The Vessel by Adam Nevill

 

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The Vessel by Adam Nevill - 167 pages

Struggling with money, raising a child alone and fleeing a volatile ex, Jess McMachen accepts a job caring for an elderly patient. Flo Gardner—a disturbed shut-in and invalid. But if Jess can hold this job down, she and her daughter, Izzy, can begin a new life.

Flo's vast home, Nerthus House, may resemble a stately vicarage in an idyllic village, but the labyrinthine interior is a dark, cluttered warren filled with pagan artefacts.

And Nerthus House lives in the shadow of a malevolent secret. A sinister enigma determined to reveal itself to Jess and to drive her to the end of her tether. Not only is she stricken by the malign manipulation of the Vicarage's bleak past, but mercurial Flo is soon casting a baleful influence over young Izzy. What appeared to be a routine job soon becomes a battle for Jess's sanity and the control of her child.

It's as if an ancient ritual was triggered when Jess crossed the threshold of the vicarage. A rite leading her and Izzy to a terrifying critical mass, where all will be lost or saved.

I hate to give one star reviews but I just had to with this one.  I found it long (yes I know it's a short book at 167 pages) and boring.  I think this could be shortened and added as a short story in a book, but as a stand alone I didn't like it.  If you incorporated this book into a drinking game, taking a sip every time you read the word "vicarage" you'd be buzzed twenty pages in.  That word was peppered throughout the book so unnecessarily.  On the plus side, the last 30 pages or so was pretty good, so there's that.

The Ritual by Adam Nevill

 

The Ritual by Adam Nevill - 418 pages

Four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. No longer young men, they have little left in common, and tensions rise as they struggle to connect. Frustrated and tired, they take a shortcut that turns their hike into a nightmare that could cost them their lives.

Lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, they stumble across an isolated old house. Inside, they find the macabre remains of old rites and pagan sacrifices; ancient artefacts and unidentifiable bones. This place of dark ritual is home to a bestial predator that is still alive in the ancient forest. And now they’re the prey.

As the four friends struggle for salvation, they discover that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees..

This book was spooky enough, but I feel it could have been more so.  The story seemed to lag in the middle and the ending for me was not what I was hoping for.  However, the idea of this book is good and I did for the most part enjoy it.  I will definitely seek out another of his books.