"The Furies"

“The Furies”

Written by Katie Lowe

Review written by Diana Iozzia

In a startling debut, Katie Lowe excels at creating horror for the teenager generation, in a way that feels nostalgic and yet refreshing. “The Furies” follows a nervous, hurt, and gullible teen named Violet, who enrolls at a mysterious high school. The grounds have a dark history, some believing that witches were once burned at the wych elm. Violet falls into the wrong crowd, who influence her into doing drugs, drinking, partying, and occult magic. You know, the usual high school experience.

Violet becomes the closest with firecracker Robin, a girl who just does not understand when to stop. Alex and Grace are the other two girls in their ‘study group’. The ‘group’ meets nightly with their art professor, Annabel, who helps the girls study occult magic. Underlining these plot elements, we also have the mystery of Emily Frost, a missing girl who was once very good friends with Robin, Alex, and Grace. Violet fears that she might be the next Emily, but the hands of fate that be trap her in this friendship, and she’s not really sure if she wants to leave.

I do warn those younger readers that perhaps although this is about young teens, that this might be best for students 17-18 and up. There is a brutal rape scene, very grotesque animal killings, and other very hideous murders. One especially had me creeped out for far too long. It’s very disturbing.

One of the interesting elements of this story is the dynamics of the friendship group. I feel that as teens do, we all once became influenced by others. For some more than others, peer pressure can be severely harmful. Violet is terrified of what her friends and she are doing, but she does not want to be alone. We can all relate to Violet and wonder how far we would have gone at that age.

This book reminds me of many movies and books I enjoy, including: “Jennifer’s Body”, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”, “Carrie”, “My Best Friend’s Exorcism”, “Scream”, “The Craft”, and “The Vampire Diaries”. There’s also a little bit of an influence from the Witch Trials / Salem episode of “Scooby Doo”, if you believe it. I find that it can be difficult for me to really love a book about teens. Sometimes, they feel unrealistic or exaggerated in their dialogue or plot choices. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I do truly enjoy teen horror. Unfortunately, the story wrapped up very strangely in my opinion, and that let me down a bit. I would still give this book a four out of five stars as its rating, and I do plan to re-read it at some point, to see if after understanding the ending, if I would enjoy it more.

I received an advance reader’s edition from St. Martin’s Press. Thank you again.