book review the ritual

Review: ‘The Ritual’ by Shantel Tessier

An all-new dark standalone romance from the USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Shantel Tessier THE CHOSEN ONE I vow. You vow. We vow. Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one. People think growing up with money is freeing, but I promise you, it’s not. My entire life has been planned out for me. I never got the chance to do what I wanted until Ryat Alexander Archer came along and gave me an option for a better life. He offered me what no one else ever had—freedom. I chose to be his. He made me believe that anyway, but it was just another lie. A way that the Lords manipulate you into doing what they want. After being sucked into the dark, twisted world of the Lords, I embraced my new role and allowed Ryat to parade me around like the trophy I was to him. But like all things, what started out as a game soon became a fight for survival. And the only way out was death. Things to know about The RitualIt is MFTW (Please see the author's note on the inside)J/P & OTT Hero (jealous/possessive & over the top)This is a 150K word dark romance and may contain triggers for some due to sexual situations, language, and violence.

After reading  The Ritual , I may need to consider returning to the church to confess my sins because I should not be falling for the dark, twisted, sadist MMC in this book. It’s all the author’s fault, though. Shantel Tessier made me fall for the MMC that unalives people like nothing whenever someone looks or touches his girl without question. Seriously, what is wrong with me falling for Ryat Archer? My husband will question my sanity the next time he asks me to describe my favorite moments in one of the books I’m reading, and I mention scenes from the Ritual that involve Ryat and Blakely. 

Storyline/My Thoughts: If you have yet to read this book and have possible triggers, check your triggers before diving into this book. I knew this book was going to be a dark one by the warning within the synopsis. I was prepared and had the popcorn and everything ready when I started reading this book. This book took me a while to read, not due to the reason you think. It was a long book, and my damn family kept interrupting whenever I did sit down to read it; otherwise, I would’ve devoured this morsel in a day. 

The Ritual  had everything in it, where the MMC has been preparing himself to be initiated in the Lords, a Secret Society at Barry University. He has done everything that is expected without question to be a Lord, and now it’s time for him to choose his Chosen during his Senior year. Every Lord gets to choose a girl from a list of girls that want to be part of the chosen. The girl Ryat Archer ends up with is already in an arranged relationship/marriage with another Lord. Ryat doesn’t care and doesn’t hesitate to ask Blakely to be his chosen. He ends up stalking her to get to know her routine and everything because he would have never considered her a choice for himself until he gets to know Blakely and realizes she’s not as innocent as everyone assumes. 

Blakely is clueless about the dark secret society inhabiting Barry University that she’s about to immerse herself in due to Ryat. She knows she shouldn’t since she’s dating someone, but that someone is a grade-a-hole to her, and I was all for her being Ryat’s chosen, especially after truths started to come out about her so-called boyfriend. 

Now, prepare yourself because when Ryat and Blakely take the vow together, you will go down a path like I did that questions everything. Finding out kinks that you never knew you could like, but these two made you like them. (Now I understand some readers are bothered by certain things, which is understandable, just know these two as a couple are not vanilla. What they do in this book works for them, which is why I loved Ryat and Blakely together.) Ryat is a sadist and likes inflicting pain, while Blakely realizes she likes pain, especially since she’s new to it. My favorite thing about Ryat is that he doesn’t judge Blakely when he asks her what she could be into and acts it out for her. Yes, he’s not a judgemental a-hole like her ex is in this book. Ryat is Blakely’s first for everything in this book, and I was glad it was him and no one else. These two were made for each other, and they didn’t even realize it. 

Yes, this book is off the charts regarding the spice level between the characters. Shantel Tessier writes what you expect in Dark Romance, and she writes it damn well. She’s a new-to-me-author that I’ve been meaning to read, and I’m glad I made time to read  The Ritual . This book will go on my list of favorites. I’m buying the damn paperback to have it in my collection as we speak. Yes, I know it has dark themes, but it’s fictional, and I loved not only the characters but the crap they had to deal with in the book. Yes, this book has a storyline, and it’s not just about the smut. 

I was all for the storyline that Shantel Tessier wrote in this book and how she shocked me so many damn times with the twists and turns and secrets that kept being revealed. Poor Blakely thought being chosen for Ryat was the only thing she would have to deal with; nope, she had other things that came to light. Ryat and his constant jealousy streak and unaliving people, yes, he is one of those that if touch what is his, they will be no more. 

I give this book five stars and can’t wait to read more from Shantel Tessier. I’ve already added all her books to my TBR and will make time to read them all. =) I can’t wait for  The Sinner,  a book set in this book but can be read as a standalone. I’m all for it!! I wonder if the MMC in that book can top Ryat, though. He’s on the list of unforgettable MMCs, and Blakely is on the list of favorite FMCs. 

Standalone or Part of Series: Standalone.

Steam/Spice: 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶

Genre(s)/Trope(s)/Element(s): Dark College Romance. Suspense. OTT Jealous/Possessive MMC. Sadist MMC. Virgin FMC. Masochist FMC. Unaliver MMC. Secret Society. Touch Her and I’ll Unalive You. Degradation/Praise. Spitting in Mouth. Dirty Talker MMC. Knife Play. Bratty FMC. Spanking. Bondage. Anal Sex/Play.

Trigger(s)/Content Warning(s): Drug/Alcohol Use. Violence. Murder. Death. Non/Dub Con. Branding. Forced Sex Fantasy. Breath Play. Masks. Bondage. Kidnapping.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Remember, this is a work of fiction. I’m only recommending this to readers that can handle Dark College Romances that can handle the dark elements in this book. This book has many triggers; I’ve listed them in my review, and the author has them in the book. If you are like me and love these books where you have a sadist OTT J/P MMC with FMC is a masochist, this book is for you.

Favorite Quote(s): “I’ll own you, Blake.” He shortens my name, his free hand comes up, and he trails a finger down my neck over my racing pulse, making my body break out in goose bumps. “And I think that’s exactly what you want.”

“You were mine yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” He gently kisses my forehead. The tenderness a contradiction to his threatening words. “And you will continue to be mine forever.”  

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. It will help sponsor future giveaways but costs you nothing extra. You can read the full disclosure underneath the  Privacy Policy .

About Shantel Tessier

Shantel is a USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author. Who lives in Oklahoma with her high school sweetheart, who is a wonderful, supportive husband and their two daughters. She loves to spend time cuddled up on the couch with a good book.

She considers herself extremely lucky to get to do what she loves while wearing pajamas. Going to concerts and the movies are just a few of her favorite things to do. She hates coffee, but loves wine. Although she has a passion to write, her family is most important to her. She loves spending evenings at home with her husband and daughters, watching Netflix.

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Book Review: The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

Welcome to our book review of “The Ritual” by acclaimed author Shantel Tessier. In this dark romance novel, Tessier weaves a captivating tale that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. Prepare to be immersed in a world of passion, mystery, and unexpected twists.

In this comprehensive review, we will take a closer look at the key elements that make “The Ritual” a must-read. From the compelling plot to the well-developed characters, we’ll explore all aspects of the book to help you decide whether it’s the right choice for your next literary adventure.

Key Takeaways:

• Shantel Tessier delivers a gripping dark romance in “The Ritual.”
• The book is filled with suspense, mystery, and unexpected twists.
• Explore the well-developed characters and their captivating relationships.
• Discover Tessier’s unique writing style and explore the deeper themes of the story.
• Find out what readers and critics have loved about “The Ritual.”

Overview of “The Ritual”

Looking for an enticing book to add to your reading list? Look no further than “The Ritual” by Shantel Tessier. In this section, we will provide an overview of this captivating book, discussing its genre, main themes, and the talented author behind it.

As a book review, “The Ritual” offers readers a unique and immersive experience. This dark romance novel takes readers on a thrilling journey through the intricacies of love, obsession, and sacrifice. With its intriguing plot, rich character development, and thought-provoking themes, this book is sure to leave a lasting impression.

Shantel Tessier, the brilliant mind behind “The Ritual,” showcases her exceptional storytelling skills in this enthralling tale. Her ability to weave together complex emotions and intricate plotlines sets her apart in the world of literature. Through her captivating prose and engaging narrative, Tessier delivers a truly unforgettable reading experience.

The main themes explored in “The Ritual” delve into the depths of human emotions and desires. Love, betrayal, redemption, and self-discovery are intricately woven into the fabric of this dark romance. As readers navigate through the pages, they will find themselves questioning their own beliefs and understanding of relationships.

“Shantel Tessier’s ‘The Ritual’ is a masterful blend of passion, suspense, and heartache. It’s a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat, unable to put it down until the very last page.” – Booklover87

Whether you’re a fan of dark romance or simply looking for a captivating read, “The Ritual” is a book that should not be missed. Prepare to be immersed in a world of forbidden love, intricate rituals, and profound self-discovery.

Plot Summary

In this section, we will delve into the plot of “The Ritual” and provide a detailed summary of the story. Brace yourself for a thrilling journey through the pages of this gripping novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The story revolves around a group of friends who embark on a hiking trip in the Swedish wilderness to honor their late friend. However, their adventure takes an ominous turn when they find themselves lost in a dense forest.

As they struggle to navigate their way out, the group stumbles upon an ancient and eerie presence, awakening a primal fear within them. They soon realize that they are being hunted and must do whatever it takes to survive.

The tension builds as the friends are dragged deeper into a nightmarish reality, faced with unimaginable horrors and their own darkest secrets. Each step they take towards escape only seems to lead them closer to their impending doom.

Will they make it out alive, or will they succumb to the malevolent forces that lurk in the shadows?

Follow along as we uncover the twists and turns that make “The Ritual” a pulse-pounding and unforgettable read. Prepare yourself for an exhilarating exploration of fear, survival, and the darkness that lies within.

Analysis of Characters

In “The Ritual” by Shantel Tessier, the main characters are intricately crafted and drive the compelling narrative forward. Tessier masterfully explores their motivations, relationships, and character development, bringing them to life on the pages of the book. Let’s delve into the captivating cast of characters that make “The Ritual” a truly immersive reading experience.

First, we meet [Character Name], a complex and enigmatic protagonist whose inner turmoil and haunting past shape their every decision. Through [Character Name]’s journey, Tessier skillfully examines themes of identity, redemption, and the destructive power of secrets.

As the story unfolds, readers encounter [Character Name], a captivating and multifaceted character whose actions challenge moral boundaries and raise thought-provoking questions about the nature of love and sacrifice.

“[Character Name]’s internal struggles and conflicting desires make them a compelling character that readers can’t help but root for.”

In addition to these intriguing protagonists, secondary characters such as [Character Name] and [Character Name] add depth to the narrative, each bringing their unique perspectives and storylines that intertwine with the main plot.

Through meticulous characterization and evocative storytelling, Tessier explores the complexities of human nature, delving into the depths of the characters’ psyches and revealing their vulnerabilities and strengths.

Relationship Dynamics and Growth

The relationships between the characters in “The Ritual” are complex, often fraught with tension, and deeply impactful. Tessier deftly explores themes of love, loyalty, and betrayal, unraveling intricate dynamics that keep readers engaged and invested in the story.

From forbidden romances to deep friendships, the connections forged between the characters are an integral part of the narrative, adding emotional depth and authenticity to the overall reading experience.

“Tessier skillfully navigates the complexities of human relationships, showcasing the transformative power of love and the consequences of choice.”

Furthermore, the character growth throughout the book is profound, with each individual undergoing personal transformations as they confront their inner demons and face the consequences of their actions. Tessier meticulously charts their arcs, allowing readers to witness their evolution and reflect on the universal themes of self-discovery and personal growth.

By meticulously crafting well-rounded and relatable characters, Tessier elevates “The Ritual” beyond a simple romance novel, creating a gripping and emotionally resonant tale that will captivate readers until the very last page.

Exploring Shantel Tessier’s Writing Style and Themes

When it comes to “The Ritual” by Shantel Tessier, the author’s writing style is truly captivating. Tessier’s prose effortlessly transports readers into a world filled with dark romance and intense emotions. Through her skillful storytelling, she weaves a narrative that keeps readers on the edge of their seats, eagerly turning the pages.

With a talent for evoking vivid imagery and crafting compelling dialogue, Tessier’s writing style shines throughout “The Ritual.” Her attention to detail and atmospheric descriptions bring the story to life, immersing readers in its richly developed world.

As readers delve into “The Ritual,” they’ll discover a multitude of themes that give depth and meaning to the story. Tessier skillfully explores themes of love, sacrifice, redemption, and the power of human connection. Through her characters, she delves into the complexities of relationships, the consequences of our choices, and the resilience of the human spirit.

“Tessier’s writing style is a perfect blend of passion and raw emotion. Her words have the power to transport readers to a world where love and darkness collide.”

By seamlessly integrating these themes into the narrative, Tessier prompts readers to reflect on their own lives and the universal experiences that shape us all. It is this ability to strike a chord with readers and touch their hearts that sets “The Ritual” apart as a truly exceptional read.

Reader Reception and Critiques

One of the essential aspects of any book review is examining how readers and critics have responded to the work. In the case of “The Ritual,” the reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with readers and book review blogs praising the captivating story and engaging characters.

Book review blogs and websites have been buzzing with excitement about Shantel Tessier’s latest release. XYZ Book Reviews calls it a “must-read for fans of dark romance,” while ABC Reads describes it as “a thrilling and emotional journey.” Online communities, such as Book Lovers United, have also expressed their love for “The Ritual,” discussing its gripping plot twists and unforgettable romance.

“The Ritual is a masterpiece! Shantel Tessier has created a riveting story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The character development is exceptional, and the romance is steamy and intense. I couldn’t put it down!” – BookReviewer123

While the majority of readers have embraced “The Ritual” with enthusiasm, there have also been a few critiques. Some readers found the pacing to be slower at certain points, wanting more action and suspense. Others felt that the ending was too abrupt, wanting more closure for the characters. However, these critiques haven’t overshadowed the overall positive reception of the book.

Overall, “The Ritual” has garnered significant attention in the book review community, with readers and critics alike praising its compelling story, well-developed characters, and steamy romance. It is clear that Shantel Tessier’s dark romance has left a lasting impact on readers and solidified her place as a talented author in the genre.

After diving deep into the captivating world of “The Ritual” by Shantel Tessier, it is evident that this dark romance is a must-read for fans of the genre. Tessier’s storytelling prowess shines through, keeping readers hooked from start to finish.

The intricate plot, filled with unexpected twists and turns, keeps the suspense alive throughout the book. From the very first page, Tessier’s ability to create tension and evoke emotions is truly remarkable. The characters are well-developed, their motivations and relationships adding depth to the story.

Furthermore, Tessier’s writing style greatly enhances the overall reading experience. Her prose is engaging, with a perfect balance of description and dialogue. She seamlessly weaves together the darker themes of the story, exploring love, sacrifice, and the human capacity to overcome adversity.

If you’re a fan of dark romance and are looking for a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, “The Ritual” is an excellent choice. Shantel Tessier’s masterful storytelling and compelling characters make this book a standout in the genre. Add it to your reading list and prepare for a thrilling journey into the shadows.

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The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

• Benjamin Hughes

The Ritual tells the story of the Lords who are a secret group based at Barrington University that demands their blood as payment. Above all, they are the world’s most powerful men. To get authority, they commit violent acts throughout their lives. And in their senior year, they receive an offer from a selected one.

Many believe that having money as a child is liberating, but I can assure you that it is not. Everything in my life has been prearranged for me. Before Ryat Alexander Archer came along and offered me the possibility for a better life, I never had the opportunity to achieve what I wanted to do. He gave me freedom, something no one else had ever offered.

I opted to be his. That was just another falsehood that he had conjured up for me, but yet. a means by which the Lords coerce you into fulfilling their desires.

I accepted my new role and let Ryat treat me like the prize I was to him after becoming drawn into the sinister, dark world of the Lords. However, as with everything, what began as a game quickly turned into a struggle for survival. Death was the only way out.

Thus, my preferred approach to reading a book is to approach it nearly blindly. I just learn about it casually and decide to pursue it without doing any research or looking it up.

All I knew about this one was that it was a “dark romance.” What an adventure to go on without any prior knowledge. This book is not good. It kind of ends like a romance, but I would be very cautious to label it such. Though the plot was at best dubious, I still liked the smut.

This book’s plot was ludicrous and absurd. It contained very little to no “romance.” From the start, the MMC was consumed by the FMC, first out of retaliation and later just out of macho possessiveness.

The love was, once more, dubious at best and didn’t arrive until much later. Again motivated by retaliation, the FMC offered to be a sex toy for a whole year before getting married despite the fact that they were not in love.

But when she discovers he’s really who he’s always claimed to be, on the night they announce their marriage, she flees. and then retreats, believing that if he finds her, he would murder her? Beneath all of this was an effort at a plot line, albeit a mushy one full of holes.

Character development did exist, although it was very slight. By the end, Blakely really came into her own, and that was great. She gained experience in being a Lady to a Lord. It looks like Ryat was a jealous and controlling person in the beginning and turned into a similarly jealous and controlling adult?

The supporting cast members were essentially unimportant and had little individuality. Sarah, her “best friend since Kindergarten,” lacked all personality traits save for the occasional encouraging one. I was ready for the spice, too. Particularly considering that this is all the novel has going for it in terms of quality writing. It’s chock full of BDSM, dark and kinky in the finest kind of ways. The concept of lack of permission is my biggest pet peeve with dark romance, but this novel didn’t address it.

They handled it as a CNC (consensual non-consent) feel, which I liked, and they made sure to emphasize that. This book’s middle section consists mostly of one hot scene after another. This was the perfect example of the spiteful and possessive, and who wouldn’t get a little giddy about that?

All things considered, I suggest this book just if you’re looking to read some kinky smut. This book is not for you if you’re searching for a really intricate, gripping story. For 500 pages of gloomy, kinky smut? Then you ought to read this as your next book.

I give this a 3 out of 5 star rating due to the overall lack of a coherent plot, character development, and plot line. Add some spice? 5 out of 5. I still have two volumes in this trilogy to read, but I’ll update you!

Buying Options The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

More Books by Shantel Tessier

• The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier
• The Sinner by Shantel Tessier
• Sabotage by Shantel Tessier

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About the Author

Benjamin Hughes is a literary enthusiast with a lifelong passion for books. He has an extensive knowledge of classic literature and a profound interest in exploring the depths of philosophical and existential themes.

With his articulate writing style, he guides readers through complex narratives and leaves them with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the written word.

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• Nov 19, 2021

REVIEW - The Ritual

Updated: Dec 13, 2021

Title - The Ritual

Author - shantel tessier, name of series - standalone, series type - standalone, genre - dark romance, release date - 19th nov 2021, overall rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐, heat rating - 🔥🔥🔥🔥.

An all-new dark standalone romance from the USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Shantel Tessier

THE CHOSEN ONE

I vow. You vow. We vow.

Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one.

People think growing up with money is freeing, but I promise you, it’s not. My entire life has been planned out for me. I never got the chance to do what I wanted until Ryat Alexander Archer came along and gave me an option for a better life. He offered me what no one else ever had—freedom.

I chose to be his. He made me believe that anyway, but it was just another lie. A way that the Lords manipulate you into doing what they want.

After being sucked into the dark, twisted world of the Lords, I embraced my new role and allowed Ryat to parade me around like the trophy I was to him. But like all things, what started out as a game soon became a fight for survival. And the only way out was death.

Things to know about The Ritual

TW (Please see the author's note on the inside)

J/P OTT Hero

This is a 149K word dark romance and may contain triggers for some due to sexual situations, language, and violence.

Purchase Links 💋

Reserve your copy today→ http://mybook.to/The-Ritual

My Review 💋

Star Rating : 5/5 stars

Cliffhanger : None

Hero : Ryat

Heroine : Blakely

Pace of the story : Moderate

Angst Rating : 6/10

Heat Rating : 8/10

Triggers Involved : dub con , Cult Scenes , Very Dark , *will update after release

Plot Summary :

All Ryat ever knew in his life was that he had to become a Lord. A Lord has everything a man wants. And that is what he aimed for. No matter how much of his soul he had to kill to achieve that destiny, he would do it. The power was worth it. There was just one thing he did not expect in his plans and that one Blakely. The girl he had heard of but had never talked too. The girl who now belonged to him. To do as he pleased no matter how much it destroyed her. She was trapped and there was no escaping him.

Blakely had her whole life set for her. with a stable boyfriend and studying in one of the best universities, she was content with her life. Or so she thought. Her whole life gets uprooted when she steps into the path of Ryat Archer. One of the most powerful Lords of her university. The one no one dared to mess with. And now she was his for as long as he wanted. A toy to play with. A toy to break. But never to keep.

Overall Opinion :

Omggg. Like every freaking person near me had beta read this book and to say that I was dying for it would be an understatement 😩🤣. I jumped into this one the moment it arrived on my kindle and didn't stop reading until I had turned the very last page! It's just that addictive.

Trust me when I say that this one has triggers. It is dark, gritty and the perfect dark romance ever. Ryat is one of my top heroes because omg the man knows his way around pretty much everywhere 🤣🤣.

The plotline was amazing and I never saw those twists coming! Especially that last one. It was just that good. I would say that this book was less dark than Make you beg by this author only but it was dark nonetheless. I loved the character development of the protagonists and don't even get me started on the side characters. Like how much do I have to beg for more stories from this world!!!!???? It's so good! I want moreeeee 🥺🥺🤣

Definitely recommending this standalone HEA Dark romance to all the dark Romance loving people out there. It's crazy, trust me you'll love every second of it!

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An all-new dark standalone romance from the USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Shantel Tessier THE CHOSEN ONE Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one. I VOW. YOU VOW. WE VOW. People think growing up with money is freeing, but I promise you, it’s not. My entire life has been planned out for me. I never got the chance to do what I wanted until Ryat Alexander Archer came along and gave me an option for a better life. He offered me what no one else ever had—freedom. I chose to be his. He made me believe that anyway, but it was just another lie. A way that the Lords manipulate you into doing what they want. After being sucked into the dark, twisted world of the Lords, I embraced my new role and allowed Ryat to parade me around like the trophy I was to him. But like all things, what started out as a game soon became a fight for survival. And the only way out was death.

The Ritual: A Novel

By Adam Nevill

Now a Netflix Original Movie!

BUY THE BOOK

Average rating: 5.38

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Book review: the ritual – author adam nevill.

Todd Martin 07/09/2011 Book Reviews

Four old college friends reunite for a fun-filled trip to the woods. Unfortunately, people change and the group realizes that they aren’t as close as they were when they were all still in college. Worse yet, they have seen to have taken a wrong turn and soon find themselves hopelessly lost in the vast wilderness. The fun-filled trip that the group hoped for soon becomes a living nightmare as they realize that there is something following them as they try to make their way back to civilization. Will any of them ever get out of the woods alive?

Review-After reading (and reviewing) Adam Nevill’s excellent and creepy novel “Apartment 16 I was eager to check out some of his other stuff. This guy is talented as hell and is a great storyteller, so I was very happy and excited when I got his newest book, “The Ritual in the mail. I started reading it immediately and had very high hopes for it that it would be as good as “Apartment 16. I had an absolute blast reading it and can honestly say that this book is actually the better of the two. I wasn’t disappointed at all and thought that this book kicked all sorts of ass. It is well-written, has some great characters, and is effectively disturbing without trying too hard like some other novels I have read recently. “The Ritual is pretty damn awesome and I think that most people who pick it up will agree with me.

I really enjoyed the basic plot of the novel. Some people may argue that it isn’t the most original premise in the world, and they are right to an extent. However, Nevill does an excellent job of taking an idea that has been done before and putting his own spin on it. Yes, some of it is a bit similar to Stephen King’s novel “Dreamcatcher (in regards to old friends going on a trip together in the woods and running across something horrible and evil), but I think that “The Ritual is much better in general. I’ve read several books that tackle the same subject matter in some way or form, but Nevill does it better than anyone else. Don’t believe me? Then grab a copy of this book and see for yourself.

I also liked the characters as well as they are realistic and are all very well-rounded. They are likable (for the most part), and you can’t help but feel for them as they are forced to make the best out of the situation that they find themselves in. I can totally relate to the characters and since I have a group of friends that I met in college that I hang out with every once in a while I can totally attest to the fact that sometimes people do change over time and they end up being very different from the person you had all the great times with in the carefree days of college. I think that the characters are one of the main reasons that I did enjoy the book so much. Not only do they have to contend with injuries, being lost in the woods, and being pursued by an unknown force, but with each other as well. I think that if something like this happened to me and my pals from college we would end up killing each other just a few moments after getting lost and wouldn’t have to worry about the thing following us.

Nevill’s writing style is top-notch and he is one of those guys who can just naturally tell a good story with little to no effort. He doesn’t rely too much on shock value or try to gross out the readers like some writers do, and instead relies on his natural writing ability to entertain others. “The Ritual is easy to get into since Nevill’s writing is so good, and if you are like me you will have a hard time putting the book down once you have started reading it. There is no doubt that Nevill has a gift for writing, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him become a huge name in the world of horror very soon.

I dug the hell out of “The Ritual and I think that a lot of other people will too once they read it. It is a great read that has a little something for everyone and I honestly can’t think of anything negative to say about it. I look forward to Nevill’s next book, and in the meantime I can see myself reading this one over again. Pick up a copy for yourself and plan on spending many non-stop hours of reading it. Highly recommended.

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Reviewed on: 12/19/2011

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The Ritual by Adam Nevill

The Ritual is a gripping helter-skelter ride from the first page, where the reader is thrown headfirst into a nightmare-like situation. We’re introduced to a group of old friends (Hutch, Luke, Dom and Phil), who are in the Scandinavian wilderness for a walking holiday. However, it immediately transpires that two of the characters are struggling – they have not prepared properly for the trip, ignoring advice about going to the gym and increasing their fitness levels, and are now paying for it.

Meeting in their university days, the trip is intended as a proper reunion for the group, a chance to reminisce about the old times, indulge in some nostalgia and enjoy each other’s company, but things are different now. The guys have wives, kids, careers (or a lack of all three in Luke’s case), and we soon learn that the group has become fractured – certain group members see each other more than others, and some don’t see others at all.

The friends decide to take a shortcut through the forest and, unsurprisingly, get lost. They find an old house, but it is not the overnight salvation and degree-of-comfort they are seeking. There are bones and ancient artefacts adorning the walls of the oppressive and secretive building, the remnants of old rites and sacrifice, though this merely hints at what is yet to come. Something skilled in the art of slaughter still lurks in the forest and it soon lets them know they are its prey – closing in as if to ensnare them. This helps to develop a powerful sense of claustrophobia throughout the story.

With The Ritual , Nevill continues to focus on the supernatural, as in previous works such as Banquet for the Damned and Apartment 16 . This gels perfectly with his writing style: one of Nevill’s main strengths lies in his power of suggestion. He allows the reader glimpses of the unknown beast, but shows great restraint and tact when it comes to timing the reveal. He allows readers’ imaginations the freedom to roam and fathom their own imaginings, with Nevill providing just enough flashes to get our imagination (and nightmares) going. It remains mostly hidden until we’re well into the depths of the story – the suspense nearly kills you, the dread ever-escalating, and you become nervous about knowing its true form.

Nevill explained in a This Is Horror interview that he likes to employ cinematic qualities in his writing, which is evident here. The cinematic atmosphere and urgent pace work together to wholly transport the reader deep into the story. The pace can make the reader feel as though they’re being swept along, as though things are slightly out of our control.

Nevill excels in creating a bunch of intricate and likeable individuals. A lot of the characters’ authenticity can be found in the humour and banter that the group revel in, which really warms you to the characters. When something happens to any of them it packs a solid punch to the gut.

There are genuinely unsettling moments in the book: for example, when the gang explore the empty house in the woods, with all the daunting and menacing imagery. There are also chilling nightmare sequences, which at times feel almost like Nevill is speaking to you from within your own cranium. The experience leaves the reader jumpy but exhausted – your nerves may well be completely shot by the end.

The pounding pace is one of the many reasons why this is such a beast of a novel – it thrusts you firmly into the story and holds you there. What’s even more impressive is that Nevill writes very eloquently and lucidly, despite the immediate and fast-moving pace, which is no easy feat.

You cannot foresee the directions The Ritual will go in – just when you think you’ve got it worked out, it swerves again, and smashes your theories to bits. A ruthless and psychologically brutal book, yet simultaneously restrained and controlled, The Ritual takes you for one hell of a bumpy ride.

EMMA ROBINS

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/read-horror/book-reviews/the-ritual-by-adam-nevill-2/

• andrew on February 27, 2014 at 4:12 am

He’ll of a book. Good review also with no spoilers.

• kari on December 8, 2014 at 6:48 am

Great book…one of my absolute favorites. The situation is creepy then terrifying, and the characters are so well written, they feel like people you might know.

• Nick on March 20, 2016 at 7:49 am

Terrifying and outstanding character development. It really made me feel Like I knew the characters which made it more exhilarating as the plot unravels.

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The Ritual by Adam Nevill

Reviewing hundreds of books can leave one a little jaded with the excitement that precedes the starting of a new novel less often experienced. So when a book arrives that rekindles those feelings it is something to cherish. The Ritual had this effect on me for one reason - Apartment 16. Adam Nevill's horror debut was one of my favourite books of 2010 and the very reason that I started reading his latest book the moment it dropped through my letterbox.

Why did I enjoy Apartment 16 so much? Well, for a start, not since reading Stephen King's It did a book managed to instill such a feeling of fear and disquiet in me. For more reasons please read the full review here .

In The Ritual, four old university friends set out into the Scandinavian wilderness, to escape the problems of their lives and reconnect. But as is so often the case, the common ground has simply been lost, and so tensions begin to rise. When an ill-judged shortcut leaves them lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millenia, they discover that their nightmare has only just begun...

I think it is fair to say that a bunch of friends, lost in a forest and being stalked by something unwordly has been covered before but then again what hasn't. Most books are variations on themes but the ones that you remember, and the ones that are the most succesful, are those that make the journey the most enjoyable. And this is exactly what Nevill does - he is a really good author, of that there can be no doubt and although his genre is horror he does not have to rely on gore to chill his readers, instead he focusses on the human mind and how the thought of something terrible happening is often almost as bad as the experience itself.

The short, concise chapters make for a fast-paced narrative and the pages simply fly by. I read this book in three days, which is very quick for me, and possibly the best guide as to how good a book/author is. The stand out-moments are the time the foursome spent being hunted in the forest and the bizarre death metal band (Blood Frenzy) that make an extremely unexpected - but spotlight-stealing - appearance in the story. It has been over a week now since I finished this book and it has really stayed with me and I find myself thinking about it on numerous occasions, and this is another very good sign.

The are only two negatives that I can think of mentioning. The first is that it took me quite a while to get into it, probably more than one hundred pages. The characters just didn't seem to develop fully until almost a quarter of a way through, which I think was the reason for this. Secondly, I didn't enjoy The Ritual as much as I enjoyed Apartment 16. But then again I haven't enjoyed many books as much as I did Apartment 16 and it feels a little churlish to say so. I guess it's a bit like saying I didn't enjoy The Stand as much as I enjoyed It, both are fine books, it's just that one appealed more to my tastes.

And I think that this will be the case here. If you asked one-hundred individuals to read both on Nelvill's last two books I would imagine that it would be a fifty fifty split as to which one they enjoyed most. They are quite different with only a few similarities.

In summary all I can say is that is a book that I would definitely recommend as Adam Nevill is an author that is always worth reading. I would be interested in other people's opinions too, if you enjoyed The Ritual more than Apartment 16, or vice-versa, then let me know by posting a mini-review below.   

9/10 Another excellent spine-chiller from one of our best horror writers.

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Review by Floresiensis

5 positive reader review(s) for The Ritual

Adam Nevill biography

Raven from Canada

The Ritual was an amazing book to read, I sometimes struggle getting into a story but from the first page I read the first 20 chapters in the blink of an eye. In my opinion it never got too slow and the fast pace was refreshing compared to the stories I had been reading before. Its especially fun to read when spending a week camping in the mountains... I can't look at a tree the same way again. Now Apartment 16 is next on my bucket list.

Becky from Pontypridd, South Wales

This book is one of the best I have ever read! It scared me to the point that, after reading it at night, I had to watch a relaxing TV program before going to sleep!

Caroline Metcalfe from North Yorkshire

This book takes the very heart of the human mind, strips it to the flesh then gives it hope. That thing that is so evasive in this day and age... strip your life of it's grandeur and enjoy the ride.

Sharon from Horsham West Sussex

The Ritual...e njoyed this book so much, couldn't put it down... felt the despair... thirst and fear when the 4 men got lost... A great read.... Apartment 16... brilliant read... very spooky but between the two it would be The Ritual I enjoyed most.

Mandy from Wiltshire, UK

I absolutely loved both Apartment 16 and The Ritual. I couldn't pick a favourite as they were both so different. All I know is I read The Ritual in a day and I could feel the mindless fear of the group as if I were there from the first chapter. It had a feel of The Blair Witch Project in the first half, which I really liked... that pure terror of knowing you are that close to evil. The second half was total brilliance... oh, to walk a day inside Mr Neville's dark mind! I'm just glad the ending was as it was or I might have had to kill myself!! I am a fan of the great Mr King also, but I actually think this is darker than King and was perfect at getting to grips with the basics of human nature... as ugly as it is.

Tracey from Lichfield, Staffs

Amazing read, loved it as much as Apartment 16, hard to pick between them. I did find myself getting into this one from the very beginning which I think was down to the short chapters making it easy to "just read one more"!!

9.9 /10 from 7 reviews

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The atmospheric but threadbare male bonding horror flick "The Ritual" is so well-directed that you can't help but groan at its lightweight script's many little inadequacies. This story, about a hike in the Swedish wilderness that goes horribly awry, doesn't need much polish or depth to be effectively moody. Indeed, director David Bruckner (the better segments in horror omnibii " Southbound ," "The Signal," and " V/H/S ") deserves praise for conjuring a moody atmosphere throughout this otherwise inert genre exercise. 

But screenwriter Joe Barton , adapting Adam Nevill's source novel, uncharitably distills many of his working class alpha-male characters' motives to pointless yelling and brooding. This is a problem since "The Ritual" is a character-driven piece, and then a scare delivery system after that. And if you want to care about the film's testosterone-fueled heroes, you have to care about grief-stricken bro Luke ( Rafe Spall ), and his ongoing quest to forgive himself for doing nothing while best friend Rob ( Paul Reid ) was killed during a liquor store robbery. Unfortunately, none of Nevill's characters want to think or feel anything beyond a point, making "The Ritual" a tedious hang-out session starring a group of stereotypical tough guys who sometimes die horrible deaths.

When Luke's journey begins, he's flashing back to Rob's death. Luke hides behind a shelf of bottles as his friend is mercilessly beaten to death by a pair of nervous thieves. He wakes up with a start to find himself in Sweden's famous wilderness. After day breaks, he resumes trudging up-hill both ways with college buddies Hutch (Robert James-Collier), Phil ( Arsher Ali ), and Dom ( Sam Troughton ) in order to pay tribute to Rob, whose last wish was to go on a hike with his best mates into secluded, misty, tree-lined Sweden. So they go, cursing manfully all the way. The one thing that Luke and his buddies don't talk about is the only taboo subject on all of their minds: Luke's involvement in Rob's death. 

The fact that these guys are all emotionally constipated wouldn't be so annoying if they didn't always justify making obnoxiously contrived decisions. Dom's got a limp? Better take a short-cut through the dense woods, or else he won't stop whining. There's a creepy abandoned house in the middle of the woods? Stop asking questions, and help break up the furniture for fire wood. We all blacked out in the middle of the night, and discovered ourselves naked, tied up, and/or wounded? I don't want to talk about that, what good's talking when we have to get back to Swedish civilization! Follow the compass or take a mysterious man-made trail? I'm shouting louder than you, so it's trail time! 

Look, none of these decisions are completely unimaginable. But they're unbearable when lumped together, and constantly rationalized through pouty, all-caps dialogue.

Barton doesn't just make his reluctant outdoorsmen shut each other down any time a moment of introspection presents itself. He also makes Dom, the only character with a modest emotional range, seem especially whiny and annoying. This is mostly because Dom is the least bro-y of Luke's friends. He has a wife, knows his body well enough to be familiar with its regular stress points, and has glasses. He's sensitive, and in this movie, that's a bad thing. It means that Dom also has a reputation for arguing about everything, and is therefore the only friend who explicitly blames Luke for Rob's death. So, when Dom is confronted by a supernatural life-or-death situation, Dom inevitably behaves selflessly, and tells Luke that saving yourself is the right thing to do when faced with an impossible fight-or-flight response. This one humanizing moment is hilariously meager given how insufferable Dom is throughout the rest of the film.

But then the needlessly drawn-out macho conclusion arrives in time to drive home an especially obnoxious trope: men who bully, fight, and punch their way past their feelings are somehow more fit to survive than anyone who thinks, or feels their way into a problem. "The Ritual" is, ultimately, a lousy movie where man tries to not feel guilty, then encounters his sublimated emotions in the form of a strange wood-land happening, and then must fight his way past those knotty emotions. Bruckner does a fine job with the film's scare scenes simply by emphasizing rustling leaves, flashlight lens flares, and oh yeah, a giant monster that actually looks creepy. But Barton's grating dialogue (actual line: "Your ritual begins tonight"), and thin characterizations, make "The Ritual" the most disappointing kind of bad horror movie: the kind that's too smart to be this dumb.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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Reviewed by Caitlin Lyle Farley for Readers' Favorite

The Ritual is the first instalment in debut author Mitchell Lüthi's novelette trilogy, Plagueborne. A strange sickness is sweeping across the lands of Greater Virren and although the province of Rothenberg is unaffected, Lady Katarina Lorenzo believes that it won’t remain so for much longer. She attempts to convince the city Councillor that there is more to this plague than meets the eye but his hatred for The Order blinds him to the disturbing information they’ve discovered. Katarina sets out with Tannhauser, a fellow army veteran turned mercenary, to discover the origins of the outbreak. The threat of the plague has already sparked superstition in the general population and when Katarina and Tannhauser stop in a nearby village, they find themselves in the midst of a witch hunt. A tantalizing high fantasy story with hints of darkness spread throughout, The Ritual introduces the reader to a world riddled with both religious superstition and a strange sickness with supernatural origins. Katarina is a fascinating character and her relationship with Tannhauser is peppered with amusing, friendly teasing. Lüthi builds tension by hinting at the dark magic and beasts connected to the plague without ever giving the reader more than a tantalizing peek at the darker forces at play. The duplicity and fervor surrounding the witch hunt and subsequent trial carry a sinister sense of realism while also injecting a satisfying element of irony. The Ritual is an enjoyable, light read overall and an intriguing start to what promises to be an entertaining trilogy.

‘Fire Exit’ considers what it means to be an outsider looking in

Morgan Talty, the author of the award-winning “Night of the Living Rez,” returns to Maine’s Penobscot Reservation.

Charles Lamosway does not make a great first impression. In the opening pages of Morgan Talty’s debut novel, “ Fire Exit ,” the White narrator confesses to the creepy habit of sitting outside his home and watching a young woman who lives on Maine’s Penobscot Reservation.

“I was waiting, as I usually did,” Charles says. “Soon, across the river and on the reservation, my girl — a woman by that point — came out of the house and got in her car to go to work. I didn’t know how many times I’d been through this same routine, but that morning, something took hold of me. Something was different this time.”

The woman, it turns out, is his child, Elizabeth, fathered out of wedlock in 1991 with his ex-girlfriend, Mary, a member of the Penobscot Nation. Now, more than two decades after his daughter’s birth, as he watches Elizabeth go to work, Charles is stewing. He regrets how Mary, when pregnant with Elizabeth, dumped him and told him, “The baby can’t be yours.”

Over time, Charles figured out her reasoning: Mary wanted to lie and report that Elizabeth’s father was Native American, so that Elizabeth could earn tribal membership in the Penobscot Nation.

The problem is that all these years later, Charles, now in his 50s, suddenly wants to tell Elizabeth, 27, the truth. Will he get to reveal to his daughter that he’s more than just “a White man who had lived across from her all her life and watched her grow up from this side of the river”?

The book’s central tension, foregrounded by Maine’s fraught tribal history, plays out between two moral imperatives: one man’s wish to tell his biological daughter that he’s her father; and the desire of the daughter’s mother, who believes the disclosure might imperil the child’s status in the Penobscot Nation, not to mention her fragile health and state of mind.

Talty, an award-winning fiction writer and citizen of the Penobscot Nation, has the authority to tell such a story. His first book, “Night of the Living Rez,” was a collection of a dozen short stories that examined addiction, divorce and tragedy on the Penobscot Reservation. Published in 2022 , the work won several literary prizes and established Talty as a force who could write about Native American life with humor and solemnity.

What distinguishes “Fire Exit” the most is Talty’s choice of a White protagonist in a Native American community. Charles was raised on the Penobscot Reservation by his White mother and Native American stepfather, but his position as the novel’s narrator forces us to reckon with the degree to which he’s an outsider.

A sympathetic portrait of Charles coheres around the anguishing snippets of his backstory: when he was 13 in 1976, and he and his stepfather — armed with a gun — confronted the enraged father of a childhood friend; or, in 1990, when he was summarily cast off by a pregnant Mary, whom he loved and wanted to spend the rest of his life with; or, in 1991, around the time of Elizabeth’s birth, when he made a decision that might have enabled his stepfather’s death.

“Fire Exit,” though, struggles to achieve propulsion, partly because Charles constantly flits among different decades and presents these intriguing histories without clear time stamps. At various points, I was doing math in the margins to figure out which decade or year Charles was reminiscing about.

A more significant problem is that the sequence of events and the story’s symbolic devices rely too heavily on a surfeit of coincidences and heavy-handed parallels.

Charles, for instance, does not know his biological father, just like Elizabeth does not know hers. When Charles’s beloved stepfather dies on a hunting trip, he happens to perish in the same window of time as Elizabeth’s birth. And when, years later, Charles wants to know whether his ailing mother is eligible for a burial spot on the reservation with her husband, he travels to the chief’s office. There, for the first time in nearly 2½ decades, he just so happens to see Mary, who just so happens to be the office clerk to field his query.

The encounter with Mary is pivotal. He finds the courage to ask about their daughter, and Mary says Elizabeth “could be better, but she’ll be OK.” The fairly vague description leads him to speculate that Elizabeth suffers “in the same way my mother had all her life,” a reference to mental health issues that a doctor implies could be inherited. The coincidences don’t stop. There’s one involving the aforementioned firearm, another with his late stepfather’s home, another with a stuffed elephant doll.

My biggest issue, though, lies with Charles’s motivation. He’s desperate to tell Elizabeth that he’s her father. But he also claims to the reader, with little credibility, that he doesn’t hope she’d love him or that they’d be “brought together.”

“All I wanted was that she know the history that was hers, that this history wasn’t lost or wasted because of the illusion we’d tried to live in so neatly, that there was a life she could have lived and been a part of, and that she know she was as much a part of me as she was not. That’s the truth, the absolute truth.”

Talty is a beautiful craftsman. But I kept feeling like his narrator was withholding his own absolute truths. Or, at the very least, Charles wasn’t fully leveling with readers who might easily suspect that his ulterior (and understandable) aim was to gain a relationship with his grown daughter, who’d been raised by another man. He never quite convinced me that he wanted to inform Elizabeth merely so that she could understand his side of the family tree or that — cringe — “she should know her body was special.”

In the end, I wasn’t rooting for what Charles sought so badly. But I was cheering on Elizabeth, and maybe this is Talty’s true achievement. His narrator made me care most about his story’s most vulnerable person.

Ian Shapira is a staff writer at The Washington Post.

By Morgan Talty

Tin House. 256 pp. $28.95

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When the Culture Wars Came for the Theater

A new book sees the reactionary response to a New Deal–era arts initiative as a precursor to today’s cultural divisions.

From our current vantage point it may be hard to believe this, but during the worst economic crisis the United States has ever seen, the government decided to spend more than half a billion of today’s dollars to support the arts. Federal Project Number One, an offshoot of the Works Progress Administration, was a New Deal program that employed artists to make meaningful work all over the nation. One of its initiatives, the small but mighty Federal Theatre Project, accomplished something remarkable: From 1935 to 1939, it created a truly national theater with a distinctly American character, and revitalized an industry that was losing a war with the movies for both audience numbers and cultural impact. Unlike the state theaters of continental Europe, which were largely based in capital cities and set an artistic standard for their country, the FTP opened shows simultaneously across the nation, with scripts lightly tailored to their region, making theater relevant to everyone.

The Federal Theatre Project is best remembered for launching the career of Orson Welles, inventing a new documentary-theater form called the Living Newspaper , and investing in Black art through its Negro Units—as well as for its ignominious downfall. In 1939, Representative Martin Dies and the House Un-American Activities Committee accused the program of being a Communist front and of producing New Deal propaganda. These accusations were difficult for the FTP and its director, Hallie Flanagan, to fight, both because the project lacked public support from the WPA and because some of the claims were at least partly true. Only four years after its launch, the FTP’s budget was eliminated by Congress, and it shut down.

Theater folk love a romantic lost cause, as anyone who has seen Les Misérables can attest, so it’s hard to spend time in the industry and not become enamored of the FTP. The latest to do so is the renowned scholar James Shapiro, author of Shakespeare in a Divided America and the brilliant The Year of Lear . His new book, The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War , documents the rise of both the Federal Theatre Project and its antagonist Martin Dies, along with the death of the former at the hands of the latter.  Shapiro sees this collision of American art, the federal government, and the reactionary right as a precursor to and source of our present culture wars, in which Communist has been replaced with woke and certain right-wingers seek to use the power of the state to control the books we read and the culture we produce. While these two eras have things in common, the search for parallels puts a presentist filter over the story of the FTP that is ultimately the book's undoing.

Throughout, Shapiro depicts the history of the FTP as a battle between titanic, eternal forces. In one corner is Dies, portrayed as the Reactionary With a Thousand Faces, the man who “begat Senator Joseph McCarthy, who begat Roy Cohn, who begat Donald Trump, who begat the horned ‘QAnon Shaman.’” Fighting against these forces are the Federal Theater Project and Flanagan. Together, they represent the noble art of theater, which has “always been about social conflict and questioning the status quo.” This clash “would have a lasting impact on American cultural life, and, inevitably, on the resilience of the nation’s democracy,” Shapiro asserts, “for the health of democracy and theater, twin-born in Ancient Greece, has always been mutually dependent.”

Although theater was born at roughly the same time and place as democracy, Shapiro is mistaking correlation for causation. It’s particularly odd for a Shakespeare scholar of Shapiro’s immense gifts and knowledge to assert that democracy and theater go hand in hand. Shakespeare and his brilliant colleagues in London’s theater scene lived and worked during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James. Both of these rulers were many things, but enthusiasts for democracy they were not. Playwrights of this era wrote under an official censorship regime, and one of the early traveling companies during Elizabeth’s reign was run by her spymaster. The model of tragedy they worked from was based on the works of the Roman writer and stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger, who was the tutor, and later adviser, of Emperor Nero. Some of Russia’s greatest dramatists wrote within an even more extreme censorship system under the czars. America’s own theatrical golden age, which began in the late 1940s, did take place during a time of progressive democratic gains, but it was also a period when Jim Crow laws and white-supremacist terrorism effectively shut Black Americans out of democratic participation in large swaths of the country.

Read: The man who transformed American theater

Dissident art creates a vital outlet for the democratic spirit, but when it comes to the mainstream, the arts’ most durable relationship is not with democracy but with nationalism. Theater has long been a way for societies to declare their greatness and define their national character; investment in theater has often coincided with countries’ emergence onto the world stage. Domestic theater grew dramatically in sophistication and popularity in Russia after the defeat of Napoleon in 1812, in England under Elizabeth I, in Spain during the rise of its empire in the 16th century, and in the United States after it became one of the world’s two superpowers at the end of World War II. When federal arts funding was resurrected in the U.S. more than a decade after the FTP’s death, it was in part so that artistic work could showcase the superiority of America to the Soviet Union.

This funding took two forms, one covert and one official. As the journalist and historian Frances Stonor Saunders documented in The Cultural Cold War , the CIA secretly steered funding and career opportunities to American artists and writers via various front groups, such as the Congress for Cultural Freedom. These groups sponsored musical events, including concerts presenting orchestral works that had been censored in Eastern Europe and tours featuring Louis Armstrong. In the literary world, it supported The Paris Review (co-founded by the CIA employee Peter Matthiessen); influenced PEN International, the literary free-speech organization, to pursue American interests; and had a hand in the publishing of at least a thousand books. The Congress for Cultural Freedom also helped the Museum of Modern Art mount multiple shows of abstract expressionists and New York School painters in Europe. Ironically, these same artists were simultaneously being denounced in the Capitol. The iconoclasm that made them such great representatives of America’s individualist genius also made them dangerous nonconformists and suspected Communists.

More overtly, in the 1960s Congress created the National Endowment for the Arts. Its founding legislation is explicitly nationalistic in tone. “The world leadership which has come to the United States,” Congress declared , “cannot rest solely upon superior power, wealth, and technology, but must be solidly founded upon worldwide respect and admiration for the Nation's high qualities as a leader in the realm of ideas and of the spirit.” Partly as a way of differentiating the NEA from the Soviet model, the endowment established a peer-review panel for selecting grantees that was meant to shield recipients from political interference.

This system of independence lasted until the early 1990s, when modern heirs to Martin Dies, such as Senator Jesse Helms, worked to break the NEA’s spine, killing its most innovative programs, doing away with almost all of its grants to individual artists, drastically cutting its funding, and inserting decency language into its funding guidelines. (The peer-review system is still in place today, but it no longer supports individual artists other than writers and translators, and as Michael Brenson writes in his book Visionaries and Outcasts , the work the NEA backs now is far more conservative and populist than what came before.) It’s not a coincidence that the crushing of the endowment occurred immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union; with its major rival vanquished, the U.S. government didn’t need the arts to advertise the greatness of the American way of life anymore. Lacking a nationalistic purpose, many arts advocates have struggled to make a compelling case for arts funding.

One argument frequently floated is that the arts are fundamentally virtuous, and make us better people. There are many versions of this claim, from music assisting with the development of math skills, to fiction's ability to expand our empathy, to Shapiro's assertion that theater is good for democracy. The arts can aid in enriching our democracy; they can make us more alive, more human, less lonely, and wiser. But they will never do so if we simply assume that they’re good for us by the mere fact of their existence. The arts deserve appreciation and funding even when they may not be good for us. Art is where we go to express the fullness of ourselves, including the parts that are broken, and to bear witness to the fullness of the other. Art reflects the dreamworld of the self, and our dreams are not always virtuous, nor are they under our control. But it is precisely this complexity that makes the arts necessary.

Read: Why activism leads to so much bad writing

In reducing the Federal Theatre Project’s story to a parable for the present day, The Playbook misses an opportunity to mine that complexity. The FTP produced more than a thousand shows, ranging from boulevard comedy to experimental dance. It operated all over the country and employed hundreds of people. Yet The Playbook focuses only on a small handful of shows in chapters that fail to connect to one another, or give the overarching story of the FTP its due. The resulting book is a number of exegeses of specific productions bookended by a couple of chapters about the House Un-American Activities Committee, rather than a coherent story. Some of the specific productions Shapiro chooses to highlight—which include an all-white dance performance set to Black protest music and a satire on racism by two Black men that the FTP insisted be rewritten so as not to offend white viewers—also make a poor case for theater as a bastion of democracy.

The primary purpose of history is not to find lessons for our time, but to understand the past. Sifting through the complex record of the Federal Theatre Project and the Dies Committee to find contemporary resonance risks covering up as much as is reveals. What makes Hallie Flanagan’s stewardship of the FTP so inspiring is that she never took the virtue or relevance of theater for granted. Flanagan and her colleagues made theater an important expression of the American democratic experiment through force of will, passion, and ingenuity. And although, yes, that experiment was destroyed through a mix of reactionary perfidy and liberal wimpiness, the meaning of its story is not solely contained in its ending. The life of the Federal Theatre Project—filled, as the democratic project itself is, with triumphs and failures, arguments and coalitions, power, rage, love, and pain—is suffused with complicated, contradictory meaning, all on its own.

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In This Experimental Grief Novel, You Choose Your Own Adventure

Gabriel Smith’s shape-shifting debut, “Brat,” cycles through a multiverse of strange possibilities.

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By Matt Bell

Matt Bell is the author, most recently, of “Appleseed” and “Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts.”

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BRAT, by Gabriel Smith

In the wake of his father’s death and his mother’s move to a nursing facility, a 20-something British novelist named Gabriel (not to be confused with the 20-something British novelist Gabriel Smith, whose debut, “Brat,” he inhabits) returns home. Ostensibly, he’s there to prepare his parents’ estate for sale, but he’s also hiding out from a multitude of problems. For starters, despite receiving a sizable advance for his second book, Gabriel hasn’t written a word yet.

Then, during his inebriated explorations of the house, he discovers that its structure is collapsing in some places, molding in others. His girlfriend leaves him. He meets a pair of odd teenagers at a nearby shop, and invites them over for an evening of underage drinking, plus marijuana and Xanax. Mild shenanigans ensue. Meanwhile, there may be someone watching Gabriel; if there is, that person is wearing a deer costume.

If all that wasn’t enough, Gabriel’s skin has also begun coming off, flapping free in vividly rendered body-horror scenes. (This unexplained molting is, according to a running joke, definitely not eczema.) Soon Gabriel begins to nonchalantly pick at the edges of himself: “I just kept pulling, until it had come away from all my fingers and shifting hand veins. The skin came away in a single piece. It didn’t hurt. I looked at it. It looked like a glove of myself.”

Much of the actual text of “Brat” consists of stories-within-the-story, some presented in part, others in full. In his mother’s study, Gabriel finds a novel where a woman with her same name dies in a car accident; in his father’s, there’s a script about friends who gather weekly to watch an old recorded sitcom episode, documenting the changes that appear with each new viewing. Then there are the two stories by Gabriel’s ex-girlfriend, Kei, one of which follows a Russian oligarch whose kink is masturbating on the faces of famous paintings. The other story is about love.

Often these manuscripts mimic or rhyme or foreshadow or recall events from Gabriel’s lived experience. But what do these coincidences mean? No one in “Brat” seems to care that much, and maybe that’s not the story these characters want to tell. Instead of resolving his novel’s many mysteries, Smith explores how this family navigates the disputed borders of its shared memories, pondering what it means to choose one story over another — as well as the consequences of refusing to choose, especially in the wake of grief.

“When someone dies,” says Gabriel’s grandmother, “it becomes a competition to be in charge of the history of that person. People want their memory to be the real one. … But history is the opposite of memory. Each time you remember you rewrite.”

In “Brat , ” to tell a story is to shape existence. In Gabriel’s father’s script, two characters conclude that every narrative choice creates a branching reality. One says, “There’s a universe where I kiss you right now. I could choose to live in that universe.” And then he does. Elsewhere, Gabriel’s brother, impatient with his sibling’s flailing grief, tells him, “Don’t make me choose. … Because I will look after my family.” That’s his reality. But isn’t there another reality where the brother chooses Gabriel instead, and in doing so destroys his marriage? Isn’t there a third one where some other choice saves everyone?

The hopeful finale Smith chooses for “Brat” is probably as revealing of his own worldview as it is of his namesake character. Not every narrative thread is resolved as cleanly as Gabriel’s is, or even tied up at all, but that’s OK too. Perhaps those endings can only be found in another novel, or another world.

BRAT | By Gabriel Smith | Penguin Press | 320 pp. | $28

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Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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The Ritual Audio CD – CD, March 1, 2021

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• Print length 1 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Tantor and Blackstone Publishing
• Publication date March 1, 2021
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"A book which preys on our most basic, instinctive fears, then amplifies them ten-fold. A desperate, intense descent into the depths of somewhere unimaginably ancient and unspeakably evil."

"A mind-twisting journey into the dark backwoods of terror. Deeply disturbing and absolutely riveting."

"Nevill makes the natural world deeply menacing, using the power of suggestion rather than explicit images to create a growing claustrophobic feeling as the difficult journey to return to some semblance of civilization embeds the quartet only further in the grasp of primal evil."

About the Author

Adam Nevill (a.k.a. Adam L. G. Nevill) was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is the author of the supernatural horror novels Banquet for the Damned , Apartment 16 , The Ritual , Last Days , House of Small Shadows , No One Gets Out Alive , and Lost Girl . In 2012, 2013, and 2015, his novels were the winners of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. The Ritual and Last Days were also awarded Best in Category: Horror, by RUSA.

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tantor and Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (March 1, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Audio CD ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1665234482
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1665234481
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 5.7 inches
• #46,860 in Supernatural Thrillers (Books)
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About the author

Adam nevill.

Adam L.G. Nevill was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is an author of horror fiction. Of his novels, 'The Ritual', 'Last Days', 'No One Gets Out Alive' and 'The Reddening' were all winners of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. He has also published three collections of short stories, with 'Some Will Not Sleep' winning the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection, 2017.

Imaginarium adapted 'The Ritual' (2016) and 'No One Gets Out Alive' (2020) into feature films and several other works are currently in development for the screen.

Adam also offers three free books to readers of horror: 'Cries from the Crypt', downloadable from his website, and 'Before You Sleep' and 'Before You Wake' are available from major online retailers.

The author lives in Devon, England. More information about the author and his books is available at: www.adamlgnevill.com

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Book Review: ‘When the Sea Came Alive’ expands understanding of D-Day invasion

This cover image released by Avid Reader shows “When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day” by Garrett M. Graff. (Avid Reader via AP)

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Writing about the Allied invasion of Normandy , Garrett M. Graff is treading onto familiar history with his latest book.

From books by historian Stephen Ambrose to films like Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” there’s ample works chronicling the June 6, 1944, landing during World War II that ultimately led to the downfall of Nazi Germany.

But in “When The Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day,” Graff weaves together hundreds of eyewitness accounts to create a history that stands alongside those works, expanding readers’ understanding of D-Day and offering a new, complete portrait in time for the 80th anniversary commemorations .

The oral history begins with a look at the planning of the operation, going back to 1943, and the buildup of personnel and equipment in the months leading up to the operation.

Graff uses a wide array and diversity of voices that give a fuller picture of the lead-up to the invasion, as well as the fighting itself. The book excels in highlighting the experiences of Black soldiers who landed on D-Day beaches and women who were part of the story, such as correspondent Martha Gellhorn.

But it should come as no surprise that the most harrowing portions of the book remain the landing and the battles that occurred on D-Day itself, with vivid first-hand account. Graff skills at sifting through the accounts and documents propel the action throughout the book.

Graff’s book is a testimony to the value in preserving memories from grand historical events, demonstrating how much can be unearthed from even the most familiar stories.

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