Chloe and Ben, an archaeologist and a failed historian, are contacted out of the blue by mysterious academic Alec Sparling. The task is a report on an isolated, inbred Irish village, for a very generous fee. They should also ask about the folk tale of the creeper.

When they finally reach the village, nobody is willing to talk to them, especially about the creeper. At sundown, the villagers start to shutter up their homes against the darkness. And that’s when the little girl tells them: he comes three times, and the third time you see him you die.

Now something is following them back to the ordinary lives in the city and they’re struggling to make contact with Dr Sparling. Is the legend real? Is Ben’s little girl safe? Can they escape the creeper?

I didn’t like the characters of Ben and Chloe very much and there were some gross moments but this is a genuinely scary and clever horror story with a great ending.

I absolutely loved this book. I thought the story was going to be slow as I was about 25% into the book and nothing really had happened.

But then I realized how gripped I was by the actual story. A fright-fest, it is not. What it is, is a beautifully written, expertly spun story of folklore, survival, betrayal and revenge.

A few questions were raised that were not answered, but this can be forgiven.

I read before bed and usually only manage a couple of pages but I finished this in record time, several 2am late nights happened.

Definitely recommended.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book and I was instantly hooked. This is my first A. M. Shine novel and it certainly did not disappoint. I've honestly never read anything like this, so for me it was completely original. It was such a well written story that was atmospheric and creepy from the start and throughout but also had elements that felt very close to real life. And that twist! I can't wait for this book to come out and for others to read it.

Ireland has his own boogieman and he’s called ‘The Creeper’….

If you have never come across Ireland’s AM Shine then now is the perfect time to rectify that fact as this guy is going to be huge. Shine follows his excellent debut The Watchers (2021) with a second novel which will do Ireland’s tourist industry absolutely no favours whatsoever! The author’s fascination in his country’s culture and landscapes once again shine through, drawing their dark atmosphere and eloquence from the Gothic literature of yesteryear, giving his work extra depth and context. Both The Watchers and The Creeper and very Irish and are inspired by folklore, history and mythology with very clever plots built around a blend of these ideas. However, both novels are about much more than fairies at the bottom of the garden and bring very modern twists to tales which would not have been out of place if they had been set 500+ years ago.

I read The Watchers and The Creeper within two months of each other and enjoyed picking up the similarities but ultimately what impressed me most about his follow-up was how unique it was from its predecessor. Shine’s debut was great but he truly ups-the-ante in this terrific sophomore effort which I devoured in two days. If Shine is out to identify a niche in the market for literary horror novels, which have a strong sense of Irishness then he has already cornered the market and it is hard to see him having any genuine rivals. Fellow Irishman John Connolly might have been writing his legendary supernatural detective Charlie Parker series since the late nineties, but as they are predominately set in Maine/USA they do not count and I do not recall Charlie ever visiting the Emerald Isle!

The Watchers featured a young women getting stranded in a remote forest cottage after her car breaks down and she realises there is something nasty in the woods watching the house where she finds herself trapped with three others. In The Watchers the reader realises very quickly the creatures are real, however, in The Creeper much of the horror comes from the superb use of ambiguity and you are never quite sure what is real (or not) right up until the killer ending, with some outstanding shrouding of the truth. However, AM Shine does not leave the reader guessing or frustrated like some authors might and instead delivers another wild finish.

The Creeper has a great hook which partially revolves around a curse which is presented around following a set of rules (I won’t divulge them), which partially reminded me of the brilliant film It Follows and dances around the idea that superstitions only survive if people still believe in them. Remember this is set in Ireland, a country which is totally full of ancient superstitions, religious and otherwise. In the early stages of the novel cash-strapped history graduate (and jobless) Ben French and archaeologist Chloe Coogan (also just starting her career) are recruited by an academic to visit a remote Irish village and interview the locals. If Dr Alec Spalding is to be believed, this village has been isolated from the rest of Ireland for hundreds or years and is ripe for all sort of history, archaeological and anthropological studies. I initially found this part of the story hard to swallow, Ireland is not a big country, how could a community exist in isolation for so long? However, once you find out more about the place (and the curse) it becomes much more credible and easier to swallow.

Through their initial conversations with Spalding the pair realise he has a deeper interest in the village of Tír Mallacht, regarding their superstitions and in particular a shadowy figure he calls ‘The Creeper’. The novel is also seen from the point of view of Spalding, a very rational academic, who lives in isolation and never goes out after dark. Why? He has much more knowledge of The Creeper than he reveals to Ben and Chloe and why does anybody require their entire property to be locked down by metal shutters every night? Only an individual who is trying to stop someone or something gaining entry. Some terrific suspense sequences were developed around what Spalding was genuinely afraid of (and believed in) and it was nicely drip fed into the story and the idea that fears which originated in superstitions could be passed down from generation to generation was also very convincing.

As with its predecessor, this novel has some sublime plot switches which really ramp up in the final 25%, including some intense sequences when Chloe and Ben realise what they are up against. The story really picks up the pace when the pair arrive at Tír Mallacht and meet the unfriendly locals who (like Spalding) also never go out at night, but to reveal any more of what went on would head into spoiler territory, so you will have to make do with part of this very creepy rhythm about The Creeper sang to the pair by a mouthy little girl: “Three times you see him. Each night he comes closer...” To call the sequences in the village bleak would be an understatement, but they were equally riveting.

I really liked both Ben and Chloe and the reader was vividly sucked into their fraying psyches as they realised that in the modern world, where science can explain everything, that monsters might really exist. The terror which came with this switch in reality was beautifully pitched and wait until you get to the window scene! (you’ll know exactly what I mean should you read it). There was an outstanding Blair Witch inspired moment when they were camping near the village and they hear branches snapping and are certain there is somebody watching them outside. However, everything about this landscape was sodden, moody and threatening, all of which made the novel more unnerving.

The Creeper was a terrific read and if you have not read AM Shine before you have two great books to get your teeth into. The use of the supernatural, Irish local superstitions, curses and the clash with the modern world was absolutely perfectly pitched. Horror fiction is teeming with great boogiemen and ‘The Creeper’ ranks with the very best of them.

A masterpiece of Old School gothic terror.

When penniless historian Ben French, and archaeologist Chloe Coogan are recruited by eccentric academic Dr Sparling to investigate Tir Mallacht, a remote village in southern Ireland, they think they have landed lucky. Until they arrive at the village and meet the residents. Sullen, in-bred and definitely weird, they seem to be stuck two hundred years in the past. No one will talk to them. And no-one goes out after dark. Then, a little girl mentions The Creeper...

And with that the reader is pulled into a classic tale of folk horror, complete with isolated village, half-crazed villagers, mad professor, and more twists and turns than you can handle.

First, the setting - rural Ireland, bleak and muddy. Then the village, isolated and forgotten, where no historical records exist, and a rundown church and burned out cottage hold sway over the villagers. Finally, the growing unease as Ben and Chloe piece together a story of evil, betrayal and fear. It's the perfect mix. The story moves along at speed, building tension as it goes, as we learn more about the village, its history and the links to the mysterious Doctor Sparling. We get a little background on Ben and Chloe, just enough to flesh them out and make us fear for their fates. There are a few genuine "jump out your skin" moments, but it's the slow-burning, gradual building of unease that makes this a page turner. And as the full back story emerges, it's truly horrifying. I honestly had to keep going to the end.

If an indie film producer doesn't buy the rights to this, they're mad.

"The Watchers", the author's debut novel was a breath of fresh air - truly creepy, in the manner of Machen, Blackwood or LeFanu. Whether you class his work as horror, folk-horror, or thriller, it's classic goose-bump inducing stuff. The Creeper is a fine follow-up, and I hope to read more from Mr Shine in the future.

I can't recommend the book enough, for fans of Algernon Blackwood, WC Ryan or Laura Purcell, or to someone just looking for a traditional spooky story. I was lucky to score a Netgalley ARC of the book, but can't wait to get my hands on a proper copy.

Thank you so much to Head of Zeus and A.M.Shine for allowing my the E-ARC of The Creeper.

After reading The Watchers I knew I had to read The Creeper and I was not disappointed.
I love the way A.M Shine writes, he captures you in his world and takes you on a journey. I felt confused at times but that was the point, it made you feel like Chloe and Ben, I questioned everything.
Towards the end I thought could it be but then I convinced myself that no it couldn't be. And the ending omg the ending. I kinda wish I could do spoilers so I can say what I want to say but I'm against spoilers and I want the reader to feel what the book intends them to feel.

Thank you again for accepting my request for this novel I'm truly grateful.

“Three times you see him, she said. The first night he is far, far away. And the next night he’s closer. So close that you can see him, and he can see you. And then, on the third night, his big ugly face is at your window. The fourth night is your last night, because then uh-ho.”
After a strange job offering by mysterious Doctor Alec Sparling, historian Ben French and archaeologist Chloe Coogan travel to the secluded Tír Mallacht, a small village that exists outside of civilization. The assignment seems quite easy: interview some of the villagers and get some information around the figure of the Creeper, a folkloric figure that only seems to reside in this place. And then things take a turn for the worse.
After reading his first novel, The Watchers, and enjoying every page of it, I knew I needed to follow author A.M. Shine closely. I think I’ve never clicked faster than when I saw The Creeper was available at Netgalley, and I was ecstatic when I got granted early access to it.
Do you know the feeling when a story touches all the topics you are interested in? It had already happened with the Watchers, isolated location, noises at night, but I was just not prepared for the Creeper. I think it would be difficult for me to pinpoint another novel that checks all of my preferences: village in the forest with their particular folklore and tell-tales, check; outsiders who are not ready for what’s coming, check; creepy, stalker-y figure that only appears at night, check. Everything else, including some magnificent twist and turns and a jaw-dropping ending, check, check, check.
I think I need to update my “favourite authors” list right now.

This is a slow burner but once the pages are lit there’s no putting this book down!
It takes a while for the story to get going, to the point I was going to move on to another book but I am so glad I kept reading.
The subtle hints at the horror becomes an intense sense of psychological fear that leaves you sleeping with the light on!

4.25 stars

For me , this feels like a step up from the previous book.
It's very creepy, and tense, and at times surprising, and at other times just made me shudder (not in a bad way).
There was one point where my jaw just hung open -I'm sure you'll know if you've read it.


Places Shine firmly on my MUST read author list.