DEBUT In March of 2019, four twentysomethings enter the Kentucky woods on a mission to find a never-before-discovered, let alone scaled, rock formation. Two of them are scientists eager to study the flora and geology of this unmapped region for their graduate work, while the other two consist of a rising star in the rock-climbing world and her boyfriend. However, from the first lines, readers know this story ends with all four dead. Told from the point of view of each doomed character and with timeframes alternating between the past and present, the book is brilliantly crafted, with both vivid characters and a visceral sense of place, a landscape rooted in evil with a long history of a thirst for human blood. An unputdownable and realistic example of survival horror at its best, marked by an unrelenting tension that methodically increases. This is a story that will haunt readers.
VERDICT A terrifying debut, rendered with the intensity and skill of Scott Smith’s cult favorite The Ruins and touches of The Hunger by Alma Katsu and Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The novel announces Kiefer’s intentions to boldly begin her climb to the top of the genre.
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