FICTION

Devil's Day

by Andrew Michael Hurley
Houghton Harcourt. Oct. 2018. 304p. ISBN 9781328489883. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781328489845. F
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Every fall, John Pentecost returns to the Endlands, the farmland that has been in his family for generations. To celebrate the "Gathering," families assemble the sheep down from the moors for the winter to keep them safe from the Devil. This year, John's grandfather has just died, and John brings his wife, Kat, for the funeral. Entering into a close-knit community filled with superstitions and odd traditions, Kat comes to realize the costs of trying to keep the Devil at bay. Hurley's second novel (after the Costa Award-winning The Loney) is poetically written and heavily detailed; however, it's greatly focused on setting and atmosphere, leaving the character development lacking. Also, John's omniscient narrative is distracting at times, as it's delivered from some point in the future.
VERDICT While not as gripping as The Loney, the work's dark tone and slow buildup of suspense will still interest readers of gothic fiction. [Library marketing.]
Reviewed by Natalie Browning, LongwoodUniv. Lib., Farmville, VA , Aug 01, 2018
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