When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise. With limited experience between them, a shortcut meant to … ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse. But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. As the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees . . .
more
Four male friends set off on a bonding camping excursion in the Scandinavian woods. What could possibly go wrong?…..(I don’t like camping, and now nothing could persuade me to go!)
It’s hard to describe how this book affected me. It’s a terrifying read but the thing I’ll take away from it most is how unsettled it made me feel. The imagery was stark and bleak and brutal. The horror experienced by the four friends a thing of true nightmare (a couple of scenes I’ll never forget).
Nevill is a master at building tension, at stringing the reader along as they walk in the footsteps of these men. We watch as they are stripped down to the very core of who they are; as they become prey.
This is very much a book of two parts, but I’m not going to give details. Safe to say that the second half has some incredible moments of OMG, and one reveal had my writer’s heart skipping a beat (I never saw that coming, Adam!)
Horror fiction at its best. An in depth study of human nature and what we all are capable of when our backs are up against the wall.
Do you believe Shortcuts are disguised beginnings of long trails of consequences? ME? Probably! Why? — because when I was younger I tend to do stupid stuff. I remember during my third grade I was genuinely terrified of my Math Teacher. I’m not sure, but seeing him gave me an anxiety especially when he hands out chalks to solve a problem haha. So one day we had our boardwork, my classmates & I decided to skip his class to go see a lake. (Shame on me!) Anyway it started raining & I’m not sure what went inside our heads but the four of us took a shortcut down a cliffside. One of my classmate lost her grip but good thing she managed to hold of some wild vines that hung up & down the cliff. Phew I can’t believe we took those stupid stunts back then. But you know If you don’t do stupid things while you’re young, you’ll have nothing to smile about when you’re old. Excuses I tell you lol
Anyway The Ritual begins on a promising note about four friends that went on a hiking in the Scandinavian wilderness. One of them has hurt his knee which put their friendship & loyalties to test. Eventually the group decided to take a shortcut in the woods. Of course they got lost, found animal corpse hanging from the trees in a ritualistic manner & an abandoned cabin full of strange pagan icons. To add fuel to the fire, they ended up having to spend the night in the cabin then starts hearing weird sounds & felt a dark presence that begins picking them off one by one.
The book is divided into two sections. First part was more on the suspense & tension build. It grabs your imagination in a way that you share the sense of unease & “otherness” felt by the protagonists which was truly unnerving & creepy in general. Second part was dragging, reason why I bumped off a star.
I’d never read anything by Adam Nevill before, so I didn’t know what to expect. All I can say is that I liked his writing in the sense that it kept me engaged & in full attention. It’s just that I didn’t enjoy the second half quite as much as I was expecting the first half. Overall it’s incredibly creepy. I would totally recommend it as a great late-night read that will surely send chills down your spine.
Well done horror novel set in the wilds of Scandinavia. It’s almost a modern retelling of Algernon Blackwood’s, ‘The Woods.’ The book is broken into two sections which are different in tone. Perfect for a dark and stormy night.
what a fantastic ride!!
In 2011, Adam Nevill released his book ‘The Ritual‘ which caught the eye of filmmakers and became a celebrated 2017 Netflix movie.
At the time of it’s release to Netflix, I was just starting to dip my toes into the Horror Community more and more and had not read any of Nevill’s work. As well, in 2017, a period of time worked out that my wife and son went on a visit to my In-Law’s and I had time available to watch the movie.
‘The Ritual‘ movie scared the crap out of me. If you’ve followed any of the books I love or the books I write – ‘The Ritual’ the book scared the crap out of me, and now having read ‘Last Days‘ and ‘The Ritual‘ Nevill has easily set himself apart as an author who is a must-read. I’ll be starting ‘The Reddening‘ tonight and can’t wait.
What I liked: I loved this book. ALL OF IT. When I began to read this, many people said “oh, just wait until the last quarter.” Well, yes, the last quarter was very different than the first three quarters. I personally loved it, and I’ll say why later.
‘The Ritual‘ follows a group of four friends hiking through the woods. This is set in the woods of Sweden and the four friends used to be best friends. Now, through time and life events, the friendships are strained and they are holding on to the last grasps of what used to be. Then, unexpectedly, an injury occurs and a decision is made. The group will cut through a protected area that is virgin forest. The decision is supposed to be a short cut and get them to help faster. But, as we come to expect in horror books, things go very wrong. A number of discoveries occur and when shelter is found, visions begin to plague the friends.
For me, every single chapter had me riveted and on the edge of my seat. The first three quarters are decently faithful to the movie, but for me personally the book (as they always do) created a much more claustrophobic environment where the forest plays as much as an antagonist as whatever it is that’s tracking them.
Growing up, I used to hunt a lot with my dad and grandpa. To this day, the scariest moment I ever had was when we were tracked by a starving cougar. We knew something was following us and we caught glimpses of movement and heard rogue branches crack and ground crunching. My grandpa ended up branching off, circling around and finding the animal 50 feet from us. The fear of knowing something is coming for you, but not knowing what it was, was panic attack inducing.
Now, let’s chat about the last quarter. Very, very different than the movie. But for me, it worked perfectly. I think mileage will vary for readers from this ending and I think a lot of that comes from their experience in the wilderness. I won’t discuss the main elements of the “why” that causes the actions in the book, that’s too much spoiler territory, but much like the movie, the character ends up at a house in the middle of the wilderness.
When hunting/hiking in BC/PNW and I’d assume on most wilderness areas, you will inevitably come across old, abandoned shacks. Hunting shacks, mining shacks, outposts. There are hundreds of them peppering the landscape but unseen until stumbled upon.
As an example of “discovering” oddities, Moyie, BC was a hamlet that didn’t exist until the Crowsnest Pass was built. At the time of blasting etc, the small townsite didn’t exist, people were travelling around Moyie Lake. When blasting commenced a small cemetery was found, unknown until the roadway was put in. Whenever we drive by it, it’s always incredibly creepy.
Nevill writes with effortless joy, even when the worst is happening, I picture Nevill smiling with glee over the prose he is putting down on paper.
What I didn’t like: NOT ENOUGH MODER. Too on the point? Insert smiling face emoji people reading this! The movie introduced the stunning elder god that is Moder and we do get to see our resurrected one in all its glory at the end of the book, but seriously, I love this creature so much that I desperately wanted to see more.
Why you should buy it: Look, Nevill is an outstanding writer and is ushering in the next group of “big-time authors” where the reading public outside of the horror genre discover their writing. Nevill has crafted such a dread induced read that I found it stunning to read but to know that he can continually conjure the creeping sense of stuff is about to be really bad. Between this, the short story collections and ‘Last Days‘ I’ve been blessed to discover this ‘new to me author’ and diving into ‘The Reddening‘ and ‘Apartment 16,’ I’m so excited to see how much sleep I loose.
I’m still not sure what I think of this book. The writing was very good and enticed you to keep reading, even when the subject matter was strange and ridiculous. I did finish the book, but it was not one that I could recommend.
i AM OVER HALF WAY DONE WITH THIS BOOK AND IT JUST DRAGS ALONG.