Power wasn’t everything.
But it helped.
Coldharbour by Laura Clarke Walker was both a treat and a guilty pleasure read. Set against a desolate seaside town on the cusp of the new millennium, the story blends buried family secrets and a creeping sense of inherited darkness into something that feels both nostalgic and quietly menacing. Alex Wilde returns home intending to rebuild her life, but Coldharbour isn’t the kind of place that lets you start anew. Add in Power (very much with a capital P), a magnetic and unsettling new connection in Elizabeth, a reconnection and fresh understanding with her long-lost twin, and a string of supernatural mysteries, and the result is a gothic-leaning paranormal drama that feels equal parts intimate and expansive. Truly, reading this felt like sitting in front of the ol’ tube TV in the early 2000s and binging a new episode of Charmed. It was that immersive and fresh while still feeling nostalgic.
Walker leans hard into atmosphere, and it absolutely pays off. The prose is lush and deliberate, with a rhythmic, almost hypnotic quality that makes even the smallest moments feel weighted with meaning. There’s a distinct narrative voice at play here — slightly whimsical, slightly ominous, a bit Lemony Snicket in the best way — that gives the story a storybook-meets-nightmare edge. The worldbuilding, particularly around Power and its generational reach, adds a constant undercurrent of tension, and the inclusion of darker supernatural elements (including a dybbuk! What a fun surprise to see such a neat piece of Jewish folklore in imaginative literature) keeps the story feeling fresh. This is a story that’s more interested in pulling you under than rushing you along. It’s consistently and deliciously gothic every step of the way: “And what’s in the water?” “Something that doesn’t belong here.”
This is one of those books you sit with as you read it. It lingers. If you’re drawn to atmospheric paranormal stories, generational mysteries, and slow-burn narratives that prioritize voice and vibe as much as plot, this is absolutely worth your time. I can’t wait to read more from Walker in the future.