The wise friend first caught my interest because of the creepy book cover. As time went on I fell for the characters in the book and caught myself freaking out.

The Wise Friend by Ramsey Campbell may very well turn out to be Campbell’s magnum opus. On the surface it appears to be a marvelous, mystical tale of cosmic horror, one that evokes inexplicable evil up from deep beneath the earth, into the ordinary world of a broken, English family.

“It’s those beneath the earth that feed off your energy.”

While young, Patrick, the father, was tainted by a brush with evil as he visited his beloved aunt Thelma, a famous artist who experimented with the unfathomable. Thelma later realizes her mistake and tries to extricate herself from her quest for buried mysteries and arcane knowledge. Unfortunately, she had already gone too far.

After her funeral, Patrick and his son Roy become fascinated with her journal, one that “smells of the earth.” The most intriguing element of the journal is a list of sacred sites. As they begin to read, the nearby “Railway station’s voice turned female, warning listeners to be aware of suspicious items.” This oblique warning does not dissuade them from developing an obsession that leads them on a perilous journey of exploration—to discover the mysteries of Thelma’s sites—to attempt to understand who Aunt Thelma really was and how she died.

While visiting an art museum to view Thelma’s works, Patrick and his son Roy meet a young woman, Bella, who is wise beyond her years-an old soul. Soon, she insinuates herself into their lives, creating friction between Patrick, a protective and sensitive father, and Julia, a mother who allows her prejudice against Patrick to prevent her from properly safeguarding her son. Before long, Roy becomes enchanted.

Ultimately, it is up to Patrick to solve the mystery of the journal and the sites in order to defend his son and determine the cause of mysterious deaths.

“If you don’t go where other people won’t, you’ll never see what’s to be seen.”

Campbell wisely chose a first person point of view that draws readers into the mind of Patrick, thus clearly revealing his motivations and drawing readers close, urging them to care for him and his son. This choice also offers an accurate understanding of Patrick’s volatile family dynamics.

All the characters are unique, believable, and authentically flawed. They stay true to their nature in behavior and thought and will resonate in readers minds long after their literary adventure is complete.

It could be said that the most interesting feature of the novel might be the possibility that Campbell speaks through his characters, revealing ominous truths only he has long understood. Dialogue that hints at long-buried secrets reminiscent of Lovecraft’s old ones appear when least expected. Tantalizing chapters titles add to the mystery.

Campbell’s prose is easy to read, vivid, and detailed without excess. He creates a visual, palpable world where readers will gladly take up residence. There is ominous magic on every single page. Repeated mention of the railway hints at the symbolic nature of rail travel as compared to the journey of those who are spellbound by evil. Once travelers board a train, they relinquish control, as do all who fly too close to the flame.

In the Wise Friend, Campbell does not keep readers waiting. The mystery begins immediately. Readers who dislike long introductions will appreciate this quality of Campbell’s highly complex and intertwined plot. The author preserves the tension by dropping subtle whiffs of mystery all along the journey and including numerous plot twists and surprises.

The Wise Friend comes very highly recommended. It is a true masterpiece of cosmic fiction that will leave readers spellbound and compelled to read and read again in search of more covert hints at long buried mysteries of eternal, sinister entities who slumber serenely and wait for us to draw too close—to fall under their spell.

The Wise Friend will leave vigilant readers spellbound, haunted by many disquieting, unanswered questions.

Can anyone ever truly win the battle with sinister evil, and who will become the next wise friend? It could be anyone, even the next reader.

Rougeskireads

A deceased artist, her journal, and a heap of creepy sites.
I found this book to be too long. The plot feels stretched and threadbare. I was disappointed. The idea of this book is very good, though. Had it been fifty pages or so shorter, I would probably have given 4 stars.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Ramsey Campbell is a master of the kind of tangled, snaring horror that reminds us all we’re in a living trap that we can’t escape. In The Wise Friend, this is woven into a terrifying cat-and-mouse with half-seen horrors, in a sort of exploded Gothic landscape; a series of isolated, beautiful, but haunted locations replacing the usual stone edifices of the genre. These places are no less claustrophobic and oppressive, though, as the main character chases ghosts and his wayward child down a path to the unspeakable.

Patrick is middle-aged and divorced, and trying to play catch-up parent to his dour and rebellious son, Roy. Eager to connect and too quick to accede, he indulges Roy’s interest in Patrick’s dead aunt, Thelma, a renowned artist. Towards the end of her life, her art turned dark, fantastical and twisted, until she killed herself. Patrick and Roy revisit the places that influenced this latter period of Thelma’s life and, in the course of their shared search, encounter Bella, a young woman that Roy becomes consumed with.

So begins a struggle between Patrick and increasingly unnerving forces, a mystery that leads him inexorably into darkness as he tries to convince himself he can keep control of his current life and the evils from his youth that should never have been revisited.

It’s a close, character-focussed story, lyrical and lush in its descriptions of the art and landscapes wherein the horrors lie. The creeps are both subtle, and only glimpsed in the shadows, but also flagrant and in your face as Patrick faces off with the mysterious Bella over her influence on his son. A book about powerlessness, its chilling resolution isn’t as straightforward as you think.

I love Campbell’s writing and The Wise Friend is an excellent addition to his amazing body of work. Heartily, enthusiastically recommend.

Flame Tree Press provided an ARC in return for an honest review.

While I am familiar with this author, it has been quite some time since I have ready anything by him. I am really glad that I decided to request The Wise Friend.

While this is classified as a horror story, it was so intriguing in its prose that I almost forgot to be scared...almost. The occult aspect and the fascination the nephew has with his aunt really are fabulously written and make for a book that was hard to put down.

Ramsey Campbell has crafted an engrossing page turner of a read in The Wise Friend. Well worth the read!

Very interesting book. Guaranteed to send chills up your spine. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

3.5/5

“I struggled free. I lay in the dark, feeling appalled that I’d left Roy in the web, and took some time over convincing myself it was simply a dream.”

THE WISE FRIEND is a supernatural horror embodied with dark relics, grimoires, and con-vexed occult practices. The storyline is somewhat luring: after the tragic suicide of his aunt Thelma some years earlier, who had a strange cult following in the artistic world, Patrick is tempted to reopen the case with his son Roy, who early on has an uncanny obsession with Thelma’s demise.

The plot eventually revolves around scavenger hunt with various clues and mystery unfolding, and although there were some fascinating and inquisitive elements in this transition, the overall flow and direction seemed somewhat tedious. It seems like Campbell tries to scorch these quells by diverting the horror factors to Patrick’s own personal feelings and thoughts, and it felt exasperating at times. Still worth the read, and after all, it is Ramsey Campbell.

Thanks NetGalley!

For the Ramsey Campbell connoisseur, there's an awful lot to love about this novel. It feels like a combination of familiar Campbellian themes, mingling the best elements of a number of previous works, almost an evolution in Campbell's recent output. The painfully honest and ambiguous conversations between estranged and conflicted family members are amply in evidence here, reminding me of the plight of characters from Think Yourself Lucky or Born to the Dark. A healthy dose of unreliable narrator, brought deftly to a head in a precise ending paragraph, conjures Simon's troubles in the venerable Grin of the Dark. Happiest of all, all manner of creepy-crawly, wood-based shenanigans break out of the 'wods' and make their way into the open.

Actually, 'open' is an unusual word to be using in the context of much of Campbell's work. Often relying on suggestion (or enthusiastic negation of any suggestion on the part of the narrator, who surely hasn't seen any such thing from the corner of their eye…), the whole meat of this story is laid out pretty clearly about half-way through the book. There's plenty of build-up and ambiguity until that point, and the revelations, assuming you choose to trust the presented point of view, allow one from that point on to share in the narrator's frustrations. There are plenty, as you'd expect, and more than enough moments of grimly unpleasant slow-burn creepiness.

It's all good stuff. As I title-dropped earlier, I loved the return to elements of Campbell's expanding mythos, and a brief glimpse of Moonwell brought a smile of reminiscence to my face.

Five stars from me, Mr. Campbell!

Patrick's Aunt was a celebrated artist and a little usual. Years after her suicide Patrick and his son Roy begin a journey to understand her art, lifestyle and ending better. Patrick becomes increasingly uncomfortable as weird occult hints start to surface. Roy on the other hand delves in deep with his new girlfriend. Way to deep but is it to late for Patrick to stop him? Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I've never read a Ramsey Campbell novel before and have meant to for a while - i'm a big horror fan and he seems a prolific writer! As the first novel i've read by this author though I was not as impressed as I thought I may be. The initial two thirds of this book dragged for me, a lot of supposition and wandering around to different places within the North West of the UK which, whilst well written, just didn't seem to add much. I'm also not sure what the cover of this novel has to do with the substance! However, the final third picked up and there were some great scenes that had me on the edge of my seat with an ending that was worth the initial parts. All in, I will have another go with Ramsey Campbells novels and recommend this for fans of Andrew Michael Hurley.

A slow burning horror novel with an occult focus. The book impressively manages to keep the suspense up throughout the entire story, and characters react to their changing (odd, unpleasant) situations in a realistic way that helps ground the story despite the supernatural occurances.

Convincing and spooky horror.

Enjoyably slow burning occult horror, the Wise Friend delivers a well constructed tale, with a mysterious and frightening presence (possibly?) watching on from the woods. Tension is built and maintained as a father and son relationship is tested, and Campbell keeps the supernatural and psychological in harmony as the central character explores his family past and the implications for the present.. I’ve not read Campbell before but will be reading more!

I havent read a good horror novel in a while, and this one is definitely amazing! I also enjoyed the puzzles of the aunts suicide and the suspense. While I think the novel could have been faster paced at times the novel was never dull. I loved figuring out everything as it unfolded definitely a book in would reccomend my friends.

Thanks to #netgalley!

This book was slow moving but also quite interesting. The characters were well written. The last 1/4 of the book the pace really picked up and i couldn't put it down. I felt like the end kind of left something else to be said. Overall it was a decent read.

3.5 🌟

The Wise Friend encompassed everything I love about horror. Methodically paced and creepy, this occult thriller was an engaging and suspenseful read.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

#TheWiseFriend #NetGalley

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I enjoyed the storyline of this book but it was a bit slow to get started. I liked that my favorite book ever got a shout out. ( The Master and The Margarita) I would reccomend this book to others.

Patrick is the nephew of a late artists who died by apparent suicide. Roy, Patrick's son, develops a strong interest in researching Patrick's Aunt Thelma by studying her journal, her art and going to the obscure places that Thelma went. While at an art museum they have a chance encounter with Bella, who just happens to have the same fixation on Thelma and she joins in on this research adventure, gradually taking a hold on Roy that Patrick find worrisome. Patrick's suspicions grow as things get stranger and distance grows between he and his son. He suspects that Bella is much more than a charming, conniving girlfriend and he senses deception and unworldly danger that he fears nothing can stop.
The Wise Friend is a gradual slide towards the big picture during which you try to figure out what (and who) is at play. There are times it was a bit confusing, but it was fun as the layers fell away and you began to realize the many different elements at work.
#netgalley #TheWiseFriend

Another winner from the author. A good mix of horror and suspense makes this book a hit. This is a book that I would recommend to all.

"The Wise Friend" was a terrific, very under-stated and quite odd (possibly supernatural) thriller built around the obsession a teenage boy develops for his long since dead aunt who was a successful artist. The novel is seen from the point of view of the teenager's father Patrick, who when he was younger had a similar obsession with the aunt. The family dynamics are very strained as the teenager Roy meets Bella at an art gallery exhibiting the artist's work and Patrick begins to suspect that Bella is up to no good. Or is it Patrick who is the dodgy one? For much of the novel it's hard to tell, it's slow moving, but never boring, with the sense of the uncanny developing very slowly with a rich sense of time and place as the three go on a weird voyage of discovery of the places depicted in the dead artist's painting. I loved this book and it is nice to see Ramsey Campbell in such fine form.