THE RITUAL

Adam Nevill

Through the visionary and creative efforts of Paul Tremblay, John Langan, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Andrew Michael Hurley and more, there's an exciting new generation of talented writers generating literary horror. Not to be overlookied is Adam Nevill, who's been a growing one-man force of literary horror in Britain for a decade now and is just gaining a deserved audience here in the States. 2011's "The Ritual" is a fine place to start if you want to get to know his work. Four old college pals reunite on a hike through a vast forest in northern Scandinavia. When circumstances force them off the prescribed route into virgin territory, they come across a field-dressed creature hanging from a tree and, shortly thereafter, an abandoned house festooned with skeletons and pagan symbolism. Then, one of the group vanishes. Crafted in two distinct but connective sections, Nevill spins a hypnotizing story about Olde Gods, buried energies, sacrifice, Norwegian black metal — and the melancholy and changing nature of friendship. Nevill's descriptive nature writing is gorgeously oppressive, the plot's sense of increasing dread and dawning reality is relentless, and the ultimate reveal so imaginatively and evocatively written that it's brilliant. I personally wonder if the book could have been even more powerful with 60-70 pages cropped, but I damned sure had no problem racing to the end.