Jess McMachen needs a little luck. Broke, running from her abusive ex, and raising a child alone are pushing Jess to breaking point. She takes a job caring for Flo Gardner. A disturbed shut-in and invalid, Flo is quite the handful, but if Jess can hold it together, she and her daughter Izzy just might have a new life for themselves.
Flo’s home, Nerthus House, might look like a stately house in a nice little village, but the interior is labyrinthine … cluttered, dark, and filled with pagan artefacts. There’s a terrible secret in Nerthus House, and Flo’s influence is forging a wedge between Jess and Izzy.
It feels like Jess triggered some kind of arcane ritual as soon as she crossed the threshold of Nerthus House, a rite leading to a terrifying reality where everything she loves could be lost forever.
Why we’re excited about this book:
Adam Nevill is one of the premier horror writers in the world, with numerous awards and accolades under his belt. The author of The Ritual, Last Days, No One Gets Out Alive, Banquet for the Damned, The Reddening, and Cunning Folk among others, his short fiction is collected in Hasty for the Dark: Selected Horrors and Wyrd and Other Derelictions. The Ritual was adapted for film and was directed by David Bruckner (The Night House, Hellraiser) and No One Gets Out Alive was adapted for film and directed by Santiago Menghini. With his latest, Nevill cranks up the fear factor with a nightmarish folk horror tale just in time for Halloween. Ramsey Campbell (The Hungry Moon, Ancient Images) says this of Nevill’s fiction: “In refining the tale of supernatural horror to its essence, M.R. James increased the terror, and among his living inheritors is Adam Nevill.”
Releasing from Ritual Limited 31 October 2022, The Vessel by Adam L.G. Nevill is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA