The Reddening

By: Adam Nevill

Narrated by: Conner Goff

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

A gripping folk-horror thriller from the author of The Ritual

One million years of evolution didn't change our nature. Nor did it bury the horrors predating civilization. Ancient rites, old deities, and savage ways can reappear in the places you least expect.

Lifestyle journalist Katrine escaped past traumas by moving to a coast renowned for seaside holidays and natural beauty. But when a vast hoard of human remains and prehistoric artifacts is discovered in nearby Brickburgh, a hideous shadow engulfs her life.

Helene, a disillusioned lone parent, lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. Disturbing subterranean noises he recorded prior to vanishing, draw her to Brickburgh's caves. A site where early humans butchered each other across 60,000 years. Upon the walls, images of their nameless gods remain.

Amidst rumors of drug plantations and new sightings of the mythical red folk, it also appears that the inquisitive have been disappearing from this remote part of the world for years. A rural idyll where outsiders are unwelcome and where an infernal power is believed to linger beneath the earth. A timeless super-normal influence that only the desperate would dream of confronting. But to save themselves and those they love, and to thwart a crimson tide of pitiless barbarity, Kat and Helene are given no choice. They were involved and condemned before they knew it.

The Reddening is an epic story of folk and prehistoric horrors written by Adam Nevill, the author of The Ritual, Last Days, No One Gets Out Alive, and the three times winner of the August Derleth Award for best horror novel.

©2019 Adam L. G. Nevil (P)2019 Journalstone

wow, but wow.

great stories, if not a bit "filling" the void.
I will read EVERYTHING Adam writes. I do feel some of the naritive tries to fill a page vs. moving on to an engaging element of the story.

Mispronounced Words

Narrator mispronounces several words and it nearly drove me insane! Story is great though! Overall I liked it.

Great premise… exhausting execution

This was an amazing premise for a book, but drug on for far too long, especially in tense moments. The descriptions of irrelevant details during moments of action almost made me stop listening. This book should’ve been about 20 chapters shorter.

Good story, needs a different narrator

I have no particular dislike about Conner Goff, but considering the setting of the story (England) and the range of regions, I feel it would better set the environment with a British reader who could approximate the accents that would no doubt set the characters apart. Occasionally I would be pulled from the story by a word mispronunciation (Brazier pronounced like brassiere, etc.)

Decent, With Some Mild Twists

I really liked this story overall; it took some turns I didn't expect, and some of the more gruesome bits were legitimately unnerving.

What made this four stars for me rather than five were two things - first, there were a few places where the pace ground to a slow crawl (or rather, swim), and second, the narrator was a bit monotone, pronouncing every sentence with the exact same heavy intonation whether he was describing a brutal murder or a mild conversation over breakfast.

I liked both of the main characters, and the ending was satisfying without trying to artificially wrap up every thread.

Another good one

The author is true to his pattern in this one, but don't get me, that's good.

just okay

I listen to 2-3 audio books a month and I'm usually fairly forgiving of narrators but this has to be the most unprofessional reading I've listened to. the other reviews are correct that this novel would have been better serviced by a female with a British accent, or at the very least a man with a decent accent. but besides that He mispronounced multiple words, occasionally I could hear faint background noise, swallowing, things moving on a table, the audio equipment turning off/on in-between a sentence or paragraph (something ive never encountered before). sometimes the silence between chapters was so long I thought the app cut out. A good narrator can make a mediocre story come to life, unfortunately that isn't the case here.

the story itself is not bad, but it wasn't what I was hoping for based on the summary. while there was intriguing moments once we got into the thick of it I found myself bored or annoyed often, some of that due to the narrator I'm sure. The frequent use of the word abattoir in several close chapters had my eyes rolling every time I heard it.
Even so, I would listen to more of this author's work. I'm certain he has something I'll really enjoy but hopefully he's commissioned other narrators.

Accents

The narration was fine, but perhaps it should have been done in the accents used in the country where this story takes place.

All the Right Ingredients

Eerieness, intrigue, an atavistic cult, psychedelic rock, drugs, conspiracies, cryptic monsters, and lots of gruesome violence...if you enjoy grim folk horror this story has everything you could want.

good story but..

the story itself was good but I had a really hard time connecting with any of the characters. I'm unsure of whether this is because of the way the book is written or because of the narrator so I can't pinpoint where the fault line is.