The Reddening...a gruesome folk tale

 ‘The past is red. The earth is red. The sky is red.’ The red abides from the opening chapter until the last sentence in the epilogue.

Although I start reading THE REDDENING, Adam Nevill's latest novel, last January, I had to keep it aside for a while until last month. I needed my full attention and for my all senses to be present: you don't read Adam Nevill's lightly, especially a novel like THE REDDENING, a terrifying feast of blood and terror. It simply haunts you for Adam Nevill knows well his craft. He  skillfully sketches his harrowing images to nest in the reader's nightmares and linger there for a while:  In THE REDDENING, the meaning of primal fear is redefined, from being hunted to trapped, in a dark cave or a safe house. Adam reaches the deepest emotions, the panic of being lost in a foreboding land to the sheer terror of finding oneself in the middle of the sea, surrounded by the void: it's a tale of oppression and desperation, of human depravity and evil, and also a fight for survival.

The ghastly openning scene is an ominous introduction of the horrific mayhem awaiting behind each chapter. An introduction to an unforgiving rugged nature and a tricherous land. The backdrop of the novel is South Devon and Brickburgh caves and quaries where archeological digging has taken place. These excavations will bring to surface terrifying secrets and gruesome discoveries: a  real "charnel house" of

human bones, unwholesome carven artefacts, mural depictions of monstrous creatures, scary beings and ferocious animals. A proof of brutal old civilizations that had inhabited this land thousands of years ago. Ruthless ones tainted by blood and murders and ritualistic sacrifices that suggest cannibalism heavily practiced in different groups through times.  These are the first horrifying incidents Kat, once a topnotch journalist in London and who now works for Devon Life & Style, will witness and live. Soon, she will find herself in the middle of dreadful situation, masqueraded as archaeological finds which she intended to cover and write about. It's the hell of red people  to which Helene is dragged as well. A single mother, who lost her brother Lincoln 6 years ago, Helene is looking for a closure for her grief and the reasons behind her brother's death. The unearthly subterranean sounds Lincoln had recorded in his last days will take Helene to South Devon and  Brickburgh caves. Helene wants to understand the only legacy Lincoln had left, maybe this could shed some light on his death circumstances.  The lives of Kat and Helene are shattered when they cross each other's way. Together, they are trapped in a vortex of horrors unleashed by a merciless nature, unhinged folk painted in red and by something unearthly and hiddeous called Old Creel.

Description and prose are Adam Nevill’s prowess.  He thrives in his craft.  It is two worlds that collide in THE REDDENING: touristic nonchalent coastlines, beautiful beaches, a place for the wealthy and the rich  are so different from the jagged cliffs, the dilapited quaries, the secluded trails and forgotten places. And no matter on which part the reader finds themeselves, it's a forboding land and dangerous territories, only quenched by blood and atrocities on the surface and the below. In Brickburgh caves and  below their grounds, old deities creep and pace in hunger for flesh and bones, for a blood sacrifice the red people always  come to offer.  In each step and every corner the author reminds us that no one is safe in THE REDDENING, once there is an encounter with the Red,  either on a remote beach or behind closed doors, no one is safe.

 Adam Nevill excels at characterization in each book he writes. He  weaves his charachters with care and passion. From their physical attires to their personality traits: their desperation, their misery, their struggle and their unbeatable will to overcome the impossible are mutually experienced by the reader. He also has a unique way to introduce his villains. In THE REDDENING, the red people, their leaders and what they worship and serve are drawn of madness and brutality. Their look, their shrieks, their dialogues and sneers are definitely something to stuck around and sink in the reader’s imagination.

As described, The REDDENING is indeed an epic folk horror. The elements are all there. A secluded town, a secretive community, ancient rituals. It's an alliance between a mesemerizing brutal landscape, human derangement and a bloodthirsty entity: This luring nature is not a holiday destination by the seaside and a peaceful sanctuary to which Kat ran away from her old traumas and  painful past and definitely won't be a place for closure for Helene’s bereavement and sorrow. It is labyrinth of terror and fear.  THE REDDENING is an ancient  horror, foul and unmerciful protected by madness and rough earth.

Finally, I can say one more thing what  the Guardian once wrote about Adam Nevill books: “You don’t read an Adam Nevill horror novel: you live it“ and this is perfectly what to expect while reading THE REDDENING. You simply live it.