At
The Week magazine Matthew Walther tagged
ten terrifying horror books you may have never read, including:
The Ritual by Adam Nevill
I read this in one sitting last Saturday. The somewhat tired premise — four old college friends getting together for one last reunion in, uhhh, the uncharted wilderness of northwestern Sweden — is in many ways the least interesting thing about it. Nevill is successful precisely because he never works at being profound, does not attempt to "write," and keeps us turning the pages of the best story about the woods since Algernon Blackwood's "The Wendigo," to which it is a kind of spiritual sequel. The last quarter or so of the book departs radically from what has happened so far in a way that will tempt you to chuck it across the room. Do not give in. Nevill is a careful writer, and the ending — a real one that does not really arrive until the final sentence — is perfect.
Read about
another entry on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
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