A story of life and death in the wilderness, and a horrifying tale of extreme survival against supernatural powers, from the four times winner of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.
Disaster strikes quickly and without warning. What should have been a glorious weekend of kayaking and camping, in a secluded beauty spot, is transformed by a scream. The first crisis, initiating a deadly momentum that accelerates as the valley reveals itself to Marcus and his five companions.
They’re trespassing on strictly private land. There’s only one way out. An escape route closed until the next high tide fills the estuary. In twelve hours’ time.
Recreation becomes survival.
Marooned, unable to summon help, harassed by dire and worsening circumstances, the ties that bind the expedition are stretched taut. If they snap, vital cooperation will unravel and the group members’ damning secrets will be revealed.
Only the most courageous and committed have any chance against the area’s inhabitants. But is any mind strong enough to endure a confrontation with the most hideous revelation of all? An ancient evil that coils beneath the valley’s sinister folklore.
Dark bleatings, and raise those horns, my Nevill-loving tribe! Not only am I extremely privileged (and very grateful) to have received an advance copy of this new novel, but it’s only bloody awesome, isn’t it? Of course it it – it’s Adam Nevill. This will be spoiler-free, so you can trot freely into this review.
We open with our protagonist, Marcus, and his kayaking group as they head towards their destination – some off-limits private land that they don’t think they’ll be noticed on as they camp for just one night – and we already know (outside of this being a horror novel) that they are heading into trouble. We don’t yet fear what the location may bring, but their relationships indicate trouble in paradise. In fact, it’s more like there never was a paradise at all. They’ve sort of waded into muddy waters together and are now logged in it up to the thighs.
When they reach their location, things are set in motion extremely quickly. Things that…shouldn’t be happening in any sane world. And that is where I will stop in terms of the plot, because to say more would be to step on your toes if you want to immerse yourself in this tale of scary-as-f*** chaos.
Adam brings his usual brand of nail-biting, deeply-established, and unique folk horror in this book. He also gives us one of the most perfect and easy to imagine locations, and in my humble opinion, I think this might be not only his best character work but his best writing to date.
Marcus is a complex character who I mostly liked, though he for sure has some…er…not great sides to his personality. However, he had the qualities that count for a main character, and his flaws not only made his decision making more interesting and harder to predict, but also impacted every one of his companions.
And what about his companions? Oh lordy, these people. We have Nigel and Sophie, a married couple, and Marcus has difficulties with both of them for very different reasons. Then we have Mary, who seems to be a very nice lady who appreciates Marcus for treating her as an equal, though she does not quite trust him and his intentions towards Jane, who likes Marcus for different reasons, and this is a problem for Julian. This is a tangled web of complexity, passive-aggression, conflict avoidance, and in the case of some of them, emotional immaturity. This is not a group of 20 something year-olds, and I found that this made them extremely intriguing because there’s not only a lot unsaid between them, but also the baggage of their lives that they’re dragging into things.
But what about our antagonists? Well, there are the people in this remote location who are not pleased by the new arrivals, and then there are…the others. And also…the other. The more time passes since I read this book, the more deliciously clever I find the themes. Layers of antagonists that perhaps reflect layers of systematic suffering and conditioning?
There’s a scene almost at the end that I found to be one of the most horrific things Adam has painted. Not just the aesthetics, but the implication. I always love his endings, and this one has gone into my Top 2 out of all of his books.
As usual, the writing is glorious and meant to be savoured. The imagery, the phrasing, the subtext, the wording…it’s just beautiful. This is always the case with Adam’s work, but I do think he pushed the boat (or kayak) out a little further for this book. Just top-notch quality story telling all around.
It’s an easy and immediate 5/5 for me and I wish I could rate it higher. I absolutely recommend it to horror fans, particularly if you enjoy folk horror, complicated group dynamics, and/or ancient evil. Monumental comes out in April, and I’ve popped a couple of links below for you if you’d like to check it out or place a pre-order (which I highly recommend, because the limited edition pre-order version is absolutely stunning – Sam Araya does a fantastic job with the cover art, as always!).
MONUMENTAL PRE-ORDER FROM ADAM NEVILL’S WEBSITE
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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