Two tragedies, a few months apart and multiple states away from each other, leaves four people dead with one fighting for their life. As a result, this uproots the lives of teenagers Ledger Elliot and Iris Brubaker, who know nothing of each other. Fifteen years later, their paths cross when Iris moves to the small Maine island Ledger has lived on his whole life. After her grandmother’s death, Iris inherited a lodge on the island and intends to reopen it as a hotel.
Unbeknownst to Ledger and Iris, their lives are about to collide, and their dark pasts will come to haunt them with the help of the history and possession of the lodge. Through an unexplainable draw they are cast together and find themselves fighting for their lives, and the protection of the island residents, against unseen foes. Demonic forces which followed them from their pasts, are determined to take over the lodge and reopen a portal to hell. Through this battle Ledger and Iris discover they were sent to stop one another, yet through their connection unleash a power they’d never known existed.
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe! Today I’m talking about this savagely supernatural and raw real-world combo. Through the Surface is a beast that takes no prisoners. NONE, I TELL YOU! We start with Iris, and the opening is absolutely brutal. Then, we jump over to Ledger, where something heinous happens. Then, we zip out of the past and into present day, where Iris and Ledger – who were previously strangers – cross each others’ paths.
The first thing I loved about this was the small, secluded island setting. It immediately gave me Midnight Mass vibes because the only way on and off the island is by boat. In a horror novel, there are few more perfect settings, ripe for the impending terror.
As characters go, I was really intrigued by Iris, and very much in love with Ledger’s family. Their dynamic felt very natural and wholesome to me, and honestly, I don’t normally get to enjoy wholesome things when I’m reading. Probably because I only read horror, and that’s not generally wholesome. It’s usually full of blood and spooks and sharp tooths and all sorts of very unwholesome things indeed.
I was extremely interested in what was going on/had happened at the lodge, where Iris now lives. For some reason, I couldn’t get Paranormal Activity 3 out of my head. From the second I knew there was something f***y about it, all I could think about was the old grandmother doing dastardly coven-like things, and I was really excited.
If I have any gripes, I suppose it’s just this – I wanted more of the lodge. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like there are no lodge shenanigans, but I was quite obsessed with it and could have easily read 1000 pages just set in that one place. I did find some of the dialogue a bit expositional at times, but I’m not really sure how else the author could have conveyed the information without restructuring the entire book, and it wasn’t enough to take me out of the story or anything. The latter complaint is one I frequently mention in my reviews, most likely because I studied scriptwriting and so my brain goes into film-mode whenever I enjoy a story, regardless of whether it’s in a film or a book. It’s probably an unfair complaint of a book, actually, now that I think about it.
I’d recommend this to fans of horror that enjoy a supernatural/real-world blend of scary elements, and I think that people who enjoy occult-type horror might especially enjoy this. If you’d like to get a copy or check out the author, there are some links below for you:
Happy Goat Horror 
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