Harrison Squared

January 26, 2015
Gregory (Afterparty) delivers a thoroughly entertaining novel built on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. The titular Harrison Harrison lost the lower part of one leg in the same boating accident that killed his father. Now 16, he’s moving with his research scientist mother to the Massachusetts town of Dunnsmouth. The other children in school are eerily quiet, the town has no cell phone coverage, and a fish-boy steals his comics. Things go from strange to tragic when his mother is lost in another boating accident two days after moving. Refusing to believe his mother is dead, Harrison investigates with the help of a girl named Lydia and the aforementioned fish-boy, Lub. They encounter enemies including a knife-wielding maniac known as the Scrimshander and a monstrous fish-woman intent on destroying the world. Gregory delivers an enthralling and exciting tale that should intrigue both readers unfamiliar with Lovecraft and longtime fans of the stories. The occasional in-jokes (buoys named after Lovecraft, Poe, King, and Straub, and of course Dunnsmouth itself) are subtle enough to not distract from the rich tale, and the YA vibe ensures a broad audience. Agent: Martha Millard, Martha Millard Literary Agency.

January 15, 2015
New dark fantasy from the author of the splendid Afterparty (2014, etc.).As a young boy, Harrison Harrison, aka Harrison Squared, or H2, experienced a horrific incident in a boat (he tries to suppress memories of tentacles and teeth) that cost him his leg and left him with a morbid fear of the water. Now 16, equipped with an advanced prosthetic, he moves with his marine-biologist mother, Rosa, to the gloomy and forbidding coastal town of Dunnsmouth, Massachusetts, where she intends to pursue her research. As she goes out on the water, Harrison investigates the mausoleumlike local high school. Inside, it's dim, dank and labyrinthine; the classes are nautically themed, with sidebars on the merits of totalitarianism and the reanimation of dead frogs. And the students seem unnaturally well-behaved. Harrison's expected to swim in the basement pool and refuses; he finds the school lunch disgusting and, in the library, discovers a ghost that only he can see. Rosa's boat vanishes. Harrison refuses to believe she's dead. Somebody steals his prized comic book while leaving a note saying his mother is still alive. One of the students, Lydia Palwick, thaws a little and shows him how the students use a secret sign language to communicate. The author of the note turns out to be a half-fish, half-human creature named Lub; he's one of the Dwellers who live in the sea beyond the harbor, and their elders are hatching horrid plans. Most readers will grin at Gregory's deft, spiky parody of high school. For the rest, it's a tale handled with confidence and control, with loads of salty, piscine atmosphere, but it's perhaps a little too self-consciously reminiscent of Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith. Superior, with plenty of crossover teen appeal.

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March 15, 2015

Harrison Harrison, or H2 to his marine biologist mother, Rosa, travels with her to a coastal town in Massachusetts so that she can chase the large squids she believes live in the waters. Rosa disappears at sea soon after they arrive. Harrison is desperate to learn what happened to her but meets resistance from the secretive townspeople. Discovering a few allies, including school classmate Lydia Palwick and a mysterious stranger who takes Harrison's favorite comic book and leaves a note telling him Rosa is still alive, Harrison will dig into the town's lore to find her. VERDICT A prequel of sorts to Gregory's excellent 2014 novella We Are All Completely Fine, this could easily cross over to teen audiences. The combination of coming-of-age story, Lovecraftian horror, and mystery is at turns gently funny and intensely scary, a tough balance that Gregory (Afterparty) pulls off successfully.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2015
Sixteen-year-old Harrison Harrison (hence, Harrison squared) and his marine-biologist mother have come to tiny, bleak Dunnsmouth, Massachusetts, for her researcha big mistake, for she soon vanishes at sea, evoking terrible memories of the similar death of Harrison's father 13 years earlier. But is she dead, too? The police are no help, so Harrison sets out to solve the mystery himself with the aid of a strange half-fish half-boy who becomes his friend. Together the two must battle the evil, legendary man called the Scrimshander; a strange local cult; and, in due course, weird Lovecraftian monsters. And did we mention the ghost? Yes, there's a whole lot of weirdness going on in Dunnsmouth, and danger is everywhere, as Gregory's nicely imagined story amply demonstrates. All of this is amusing enough, though there may be a superfluity of plot elements, but the suspense is palpable, and though the story becomes a bit murky as the climax approaches, it will hold readers' interest to the open ending, which suggests a sequel is in the works. Give this one an E for eerie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)