The Ritual

As someone who enjoys coming up with trip itineraries and researching far-away lands, the thought of going on a vacation abroad with your friends and everyone having a really, really bad time is a special kind of hell for me to think about. Which I know was not meant to be the actual scary part of this book, but that's what happens here and I didn't realize that was a personal nightmare of mine.

So this was an unexpectedly contentious book club read (the woes of being the only horror girlie!) and it was my pick, so naturally I'm a little defensive here. The general consensus was: too much introspection, not scary enough. Which I kind of dispute because I find pedal-to-the-metal nonstop horror without lulls to fall flat, and there are two distinct spooky scenes in this book that will stick out in my memory long after finishing it. So yes, the haters are wrong.

A common critique I saw mentioned about this book is that there's a very distinct first part and a very distinct second part, so at least I was prepared for that going into it. It is a continuous plot with the same protagonist, but there is a very strong tone and momentum shift as we go from wilderness/creature-feature survival horror to cult shenanigans (which I don't think is much of a spoiler given, you know, the name of the book). I was really rocking with things until we hit the narrative speed bump that really slowed things down in the second half, but we do get things moving again towards the very end and into the climax.

Peaks and valleys notwithstanding, I found Luke to be a relatable protagonist because he was wrestling with not being able to reconnect with old friends after a hiatus apart and also recurring anger issues, both things I struggled with myself when I was younger. The main differences were that he was still going through this well into his mid-thirties instead of right after college, and he can drive a manual transmission vehicle, which I cannot.

My personal anecdotal evidence suggests that if you don't typically read horror, you're not gonna like this one. But if you do, give this a shot and just know that it's kinda two different vibes stitched together.

Not sure why someone would rate this a 1, other than spite. The writing is incredible, the tension is built up perfectly which only a very skilled writer can do. Then just when you're not expecting it, huge plot twist in the middle. It was made into a very highly rated film in 2015 starring Rafe Spall.