I was expecting a shlocky horror novel in the vein of Guy N. Masters. I got a genuinely chilling, tightly-plotted, horror story with lots of twists, touches of gore, psychological terror and excellent writing.

I read a lot of horror and the prologue with the traditional first victims seemed depressingly formulaic, including “Let’s split the party” and two sections where most people call 999, not their spouse. However it improved sharply after that. The only thing I will take issue with is the description of one character as arachnophobic. If she’s arachnophobic she’s not going into a graveyard full of three-inch plus wide spiders. She’d be finding somewhere else.

The plot is tight and moves nicely, no character is exactly what you’d expect, and the high body count of the early chapters move quickly into taut suspense, psychological shocks, and some outright horrific scenes once the book reveals what is really going on. For a horror writer, D. Nathan Hillard can really write endings, and even the final twist on the final page is chilling. The author is exceptional at foreshadowing and set-up, to the point where one mundane sentence a few chapters on can be terrifying because you suddenly know what it means.

I can’t say much without really ruining this, as the plot twists very early on. The characters have depth and nuance, conflicting and believable drives, every page keeps you reading, and some sections are really horrifying, especially when as the reader, you know what is really going on and can only watch helplessly as a character makes a completely logical and intelligent decision, that you already know is going to get them killed or worse.

I was torn between four and five stars for this, but one thing tipped it over. I read it in the morning. That night I slept with the lights on. Horror fans? Get this book!

(Also I was tempted to re-read it, even though I really don’t like spiders. It’s that good.)