PRAY YOU ARE ILL WHEN THE BELLS TOLL

Review of All The Fiends of Hell by Adam L G Nevill

What does one say about a book read twice that was even more astonishing the second time around?  My first reading was right after publication of All The Fiends of Hell.  I found it strange, disturbing, and full of creepy passages, but I could not imagine how to write a review of this latest book by one of my favorite authors.

The novel of 323 pages is cosmically horrific science fiction, and I mean that as the highest form of praise.  Being a voracious reader all my life, I’ve read countless sci-fi, fantasy and, more recently, lots of horror.  Perhaps my own anxiety about our collapsing world has led me to  Folk Horror, Cosmic Horror and Psychological Horror. Whatever the incentive, I have found my perfect destroyer of the veil to the dark side.  Adam L G Nevill is my king of the horrific.  He is able to capture my attention with ease, lead me astray into the night and drown me with mental meanderings.  This is why I felt incapable of writing a competent review.

I always look forward to a new release from Nevill, but this one left me stunned.  The second reading was even better than the first.  Just as many monster movies hold back on the monster (bah!) these Fiends start out invisible, but fear not!  As the red sky envelopes the UK, they start to be revealed, and the revelation is grotesque and perilous.  The author has included an essay at the end:  “Story Notes: About This Horror” which explains his concern for Earth’s future and his need to write an alien invasion tale.  I would say he nailed the “horrors” and left us longing for more.