One million years of evolution didn’t change our nature. Nor did it bury the horrors predating civilisation. Ancient rites, old deities and savage ways can reappear in the places you least expect.Lifestyle journalist Katrine escaped past traumas by moving to a coast renowned for seaside holidays and natural beauty. But when a vast hoard of human remains and prehistoric artefacts is discovered in … discovered in nearby Brickburgh, a hideous shadow engulfs her life.
Helene, a disillusioned lone parent, lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. Disturbing subterranean noises he recorded prior to vanishing, draw her to Brickburgh’s caves. A site where early humans butchered each other across sixty thousand years. Upon the walls, images of their nameless gods remain.
Amidst rumours of drug plantations and new sightings of the mythical red folk, it also appears that the inquisitive have been disappearing from this remote part of the world for years. A rural idyll where outsiders are unwelcome and where an infernal power is believed to linger beneath the earth. A timeless supernormal influence that only the desperate would dream of confronting. But to save themselves and those they love, and to thwart a crimson tide of pitiless barbarity, Kat and Helene are given no choice. They were involved and condemned before they knew it.
‘The Reddening’ is an epic story of folk and prehistoric horrors written by Adam Nevill, the author of ‘The Ritual’, ‘Last Days’, ‘No One Gets Out Alive’ and the three times winner of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.
Praise for Adam Nevill’s horror novels:
“a mind-twisting journey into the dark backwoods of terror. Deeply disturbing and absolutely riveting.” Jonathan Maberry, NY Times Bestselling author, on ‘The Ritual’.
“A ruthless and psychologically brutal book” This is Horror on ‘The Ritual’.
“Best of all, though, is his depiction of the elemental forces of evil that haunt the hostile arctic wastelands. Superb.” The Guardian on ‘The Ritual’.
“Often horror loses its power when evil shows its face; in this case it only gets more disturbing” The Sunday Times on ‘The Ritual’.
“’Last Days’ lit a bonfire. Spooky, eerie delight . . . Nevill should be ranked up near masters like Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. This is what a horror book should be.” Suspense Magazine.
“an effectively creep novel that will leave you sleeping with the lights on” SFX on ‘Last Days’.
“Readers will lose all hope of peaceful, undisturbed sleep. Highly recommended” – Library Journal – Starred Review on ‘Last Days’.
“Obsession and megalomania, sex and power make for a sophisticated, literate and well-crafted paranormal horror.” Kirkus on ‘Last Days’.
“This is riveting, and Nevill is fast becoming Britain’s answer to Stephen King.” The Guardian on ‘Last Days’.
“A wonderfully creepy and disturbing novel.” The Independent on ‘House of Small Shadows’.
“‘House of Small Shadows’ is highly likely to induce nightmares set to the sound of the pattering of tiny wooden feet.” SFX.
“Nevill’s foray into folk horror is a nail-biting success.” Rue Morgue on ‘House of Small Shadows’.
“Haunted-house maestros Shirley Jackson, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and Peter Straub would approve—this sets the bar for the best horror novel of the decade.” Booklist on ‘House of Small Shadows’.
“bleak, disturbing and terrifying – and horribly compelling” The Independent on ‘Lost Girl’.
“Nevill concocts a unique, paranoid vision of dystopian drama that’s nigh impossible not to get sucked into.” Starburst on ‘Lost Girl’.
“Nevill ornaments his tale of brutality and bloodshed with florid Gothic prose, like flock wallpaper gracing a torture dungeon . . . and the author’s vision of our near future is horribly plausible.” Financial Times on ‘Lost Girl’.
“Compelling … full of big ideas” SFX on ‘Under a Watchful Eye’.
“original, surprising, and eyes-to-the-wall terrifying” SciFiNow on ‘Under a Watchful Eye’.
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The discovery of an ancient cave system in a remote area off the English coast promises to reveal far more than just prehistoric artifacts in Adam Nevill’s latest novel, The Reddening. After Helene’s brother goes missing, a case the authorities have written off as a suicide, she follows the last few leads he left behind — a series of natural Earth sounds he had recorded, one of which points her toward the caves of Divilmouth and the surrounding hiking trails. Along the way, she becomes acquainted with a lifestyle reporter, Kat, and her photographer boyfriend, Steve, who become embroiled in the mystery while reporting on the latest archeological finds. Steve suspects the brother’s disappearance is related to the drug trade and is eager to investigate; Kat, meanwhile, is much more hesitant to pursue the case.
Of course, The Reddening is a horror novel first and foremost, so we know straight off that something much seedier are far less wholesome than drugs are afoot here, and whooo boy does Nevill not disappoint in this regard. Like his 2016 novel, The Ritual, (you might have seen its adaptation on Netflix), The Reddening is a folk horror novel, and Nevill puts a heck of a lot of meat on this story’s bones, grounding his occult oddities in the ancient past. What Kat and company unknowingly threaten to uncover, and perhaps even unleash, is a secret thousands of years old, and those who guard that secret are willing to do anything to keep it safe. They also have a very long reach, and a whole lot of influence, making them a decidedly dangerous, and ultimately, deadly adversary.
Nevill does an absolutely sublime job establishing a very particular tone and atmosphere. The Reddening is wonderfully dark, and it can get downright oppressive as the threats grow more prevalent and closer to home. Nevill also has a knack for crafting some grisly, brutal scenes of violence. One segment in particular packed such a wallop that it reminded me quite a lot of Jack Ketchum’s Off Season, and it was positively terrifying and uncomfortable reading. It struck a few nerves, and all the right ones at that.
I did have a few issues with the book’s pacing, particularly in the opening segment where I found myself wishing Nevill would hurry along and get us more into the thick of things. There’s also a fair bit of a lull around the three-quarters mark that felt a bit too long-winded and unnecessarily prolonged, with the intent of building tension, but again it left me chomping at the bit for Nevill to just get on with it already. At times The Reddening is utterly engrossing and captivating, but at other times it feels too languid and too focused on the minutiae, and the weight of its 400+ pages are keenly felt.
Now, that said, the good far outweighs those brief but ponderous periods of verbosity and leisurely accountings of nature trails and geographic explorations and dragged out attempts to string out the narrative for all its worth. When Nevill digs into the thick of things, it really is masterfully done, and he does know how to generate quite a good deal of tension. When The Reddening grabs a hold and sinks its teeth into you, it bites down hard and deep, and occasionally even savagely. This is a terrific bit of folk horror, and as an introduction to Nevill, for me, it certainly left a positive impression. I’m eager now to explore more of what this author has on tap, and to discover what other occult happenings are occurring in the wilds of England and elsewhere.
Adam Nevill has yet to disappoint. His word usage puts me in the moment with his characters. That is a hard trick to pull off and is the mark of a great writer.
I’ve been on a Nevill kick as of late.
But let’s quickly backtrack. When I connected with Gavin here at Kendall Reviews, he continuously pestered me with questions about who my top three authors are and told me I had to read his top three. (KR: Makes me sound somewhat mad, but I’ll let this go) One of those in his top three is Mr. Adam Nevill. (The other two you might’ve heard of? One wrote Bird Box, the other’s last name is Barker.)
I slowly obtained almost all of Adam’s work on my Kindle. I think at this point I’m only missing ‘Banquet of the Damned,’ but I’d need to double-check.
I dove into ‘Last Days‘ which frankly is one of the best horror books I’ve ever read. Loved his ‘Some Will Not Sleep‘ & ‘Before You Wake‘ mini-collections, and devoured ‘The Ritual.’ Safe to say, I’m a Nevill fan.
When Adam announced his release ‘The Reddening‘ I jumped at the chance to pre-order the digital edition. Recently, when I was choosing my next two pleasure reads (I usually have two review reads and two pleasure reads on the go), I decided to either read ‘Apartment 16‘ or ‘The Reddening.’ I went with the second option, but will be diving into ‘Apartment 16‘ shortly.
What I liked: ‘The Reddening‘ is a multi-layered folk horror that at times read like a fast-paced thriller. It opens up detailing a fantastic archaeological find on the UK coast. Weird bones and carvings are found. From there, Nevill adds in some characters who unwittingly become involved in the underbelly of the small town’s history.
Nevill has such a way of making the location as much a character as the people we’re following, much like Andrew Pyper does. In ‘The Reddening‘ we get to see a lot of the inner workings, the layers of corruption and just what lengths the townsfolk will do to keep the secret of what lies beneath.
Interestingly, I found it wasn’t until Chapter 23, for me personally, that the story took off. If you follow Nevill on any of his social media accounts, you’ll undoubtedly have seen his passion for the bay, the water, the land around where he lives. Chapter 23 opens with such a perfect paragraph, describing the landscape that I can’t help but wonder if this paragraph was the first thing Nevill wrote that inspired the rest of the story before and after. It was at this point that the writing goes from a jog to a sprint and action comes fast and furious. It went from an enjoyable read to something I couldn’t put down, which was fantastic.
The ending of this was also well done. It wrapped up a number of key points, filled us in on so many questions I had, but also left a small sliver of light under a door for a possible followup in the future.
What I didn’t like: I kind of alluded to it already, but for the first little bit I found I wasn’t as gripped with the story as I was with ‘Last Days‘ and ‘The Ritual.’ It wasn’t bad or anything like that, it just wasn’t grabbing me that much. I wasn’t a fan of that pesky Steve character (who should’ve been my fav cuz all Steve’s are awesome! ha!) and the abrupt character change in one of the characters was tough to accept at first. It did make sense, and needed to happen, but at first it was odd.
Why you should buy this: Nevill is a stunning storyteller. Layer upon layer of myth mixed with present-day happenings pushed this story along and frankly, even at the start when the pieces were just starting to be introduced, I wanted to know what was happening and just who the red folk were.
I’ve never been disappointed by a Nevill book and ‘The Reddening‘ shows why he’s at the forefront of the horror world.
Once you start reading, you’ll be pulled far into this world. Once there you’ll abide.
For a while, I thought I knew what the story was going to be and where it was going. I was wrong. Now that I’ve finished, I’m still not entirely sure what it was all about, but I can definitely say it is thought-provoking and absolutely creepy. It also features two female protagonists, which is a welcome change from most of the stuff I’ve been reading of late. In addition, The Reddening is a hefty tale. You may try to zip right through it, but you won’t; you’ll live with it for days and days. And perhaps weeks afterwards. I’m being vague, here, but you’ll thank me for that.
THE REDDENING, by Adam Nevill, is another richly atmospheric novel by this veteran horror writer. Nevill is able to consistently amaze me with the unique ideas he brings to this field. At times, his descriptions are almost poetic in nature, despite the subject material.
“. . . the only thing stranger than fiction were the people who inhabited reality.”
The action starts out stark and brutal, giving us multiple scenes to contemplate and file away in order to piece together later. Like a monstrous puzzle, each piece is a link to the whole.
“. . . What was done in there, in that dark, horrible place, should have stayed buried . . . ”
Nevill takes us to different characters, each one’s involvement crucial to the plot. Despite this, the main characters are often only connected by the loosest of associations. Regardless, each individual has some vital role in the tale.
We alternate between bloody, horrendous discoveries, and the quiet psychological horror faced by some of the characters. The fact that we can weave effortlessly between these two concepts is a testament to Nevill’s strong writing ability.
“. . . Bad memories never died. They only blurred . . . ”
Overall, another unique horror novel by an author I’ve come to consistently count on. Both the imagery presented, and the characters, fell into their positions perfectly–making this novel a complete reading experience. If new books by Adam Nevill aren’t on your “must-buy” list already, you may want to change that.
” . . . We’re all monsters here. We’re all red now.”
Recommended.
Another thrilling and epic horror novel from Adam Nevill. In The Reddening, the reader is expertly immersed inside a primitive wilderness, sucked into the earth’s jagged crevices to confront humanity’s ancient and inexhaustible capacity for savagery. In a small coastal U.K. town, residents feed a ravenous evil in grisly rituals, painting their skin the color of blood and hiding their identities behind rotting masks. Hidden in caves and dotting the rocky hillside and beaches, this “tribe” appear like living wounds to lead outsiders to a heartbreaking fate. So far, missing passerbys have been conveniently classified as suicides, but when two women are affected by the death of their loved ones, they’re swept into a reddening world, one that has drastically different impacts on each of them.
As with all Nevill’s books, this is a folk horror of scarily realistic proportions. The setting, rural Devon, is idyllic, yet underground something evil & prehistoric lurks. Hikers, campers & intruders start to go missing, their encounters with the ‘Red People’ harrowing & inescapable. A dark & descriptive read, the tension mounts until you can feel the pull of fear clawing at your imagination. A book that will penetrate your dreams & leave you wanting more of this literary genius’s work.
Ok, this was creepy, even for me, a horror junkie who can watch “Saw” and snack on something yummy while someone is being dismembered. “The Reddening” did the seemingly impossible – it gave me the goosies and generally incredibly creepy vibes throughout the entire story. Reading it felt like being trapped in a nightmare that just doesn’t end, with darker and darker things happening the further into the story you dive. The atmosphere itself is very cold and dreary and the presence of an ancient evil lurking just under the ground is palpable from every page. Rarely do horror books produce such an effect on me, but “The Reddening” certainly impressed me in more ways than one. If you love horror, don’t skip on this one – you’ll thank me later, I promise!
This is superior writing and story-telling at its best. I love the original concept and how the story pulls you forward, deeper into danger. Great book.
This one takes us back to a time when humans were barely human and rituals were how we dealt with everyday life. As we move along the evolutionary path what becomes of these rituals? Do they fade away, into the past, no longer deemed necessary? Mr. Nevill takes us back to a time when savagery was a way of life. When we as a species believed that sacrifice was necessary! Here we learn that it stayed with us, it’s in all of us, the Red Folk walk amongst us!
Book was OK. Unusual plot. Had to skim some in the second half of the book. Just didn’t grab me like some other horror books I have read lately.