This Wretched Valley is horrible and awful and I LOVED IT! Quirk Horror Books are always my favorite and this holds true.

This story follows Dylan, a mountain climber who yearns to be the next biggest star in the rock climbing world. After her friends tell her about a mountain that has never been officially tackled, she feels like this will be her big break. However, things start to derail from there. Nothing is as it seems and it is no surprise when the body count starts to rise drastically.

I really enjoyed this novel. I feel like it starts you off in the thick of the events. You start the novel finding bodies in various stages of decomposition (or is it?). This sets a fast pace for readers to determine exactly what is going on. I hit about 50% through this book and had to finish the rest in one setting. It just suckered me in and would not let me go. This book's storytelling is just next level. To me, this book read like a House on the Hill. By that I mean, this story unfolded before my eyes like a movie. I felt transported to this horrific rock face and felt just as hopeless (and confused) as our main characters.

Don't get too comfortable because this story taught me to expect the unexpected. Perfect for fans of any Quirk Horror, Echo by Thomas Olde-Heuvalt, and found footage horror.

The opening chapter of Jenny Kiefer’s This Wretched Valley perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the novel: mysterious, weird, and gory. Months after they first went missing, the remains of three people are found in the woods, with the fourth person still missing. But the state of their remains defies explanation. We then jump back to figure out how these people met their grisly fates in a great slice of supernatural survival horror.

The setting really stole the show in this book, from the eerily magnetic rock wall to the mind-bending woods. The characters often make frustratingly stupid decisions, but that often happens in real life, plus the valley is messing with their minds. This is a fantastic debut and I’ll be reading whatever Kiefer writes next!

MY REVIEW: 3 Stars

The cover of the book pulled me right it, I mean it’s awesome! Unfortunately, I didn’t love the book. I thought the premise sounded awesome and the creepy, gory, weirdness of the forest was awesome…BUT, what took it from a higher star rating from me were the characters. I didn’t really like any of the characters but the dog and Sylvia. Also, don’t bring your dog to places you’re working in the woods and second, if dog is freaked out you need to be freaked out and get out!!

I’ve seen plenty of great reviews for the book so read it and decide how much you like/love it.

**Thank you to Netgalley and Quirk Books for a digital copy of the book.

Mel

This was such a cool concept for a horror book! The intro immediately pulled me in, and I liked the characters, which admittedly isn't as important for a horror where I already know everyone is going to die, but it was nice. I did find the events a little hard to follow at some points, where the characters were hallucinating, but this was definitely a very chilling read. I think we need more Appalachian horror; mountains are super creepy!

I seem to be in the minority on this one but this book didn't work for me.

According to the editors note, Kiefer is a climber and you can tell she knows her stuff! The first half of the book is very focused on climbing and was a little bit too technical to keep my interest having never climbed before. The spooky action starts to ramp up around the halfway mark and there were definitely some scares to be had but in general this book really dragged for me and the main reason I carried on reading was because I never DNF ARC's.

Luke had real NPC energy and the only attribute he had was how much he loved his dog. There was a lot of classic 'i'm an idiot in a horror movie who goes into a dark basement even though it's 100% likely the killer is in there' behaviour throughout which was frustrating. The only character that I was slightly interested in was Sylvia because she was the least irritating.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I remember when I first learnt about the Dyatlov Pass incident and the mystery surrounding their deaths, the juxtaposition between wanting to explain the incident with logic and the strangeness of the way their campsite was discovered. It was both fascinating and horrifying.

This Wretched Valley takes that horrific mystery element and presents us, at first, with a crime scene filled with bodies that can’t be explained away. What follows is page-turning survival horror meets ghostly slasher that I just couldn’t put down.

Even knowing from page one that there would be no survivors, I couldn’t help but hope every time a character was running that they would make it free. Gory and not for the weak-stomached, expect rot and carnage. The setting was marvellous only in the way a sentient evil forest could be and the historic world-building elements pieced together a vivid haunting.

This really took me for a spin! Clay, a geology student, partners with influential climber Dylan, research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, to embark on a camping trip intended to end in the breakthrough discovery of an uncharted cliff. However, as we know in the horror reader community, what’s too good to be true probably is, and the group never returns.

Many months later, the bodies of the 4 campers are discovered brutally murdered and mutilated in a way that baffles first responders and investigators. The gruesome discovery doesn’t seem to fit the suspect profile of a human or an animal…. So who, or what could have done it??

I found myself really enjoying this book. The eerie town on the outskirts and the mystery of the Kentucky wilderness sets a a grim, spine-tingling setting that makes for a great horror read mood and the imagery and detail really makes you feel like you’re part of the story. The pace of the book is on the slower side but it fits this plot line and the build-up grips you as you are taken through the increasingly horrific experience of the four. Kiefer will challenge what is reality and what isn’t, and have you engrossed in finding out what led to their ultimate demise!

I’ll be honest, I didn’t love this. But, I don’t think I’m the person this book was written for and so I just know others will love it!

Perfect for fans of House of Hollow and The Skeleton Key.

The Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer follows four college aged adults into the wilderness of Kentucky, where they are looking for a previously unmapped rock wall, but find all kinds of horror instead.
The book opens strong, with the discovery of three bodies in the Kentucky woods; Investigators are baffled by the varying states of decomposition on the bodies, considering they all belong to a group of campers who had all gone missing at the same time. However, the next 25-30% did drag a little - lots of hiking and camping and chatting - but once the story picked up, it really went all in. I absolutely loved the haunted aspect, and it was truly creepy af for the entire last half of the book - I had to put it down and read something else before bed more than once - however, sometimes the writing felt stilted and clumsy, and I felt I was being told rather than shown what was happening to our campers.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for an advanced copy of This Wretched Valley in exchange for my honest review - I genuinely enjoyed this debut, and look forward to seeing what Jenny Kiefer puts out in the future.

I was really looking forward to reading this book as I'm in my horror/Thriller era. This started off really well, I quickly got into the book and got to likenthe characters. Things started going south for then about a third into the book so it was quite quickly which was good. Every book is not for everyone, that's how I felt about this one. It just seemed to drag for the second half. I love the premise of the book and it did feel creepy. The horror/gore elements of the book were done really well. I didn't hate it by any means, I just didn't love it

This is an adventure for those who love the outdoors
But you might not love it anymore after you read this book
This is the first scary book I’ve read about rock climbing, and they did a great job from the little I know about rock climbing.

The beginning starts with a little introduction to the area and throughout the book there is some history of the area where you go back in time in a couple chapters to see what happened during that time in this outdoor space

I got to say I would love a whole lot more with that back in time history of the outdoor scary space

Thanks to Quirk for sending me a copy! This Wretched Valley begins with a fantastic opening sentence and doesn't let up from there. Dylan, her boyfriend, and two friends set out on a camping trip in the wilds of Kentucky so she can climb some new rock, and her friend Clay can finish his dissertation. They never come back.
I enjoy stories that lay out the aftermath at the beginning, and then you need to find out how everything ends up the way it does. It's such a great treatment for a lot of horror stories because the dread is baked in from the start, and Jenny does a brilliant job of telling you how bad things are going to get and still making you hope that somehow, things will turn out okay.
I think the disorientation of being lost in the woods is portrayed really well, and the creeping worry that transforms into real fear and panic oozes off the page. I enjoyed the way the story skips around in time to give a fuller picture of the setting, and each reveal amps up the suspense and seals each character's fate. This is a well-written horror novel that's truly horrific.
Not for the faint of heart, there are some moments of disgustingly realistic-sounding violence and body horror, so be forewarned.

First of all, this cover, amazing!!! It is chilling and perfect for the story.

Now, from page one the reader is in for a wild ride. 4 people go into the woods to climb and document an undiscovered cliff face. No one comes out….

The truth is grisly and horrifying as you discover the surreal truth of what really happened to them; what’s been hidden in this forest and hungering for a looooong time.

Now, I always get worried when I see a doggo in the story, so my I had a hard time caring about the characters when a doggo was in danger! However, Luke was my favourite (dog dad). Dylan can eat dust for all I care, she is so self centred and lacks empathy. Honestly wanted to knock her out for how she treats Luke and Slade. 😡🤬😤

One thing I would’ve liked to see is maybe a little appendix or footnote about what the climber slang/routes mean. I am not experienced in bouldering or climbing so wasn’t sure what the levels and terminology that Dylan spouted off meant.

Also, maybe a little bit more info on the land, like how it came to be the way it is. Was it cursed or what?

I saw that this book was inspired by the author’s climbing experiences, and the mysterious Dyatlov Pass Incident. It also reminded me of Yellowjackets (amazing tv show), and it also gave me Briardark vibes (an awesome book by S.A. Harian). So this was definitely a book that was right up my alley!! You can’t go wrong with adding this to your reading list!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Quirk Books for a copy!

This was really twisty and full of horror. The plot and characters were all fine/good, but the story lost it's compelling nature sometimes because there were moments I just couldn't suspend my belief/was so taken out of the story by the over-the-top-ness of the scene. This is definitely a solid read, though, and I had fun reading it!

This is probably closer to a 3.5, but I did enjoy my time reading, so 4 stars. The premise immediately interested me, and I really liked that the opening chapter gave future information. I felt like the mystery was well done. The author also obviously knows quite a bit about rock climbing.

I did like some of the characters more than others and I felt like one of the characters wasn’t fleshed out nearly as well as the other three, but overall I think they worked for the story.

There were some odd turns of phrasing, which was mostly fine, except during tense moments were a character was in danger and then it took me out of the moment. A character would be in a horrific situation and then something about that situation would be described in a kind of flowery way and I would think “Is not really the time?” This happened often enough I found it pretty noticeable.

Overall, I thought the book was interesting and I’m glad I read it. Also, this had no influence on my score, but the book has some pretty heavy gore, just a content note.

I have been fascinated by the Dyatlov pass incident ever since reading about it earlier this year so as soon as I read the synopsis for This Wretched valley I had to have it!



I was hooked from the first page! I personally love when stories begin at the end and it was a perfect choice for this book as you finally started to figure out how the characters got into certain situations. It definitely isn’t for someone who is squeamish, this book is gory from the start and Kiefer doesn’t shy away from it.



The characters are well written and I enjoyed the alternate POVs but the main star of the show is the setting! Kiefer does a great job of slowly building tension and unease throughout the story until the climatic ending, it was the first horror book to genuinely creep me out.



Overall This Wretched Valley is a highly anticipated release that lives up to the expectations!

Four climbers head off on an uncharted hike through a section of Kentucky wilderness never to be heard from again. Many months later, some of their bodies are discovered. But authorities aren’t sure what happened to the group. Flash back to the start of the hike with Clay, a student of geology, Dylan, an avid and newly sponsored climber, Dylan’s boyfriend Luke and Sylvia who is an expert on plant life and also research assistant to Clay. Fresh faced and excited to navigate this unknown location, the group has no idea the horrors that await them. This was a crazy, twisted and extremely horrific read. I enjoyed the novel, but have to admit that parts were a little over the top for me. I gave the novel 3.5 stars. This read is definitely not for the faint of heart.

"This Wretched Valley" is both a quick and a slow read; quick because the prose goes down easily, and slow because it takes place over the course of only a few days, and so there's a lot of pagetime being filled with relatively little action. The book is clearly written with movies like "The Descent" and "The Ruins" in mind - a single location, small time frame, and a thinly-sketched cast of four - but this just demonstrates why this kind of storytelling works better on film than on paper. That being said, the book has a solidly pulpy vibe, and readers looking for found footage in book form will probably enjoy this title.

I received this as a Netgalley arc and I’m glad I did. It was a nice change in mood; I especially enjoyed the parts when I was reading at night, in the dark, and had anxiety inducing elisodes of paranoia. Fun times.

From about a third of the way into this book, and on, I really enjoyed the pacing. I’m not saying the first third is bad - the author was just setting the scene so the pacing felt a lil thick. Super strong opening, put me right on edge 🤌🏻

Now, let me tell you two things about me. 1. I don’t hike a bunch, and 2. I know nothing about rock climbing- YET I could follow along just fine with this story. The descriptions and explanations of everything outdoorsy never felt overwhelming nor condescending. Love that!

My only irk per se with this book is that I have LOTS of questions, because I’m annoying. I assume this is a stand alone so I’m freaking out that i’ll never get answers. 1. How did this all start? 2. Who/what/why is this happening? 3. Why the dog? 4. What the hell was in the car? 5. Why were they all poisonous? just a few to start.

Overall this is a fantastic and relatively quick read.

I really enjoyed This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer.
I was really excited to read this as I fell in love with the cover as it looks amazing!
The premise of the book also sounded really good and it did not dissapoint!

I was hooked from the very beginning and I had to know what happened.
I was a little surprised with how gory this book was but it didn't bother me to much.
The characters were also quite unlikeable but I find that common in horror so that also didn't bother me at all.

The writing was really good and atmospheric.
I really do recommend this book of you are looking for your next great horror read!

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.