St. Martin's Griffin The Ritual: A Novel

Spooky vibes and easy read. This book is definitely hard to put down if your a horror fan. It gives very sinister and mysterious story that keeps you on your toes. I am only starting but am already hooked.I saw the movie a while back and wanted to give this a read since. Totally worth it and highly recommended to any fan of horror/thriller reads.

Livre très prenant dès les premières pages. On stresse pour les personnages des le debut sans pouvoir predire ce qu il va leur arriver.Excellent livre

Adam Nevill should be, by now, a name no serious aficionado of horror is unaware of. The author of – as of writing – seven highly acclaimed novels and is considered one of the best that British horror has to offer, and possibly internationally, too. However, I must admit that I have been woefully lax when it comes to his work. Though I have purchased every book he has had released thus far (and will most certainly continue to do so), I only managed to get around to reading his first, Banquet For The Damned, about a year or so ago. Since then – as is my way – I have decided to read his books in published order. Being a chronically slow reader, I'm only up to his third, The Ritual, but what a piece of work it is.*Possible spoilers*Though I very much enjoyed his first two novels (the second being Apartment 16), I felt that they represented two parts of a similar whole, concerning as they both did the spectres of past transgressions and dark secrets rearing their supernatural heads. Both these early novels were very much steeped in the traditions of M. R. James, Dickens, etc.; of a particular British approach to horror and supernatural fiction. And absolutely nothing wrong with that; they are very strong, well written literary horror books. But I feel with The Ritual that Nevill has made a huge leap forward in both his approach, his writing and his story-telling ability (which was already bloody great to start with).Concerning a reunion of sorts between four college friends (who are all now in various stages approaching middle-aged), we are immediately dropped into the latter stages of their hike through Scandinavian woods – though woods is perhaps a little meagre to describe the wild, expansive forest these men find themselves in – as they find themselves lost, turning in circles and discovering dead animals hung from the trees. It’s a striking decision, to eschew the slow build-up of atmosphere and characterisation of most books of this type in favour of immediate peril, and in lesser hands, it might have come off as a confused mess as the reader tries to both figure out what the hell is going on and gets to know who these people are. But Nevill is far too good at this game, and he both manages to convey the tension of the situation and amongst the group well, whilst also giving us an insight into the characters and their various dynamics. Hutch is the seemingly typical adventurer type who initially appears calm and knowledgeable; Luke is the black sheep of the group, content to still live a student existence into his thirties, and also drawing the ire of the last two members of the group; Dom and Phil, relatively successful in life on the surface, but woefully unequipped – physically and mentally – to undertake a venture of this kind. As panic starts to manifest within the group, thinly buried jealousies and antagonisms come to the surface, resulting in physical confrontations that serve to shock and rattle the group dynamic further. As if all this isn't enough, the four hapless explorers encounter first an abandoned cabin (I know, I know, but it’s done so well) with some rather creepy ornaments, decoration and stuffed animals inside, and then an old, desolate church which houses some grisly remains. On top of this, they guys become convinced someone – or something – is stalking them through the woods. This suspicion is eventually borne out as the members are picked off one by one in a series of terrifyingly realised set pieces.Essentially a book of two halves, the first section deals with the men as they slowly succumb to both the creature harrying them and the harsh environment. And the descriptions of dehydration, weariness, injury and increasing desperation are palpable; the prose is tight and clear, and very accessible. My take on the beast that stalks them was that it was a further representation of the truly inhospitable parts of the world that still exist; those places where, divested of our creature comforts, we wouldn't last long at all. It is a true man vs. nature narrative, and one where nature will always win regardless. nothing the men do gives them any victory or release; all they can do is try to run, but each step robs them of the strength to do so. Every injury is an insurmountable disadvantage. It’s depicted with such surety and immediacy that if this had been the book entire, I’d have still loved it. As it is, there is more…The second section shows Luke, as sole survivor, whereby he is ‘rescued’ by the most unlikely group of people; a bunch of Norwegian black metal fans who play in their own primitive band and stay in another old cabin with a silent old woman who may or may not be a relative. What follows is a tense, often bizarre, psychological drama as the three members of the band slowly reveal their plans for Luke, and their – and his – connection to the creature that has inadvertently – or otherwise – delivered him to them. This section elevates the book to new heights and I loved it more; the use of black metal to illuminate the cruel, banality of evil (though I was sadly disappointed not to see mention of either Immortal or Enslaved…); the terrifying unpredictability of the three Norwegians; and the slow build up to an inevitable and horrific outcome. It really is a fantastic shift in narrative to the book, yet still retains that metaphor of nature as harsh, uncaring and casually cruel. Whilst the ending may not be as bleak as some might have liked (and I fully expected something along the lines of The Wicker Man), it still works, it still fits.As for the novel being a refinement on what has gone before – and I've read this is what Adam strives to do with each piece – it certainly showcases far more concise and to the point prose. Whilst there were perhaps a couple of sentences or so that I felt could have done with trimming, I was otherwise caught up in the clear descriptions, and economic and reinforcing style. I certainly didn't find the writing a confused, rambling mess as some of the more negative reviews claim to have. As most horror books rarely manage to properly scare me – and that’s not a negative, it just rarely happens, yet I can enjoy them on other levels – The Ritual actually offered me a number of scenes that had my skin crawling, my head spinning. It definitely felt that a new level was reached here from the previous two novels, and considering the commonly held opinion is that each Nevill book is better than its predecessor, I'm itching to jump into Last Days…

This book was not what I expected. It was actually a let down and just not what I was expecting. I believed that it would be a great read and it seemed to be at the beginning but then it just fell flat. Kind of reminded me of a soufflé that flops when someone slams the oven door.

The Ritual by Adam Nevill follows a quartet of university friends as they reunite for a holiday getaway on a hiking trip in the colossal Swedish wilds. But when a shortcut is taken to trim the trek and save time, the foursome in the forest soon realize that wandering off the beaten path might have been a fatal mistake. And while the going is tough and injury-inducing, the treacherous terrain becomes a secondary concern, for they are not alone . . . if not being hunted.“They were small and fragile here. They were defenseless. They were not welcome.”What lurks within that prehistoric sea of trees is terrifying to consider, defying reason and logic on many levels, although evidence of its existence becomes impossible to deny: an eviscerated elk, dripping fresh blood, is seen speared upon spiky branches higher than any human can reach, requiring strength and coordination beyond the capacity of any known creature on earth . . . pronouncing the presence of an unmatched apex predator with a merciless dominance of its domain.“From the large rib cage drooped the gut, wet and blue in the light seeping through the canopy of leaves. The pelt was spread out across surrounding branches, holed but stretched taut in places.”Tension intensifies as the group happens upon a long-abandoned church, marked with symbols of Norse mythology on the outside, hiding a hair-raising altar on the inside, along with bones of various age and species buried beneath its rotted floors, suggesting myriad sacrifices made for some arcane purpose . . . if not symbolizing worship of a bestial deity in the ancient woods.”You haven’t seen it yet, but the darkness transmits images at you, composites from a thing you have seen elsewhere, at another time. So maybe the horns will go through you. A puncturing thrust to the dense meat of torso before a furious shaking. Before the teeth get busy.”It’s really no wonder why The Ritual was adapted into film, because the book is outstanding. The concept alone was tailor-made for me — basically had me at hello — but Adam Nevill also nailed the characterizations. And we’re not just talking about the four main players. Because the Author’s in-depth depictions of the woods and its many perils helped make the unforgiving forest a character all its own.“They were almost part of it now. Just a few bright colors of the manmade fibers they wore marked them out as any different to the thoughtless relentless decay of season and nature. It would be so easy to just sink to the ground and get recycled, to be eaten or to rot away.”Furthermore, you can feel the forbidding immensity of the landscape as the story moves along; you can feel the extreme hunger and exhaustion experienced by the main cast, as they’re forced to ration out tiny portions of food; you can feel the high-strung tension as tempers flare and when paranoia becomes full-blown fear, all the while feeling fearful for them as they’re picked off, one by one.“They had been destroyed like most people were destroyed. By just being in the wrong place. After all of that development and growing and cultivating and caution and survivable self-destruction and failure and regeneration and struggling and coping, they had just walked through the wrong bunch of bloody trees. And that was that.”Wickedly riveting and rife with ever-mounting dread, The Ritual is a remarkable creature feature with more than enough staying power to remain a genre staple for a long time to come.