Book Review: Cunning Folk by Adam Nevill

This is not a book that will surprise you. The plot is pretty standard stuff - spooky house in the country bought by townies who want a new life, history of death and suicide in the house, creepy neighbours, weird stuff starts happening ... you know how it goes. You know the second the family is introduced to you which ones are going to die and which ones are going to get hurt and which ones are going to leave.

However, far be it for me to suggest that this is a bad thing! There are no new ideas left under the sun, they say, and sometimes it's nice to have that familiarity. And just because something has been done before doesn't mean it can't be done again in a new and interesting way.

And Adam Nevill does exactly that. This is a predictable story, but it's done extremely well. The writing is evocative and fluid, the characters are vivid, and the horror is deep and intense. The villains and the descriptions of them are incredibly creepy and disturbing. And while the setup is quintessential haunted house stuff, there are no ghosts here. As the title suggests, it's something else entirely haunting that house.

If you like folk horror, this is well worth a read. My only complaint is that once again (I don't think this is really a spoiler) it's the pagans being the bad guys. Even the one who gets called in to help isn't doing it for the right reasons. Maybe next time the pagans could save the day? That'd be nice.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4651085084