Book Review: The Ritual

The Ritual by Adam Nevill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Ritual was the first book I read by Adam Nevill who is now one of the authors I always recommend to anyone who is looking for a new horror author to read.

The story is about four old university buddies that reunite to go on a hiking /camping trip in the unforgiving Scandinavian wilderness where a simple short cut suddenly goes very wrong for them.

Adam Nevill succeeds very well in creating an atmosphere where you can feel just how cold, wet and scared the four friends are while lost in the middle of nowhere. You really do feel trapped there with them and the scares are very well constructed. I also want to point out just how well he captures the strains that life can have on childhood friendships.

However what stops this book receiving five stars from me is the structure. The book is a story of two halves to the point where it could be two stories pasted together with a noticeable change of pace and setting which really lets the second half down. Without giving anything away the story becomes very repetitive and somewhat silly to the point that you just want it to end.

With that in mind I still recommend the book as the frist part has everything you need that makes a great horror story but just be cautious when you notice the change of setting as that when the book goes downhill.

3.5 / 5

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