reveal and how much and when ... some passages read like travelogues, too precious for a character who has lived there her whole life. But this is a minor sin, overshadowed by the novel’s many strengths.
[Berry] has written a psychological-suspense work fit to hold its own with many recent best-sellers. And she’s done it with a narrator whose possible unreliability is not arbitrary but consistent with this well-wrought book’s conception, thereby heightening the considerable suspense.
[A] wickedly chilling debut novel ... As Nora's behavior turns increasingly erratic and bizarre, she is both repellent and compelling, fascinating precisely because she is becoming so creepily unhinged. Gripping, right on through to the surprising conclusion.
