The Ritual by Adam Nevill

Now a Netflix Original Movie! The Ritual is Adam Nevill's horror novel depicting a group of friends lost in a remote wilderness in Sweden where something supernatural lurks. 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 artifacts 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 . . .

Listen.

The movie is better.

This book could have been incredible if, similar to his other works, Nevill didn't focus so heavily on the weight of other characters. This is, of course, almost always in a negative view, and while it can be argued it fits the narrative of MC Luke, if you've read his other work— you know it's just him.

My opinion? Hop on Netflix. You're not missing anything.

a spine chilling novel that made me feel as if i was as exhausted and beaten down as the characters! wonderfully creepy depictions of the creatures and the utter indifference and cruelty of nature

I was disappointed with this book. The only thing that made me finish it was curiosity but you know what they say about that! The author was out to shock and nothing more. I didn't feel any tension or fear whilst reading it and I certainly won't be in a hurry to read it again, or buy any more books of his. I read The Ritual a while back and enjoyed it which made this one that much more disappointing. Pity.

I can't recommend this book, but it does get a second star for a few beautifully creepy scenes.

In fact, a smart and merciless editor could probably make this into a very memorable and well-crafted novella. Unfortunately, these germs of a good, short story are drowning in two whole additional books' worth of boring garbage. TWO!

There are far too many cycles of “The group makes a bad decision, we read in painful detail about them slogging through the woods, Luke has internal monologue about how he is or isn't an emotionally arrested loser, Luke thinks derisively about how fat his companions are and/or how awful their wives are, the group confronts the reality that they are in much greater danger than they realized, but they have to keep going and stay together.” And most of the time, the danger in question is from them being lost, injured, and running out of supplies, not from the monster. It's extremely tedious. A.'s review does a great job of calling out the sexism and fat-phobia, but mostly it failed to make an impression on me because I was just so bored.

And then suddenly the book shifts to a kind of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Swedish Death Metal Edition. Which quickly becomes an endless, dull cycle of its own, with pointless, repetitive conversations between Luke and his captors. Why are we even here, never mind going over the same ground again and again?

The good stuff here was good enough that I almost want to try more of Nevill's work, but I'm really worried that it'll be more bloated text and too peppered with faux-philosophical musings that are really just wrappers for prejudice and justification of violent sociopathy. Hopefully he was just trying to paint Luke's character with all that, but you do get the sense that Nevill himself is either a financially unsuccessful loner who's trying to justify that to himself with this book, or a traditionally successful suburban doughy guy who fantasizes about being a superfit single guy without a family tying him down, who can win fistfights and sleep with many ladies.