Devil's Day is the second book I've read by Andrew Michael Hurley. The first was The Loney, which was an award winner. Devil's Day is one of those books that if you expect the story given to you a plate, you'll be waiting. It is a slow, meandering book of excellent story telling from start to finish. It's one of those books, that makes you ask what is real and what is not.

The story jumps from the present to the past. John Pentecost is now a teacher but he originates from a farming community called the Endlands. He's newly married to Kat, a vicars daughter, and she is pregnant with their first child. Maybe this is why it has become so important to him to revisit his childhood home. The narration weaves from John telling his story of the present with his son, Adam, to the past where he first brings Kat to the Endlands and his memories of when he was growing up. The Endlands is an isolated area, full of stark beauty and hardship. The story is full of folklore and stories of the devil who is said to haunt the land, bringing disaster and mayhem in his wake. It felt haunting throughout and your imagination is left to fill in the shivery blanks. 

5/5. I actually loved this book but if it's non stop action you want , this isn't for you. If you like your British haunting folklore and a slow burning story, this is a winner. I enjoyed it more than The Loney, it's less bleak and much more richly woven. 

Thank you for this ARC copy from Netgalley and John Murray Press.

Andrew Michael Hurley is an extraordinarily gifted writer with his lyrical and atmospheric prose, with his eye for details, inundated with beautiful descriptions. There is a subtle tone of portentous menace within the narrative, set in Briardale Valley, Endlands in Lancashire. In this gothic novel, there is much that is reminiscent of The Loney, whilst providing us with a different tale. Looming large throughout is the isolated bleak, harsh, wild and ravaged landscape, battered by extreme winds, heavy rains and snow blizzards, a bitter place that takes no prisoners, where the struggle to survive and make a living demands everything. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, John Pentecost is a schoolteacher, working at a Suffolk public school, with a pregnant new wife, Katherine. He returns home with Kat, for his grandfather, aka The Gaffer's, funeral and to join in bringing the sheep down from the moors. Locals gather for the ritual tradition of celebrations, and storytelling from local folklore, known as the Devil's Day. This harks back to tales of the Devil coming to Endlands, infiltrating and cursing the place, brewing an epic snowstorm where 13 locals die, devastating the tiny community. The festival is intended to ameliorate the curse with their songs and by redrawing the boundaries. This is a dark story of secrets and family, of memories, of Endlands, a historical anomaly, separate from the rest of the world, clinging to and mired in the timeless past and its superstitions.

With his grandfather dead, John has the responsibility of redrawing the boundaries, an act fraught with difficulties amidst the tensions and feuds. John feels a strong, instinctive attachment and pull to stay with his memories overflowing. For Kat, this was meant to be a visit, she feels uncomfortable, out of place, unable to comprehend or connect with the locals who view her with the suspicions that an outsider merits. They have different visions of their future, but a frightened Kat succumbs to John, who brooks no opposition. The only person who seeks Kat's company is psychic teenager Grace Dyer. Strange accidents and arson occur, as the levels of unease rise with these ominous signs as people wonder if they have let the Devil in. John's memories, of his bullying, his inability to connect with his father, are part of his history as secrets in his family and those of the locals are slowly revealed.

This may not be a book that appeals to everyone, some people are likely to be frustrated by the slow pace and insufficient action, it demands patience from the reader. However, I adored it, I particularly relished and savoured the language, the sense of claustrophobia, ambiguity, timelessness and anxiety within the novel. The unsettling depiction of Endlands leaves an indelible impression on the reader, a brutal landscape that exacts a terrible price from the inhabitants. A fantastic read which I recommend highly! I cannot wait to read Hurley's next offering. Many thanks to John Murray Press for an ARC.

Read the loney tree didn’t think it was as good as I wanted it to be. Again had the same feel for this book. It’s ok but still wasn’t as eager to pick it up as I most books.

I'm afraid I can't say much about this book, as I gave up around halfway. Hurley is clearly a talented writer, but this book just takes so long to get anywhere. Whenever an event is coming up, there are pages and pages of inner thoughts and memories - filler material - that just makes it drag. The themes interested me and I didn't dislike what I read, but it just took forever to actually move on through the story. Sorry to say this isn't for me.

A very rich and complex novel, really well written and fascinating view of a life in the Endlands - always a hint of menace

Slow to get going, not an awful lot happens for most of this book, so it's definitely not one for those who enjoy stories with a plot. Nevertheless, it's atmospheric and compelling and there's something about it which draws you in and makes you want to know what happens at the end and whether the devil really will get his day.

Evocative, powerful writing, but didn't move me quite as much as I'd expected.

Set a story in the Northern moors, add a remote community and The Devil himself, and you've got a recipe for sure-fire success, wouldn't you think? Well, for the most part, the author delivers (and delivers with exceptional confidence and skill), but there were a few parts that I felt strangely unmoved by, without really understanding why.

The eerie start of the book sets the tone - the story of The Devil visiting the Endlands, and the curse he lay on the land. 

Returning to modern day, we meet John, a school teacher, who has just returned to the bleak place where his family live; struggling to survive on their farm. He takes his pregnant wife Kat with him, and from the start, we get a strong sense of their 'otherness' - that this slim, soft-handed couple are not built to cope with the harshness of the moors. 

Throw in Grace, a sinister teenager who acts in an eerie, occasionally downright freaky way, plus the recently departed Gaffer, who clearly has secrets to hide, and you've suddenly got a novel that's fraught with suspicion and a sense of the unsettling. 

For the most part, I was totally immersed in the landscape that the author creates. It's as rich and believable as the dialogue itself, and every page dips the reader headfirst into this rough, harsh world. The characters too were absolutely wonderful; again, totally believable and artfully depicted, with no needless fluffy description. 

The only criticism I'd level at it is that it took a while (after that fab opening) to get going, and for about the first 15%, I was confused as to where it was leading. There were also a few parts in the book that I shut off a little, only to be sucked right back in at a later date. It was definitely a book that ebbed and flowed, much like the hilly landscape that the story is set in!

Overall, I'd say this is an example of an exceptionally strong writer, who really knows how to create atmosphere, and whose turns of phrase are often exquisitely lovely. Where it falls short on occasion, is its flow - but this can be overlooked based on the book's other considerable strengths.

What an absolutely mesmerising read! This has the seemingly simple synopsis of following John Pentecost make his annual trip to his family home in the Endlands. This year, however, is different. He is accompanied by a new wife and one face is missing when he returns.

This is a very slow tale. The reader is drip-fed the action in-between long bouts of inactivity. But instead of feeling stalled, this gentle and slow unfurling of events allowed suspense rather than action to reign supreme. There was enough plot to keep me intrigued but it was the little details that held me captivated.

The power of this was in the telling of it, and each minute facet of this harsh and bleak landscape was transcribed to fully ensure the reader lived in and understood this world. Only then could they truly understand how beholden the characters were to it. The Endlands felt separated from the rest of humanity. It was a place that acted a reminder of a different time and its occupants lived a largely isolated life, relegated from the laws that governed the rest of the world and, instead, ruled by superstition and the surroundings. The atmosphere was evoked by an abundance of detail and depiction, until the landscape itself became the central character in this piece and denoted all of the events that followed with its swiftly changing moods.

I found myself enthralled with this setting and this quiet cast of characters. Sublimely beautiful writing and vivid depictions of time and place brought the reader to what this book was ultimately about: the interplay between man and nature. There is a power in simplicity and this book is dedicated to that.

I thought the book was slightly depressing and very frustrating in parts. I loved his previous book “The Loney” and I’m afraid this just wasn’t the same. I struggled to connect with John or even his wife or any of the characters to be honest and found it all quite bleak and struggled to keep my interest.

It’s a tale of sheep, family,  secrets and age old rituals, or superstition more like. It just wasn’t for me I’m afraid. I just didn’t get it, maybe it’s just me though?! Sorry!

had this on my shelf for several months now and just cannot get into it, I'm really sorry.

Whilst the book is well written, it flitted back and forth too much but without anything really happening. Could not motivate myself to finish it

I really enjoyed The Loney and had high hopes for Andrew Michael Hurley’s follow up, Devil’s Day. I can honestly say this was my favourite horror novel of 2017.

John Pentecost and his wife return to the Endlands farm his family has owned for generations to help with The Gathering when sheep who have wandered the hillsides freely all spring and summer come down to the farm for winter. The day before the Gathering is known as Devil’s Day when rituals, as old as life in Endlands, are enacted to stop the devil from possessing an animal or worse.

John and his wife are expecting a child, a state that they are keeping secret meantime. John senses his father is getting too old to manage their farm now and wants to come back with his family and make a life for themselves there in the small claustrophobic Endlands community. John isn’t the only Endlander with secrets and when Devil’s Day comes it brings with it more than a few surprises. Events from John’s childhood are revealed piecemeal and give an added horror to the current events.

This really is literary horror at it’s best. The author has given his readers such a sense of place I feel I could recognise the setting from a photograph. I know a little about living in a small, closed community and the issues his characters face are familiar – although my own experiences are far removed from those in the book. 

Hurley walks the line between folklore and reality expertly and creates such an atmosphere of menace and evil. I was enthralled from beginning to end. A wonderful, beautiful, creepy, horrific slow burn of horror. I eagerly await the author’s next book.

John Pentecost returns to the farm where he grew up – this time with his new fiancé. In the Endlands, nothing ever changes, and he returns to find life there the same as ever. But what does this mean when tradition can comfort and terrify in equal measure? 

Anybody who loved The Loney won’t be disappointed by Hurley’s latest book. With small-town rituals, dark legends and thorny family history, it’s just as good – if not even more eerie. Dark, unsettling and absorbing.

Excellent follow up to his debut. A slow burn with wonderful atmospherics. Perhaps a little “Blair witch” in the final act. But recommended.

This is the first book by Andrew Michael Hurley that I've read, and I'll certainly be reading more. The descriptions of the setting and characters were evocative, and I enjoyed the gradually building unease, especially at the beginning of the book. I found Devil's Day unsettling at some points and disturbing at others, but was constantly gripped by it.

great read and easy to follow story line.  look forward to reading more from this author .

That difficult second novel : similar enough in territory to the stellar first to disappoint
Like many, I had loved Andrew Hurley’s seriously scary first novel, The Loney, initially published by a small, independent press and then going viral. It was tremendous, set in a bleak North West coast in the 1970, sold as the British Lourdes. It followed a scary clash between a small group of very fundamentalist Christians and a very sinister locally based adherence to an older, pagan traditions

So I was initially thrilled to receive a review copy of Hurley’s second, Devil’s Day, once again featuring an isolated, closed setting, adherence to old pagan or occult beliefs, and a clash between past and present.

John Pentecost (sturdy, religious old name) comes from generations of smallholders on the Lancashire moors but has rather moved away from his sheep farming ancestry. He does keep close affectionate bonds with his family however, and comes back to help with a particular annual task with the family’s sheep. This time, he also is returning for his grandfather’s funeral. New life comes with him, his wife Kat, very much an outsider, is pregnant.

Slowly and rather frighteningly (for Kat) Pentecost’s connection to the place itself, where his family had long roots, begins to deepen. There are some dark and shady traditions, and a strong belief that the Devil is real, and moreover has to be guarded against.

This is, again a story of the power of deep dark religion, and also a story of the conflict between modern urban life, where we move away from our roots, and what and how might draw us back to them

Powerful themes, but I have to say that the strands did not work so well for me on this book, and the slow, very slow pace, which I had loved in The Loney felt more irritating than mesmeric. I suspect had I not read The Loney, I would have unquestioningly have 4 starred this but Hurley had raised my expectations too high by that first book, so that I have ended up finding this inching to a lower star rating – better than okay, certainly – 3 ½ but, on balance, rounded down

I found this book to be better than The Loney, which I enjoyed a lot. The description of the village and farm life were great and the story itself was gripping and unsettling. I would highly recommend it.

Every autumn, John Pentecost returns to Lancashire where he grew up. Not much happens in Briardale Valley but this year things are different as his grandfather, known as the Gaffer, has died and his new wife is accompanying him for the first time.

Every year the Gaffer would redraw the boundary lines with pen and paper, as well as through the folk tales, family stories and timeless communal rituals, to keep the sheep safe from the devil, but this year John and his wife must redraw the lines and decide where their loyalties lie.

This book is well written and the author has really captured the beauty of Lancashire and its lovely countryside. However, that is all I can really say that’s positive. 

The story is slow and the characters are dull. John is irritating and his wife is simpering. I am not sure what story the author was trying to tell. it was all so ‘rural’. Sinister village folk and strange goings-on but pretty much for no reason that I can see.

I had great hopes for this book as it looked a bit different from the norm but unfortunately, it was unable to deliver.

Shesat

Breakaway Reviewers were given a copy of the book to review.

I loved 'The Loney', so I was very much looking forward to 'Devil's Day' and I wasn't disappointed.  Hurley has a wonderful sense of place and Endlands is as much a character in the book as any of the people.