Adam Nevill Redux

[joysilence]

A couple of ears ago I reviewed Adam LG Nevill's debut Banquet of the Damned here. Although it got off to a wobbly start it turned out to be an enjoyable Jamesian chiller that was fun despite a few beginners' flaws. Since then, I've also read Apartment 16 (a haunted house and arty Wyndham Lewis-inspired mayhem) and The Ritual (Nevill's go at pagan horror among the primeval forests of Scandinavia.) Though for some reason I never got round to reviewing these, they were both good, effective supernatural thrillers that were unafraid to channel the great writers of the Golden Age such as Machen, James and Blackwood.

So now I've just finished his most recent novel, 2012's Last Days. Kyle Freeman is a young director with a string of successful documentaries to his name, but he's horribly in debt. So when Max, a wealthy maker of New Age films offers him and friend Dan silly money to make a documentary about a bloodthirsty religious cult, he is glad to accept. He refuses to spend too much time wondering why old hippy Max wants him to chronicle the tragic story of the sinister Last Days cult, which ended in a tragic bloodbath in the Arizona desert. Or why Max is so keen he should immediately embark on a tour of the Last Dayers old haunts...But Kyle ends up getting more involved than he should when he realises this dark piece of history is far from dead and buried.

( Hell hath enlarged herself )