I really tried with this one but it just wasn't for me. I thought maybe it was because of the timing but when I took the book back up after a few weeks, I still couldn't manage to get through it.

I couldn’t get into this book and I tried several times. The premise sounds like my cup of tea but unfortunately fell flat.

I didnt connect with the characters, they was all flawed and I found them annoying. Too much politics for me aswell.

The Decadence is a gothic horror story that offers a new take on the country house novel, as a group of friends flee to an old country house during lockdown. Jan and her friends are floundering, and now lockdown has made things even worse as they can't even party to escape their lives. But there is one option: a couple of weeks at the old country house Theo inherited from his great uncle. Fuelled by as many drugs as they could bring, things start falling apart almost immediately, as their interpersonal dramas surface, but quickly it seems to Jan that there's something else going on, and maybe the house isn't the safe retreat they imagined.

While I loved the horror aspects, I did find the majority of this book slow and underwhelming and the characters weren’t very exciting

I don't quite know how to feel about this book. It was strangely compelling but not particularly likeable.

The book was slow to start, and I found it difficult to get into. The characters were unrelatable and mostly unlikeable, but the story became more intriguing and I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen.

There were some pretty, poetic descriptions, but the conversations between the group were littered with annoying discussions about politics and I felt my attention waning at these points.
Towards the end, Jan's visions of historical events didn't feel in keeping with the rest of the book, and I also found myself skimming over these.

There was quite an abrupt but exciting end to the story at Holt House. I did enjoy the final two sections and the way the story wrapped up.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy.

If i had to sum it up in one sentence: a disappointing read. It had potential but was ultimately let down. The characters were unlikeable but not very interesting so they had no redeeming qualities as characters at all. I found the ending to be super disappointing too. There was all this build up and then suddenly things just went off the rails in an unsatisfying way. The vibes were there and each individual element had potential: the horror, the toxic relationships, the politics, the gothic vibes. Really the book should have just focused on one or two of these elements and done them really well instead of half-arsing them all.

This book was such a vibe. Moody, intense, and weirdly relatable in that post lockdown everything is weird kind of way. The group dynamics were messy in the best way and the whole setting had this lowkey creepy energy that kept me hooked. It’s one of those reads that leaves you feeling a bit off in a good way and thinking about it after. Definitely recommend if you're into chaotic friendships and subtle spookiness.

This book seemed right up my street, and it may be because I was reading it during a slump, but I just didn't enjoy it. I've been quite enjoying books of this genre lately, but I don't think I read it at the right time for me. I can admit that there are some good aspects about the book, but nothing really stuck as I was reading it.

The Decadence is a strange book, and one that I think will have a massively dedicated audience, even if it may not appeal to all readers. I say this simply because as much I loved the writing, the themes in general and the ambiguity of the supernatural elements (there are times you have to ask yourself how much of what we experience is due to the massive amount of drugs that the characters take) I never really warmed to any of the characters, finding them -- even Jan, who is the most empathetic of the book, even if her self-confidence is so worn down she finds herself constantly being manipulated or used by the others characters -- to be overly self involved in a very middle class kind of way. While this could work (see Saltburn) the fact that each of the characters felt cut from the same social class made them feel a little more homogenous than expected (even Jan, Jewish, queer and lacking in self esteem comes across as someone who could walk away from all of this and yet somehow chooses not to) which means it's harder for some people to find a character worth rooting for or with a strong sense of what they have to lose.

That said, this may be a bias on the part of the reader more than the characters. If you are able to find a way to understand these characters, what emerges is a dark little tale about a possible haunted house in which a group of friends decide to hunker down during lockdown. Taking too many drugs, drinking too much wine, and allowing old power dynamics to take over their day to day lives, these friends are either being oppressed by an external force or suffering a kind of cabin fever that's bringing out their worst instincts. And as Jan wallows in self-pity over unrequited love and forced situationships, she realises that whatever's happening, it might seem odd right now, but it has the potential to turn very dangerous indeed. Is it connected the house's dark history? Or with their own personal relationships?

Although, for this reader, the characters didn't quite connect, the mechanics of the book work excellently, the writing is strong, and there are some really lovely thematic connections sitting subtly beneath the action. I think the audience for this book is out there (hence four stars rather than three) I don't regret reading it, and would definitely check out Craig's work in the future. But I do think I'd like to feel a little more emotionally engaged with the main characters. I don't want to like them, but I do want to feel like they exist beyond their own solipsistic bubbles (which of course may be entirely the point!)

DNF Review

The Decadence follows a group of twenty-something's making a break for freedom during the COVID pandemic in the UK, to a somewhat dilapidated grand house, owned by one nepo baby in the group.

I eventually had to DNF this book, an unreliable narrator and clichéd characters made this book instantly forgettable and bothersome in equal parts. It was a sad interpretation of elitist culture, feeling rather scathing at times. The group arguing gave me a sour taste in my mouth, seemingly trying to sound realistic, but something wasnt quite right about it. The prose was extremely pretentious, offsetting the sometimes bawdy conversations.

There were few hints of supernatural in the book, which was a shame, as the writing style would have actually suited a horror story, it's almost bardic, a descriptive style of prose. This book could have been a humorous take on the horror genre (not gothic horror, it was not atmospheric enough for that). Something akin to Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, but with ghosts. Alas, it did not deliver.

The premise of this story being a group of friends in an isolated house, with queer characters sounded phenomenal. However, I feel it was slightly flat. I think there were too many characters and the story was overlooked by toxic friendships and politics of which did not really end up being relevant much to the bigger picture. There was no real horror like I was expecting and the ending caught me off guard and felt rushed. However, I did enjoy the slow burn and setting of this story and found it decent enough. Not much to say on this one, it was worth the read just not what I expected.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Although it had a slow start, I really enjoyed the opening and was intrigued by where it seemed to be heading.

That said, the horror element felt underdeveloped and ultimately underwhelming. It was as if the story couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. I think the author should have either fully leaned into the horror or dropped it altogether in favor of exploring the group’s tangled, often toxic relationships. The dynamic between these insufferable yet compelling friends, trapped together in a big, eerie house, had the potential for some great drama, and it started out in that direction.

Instead, much of the book ended up focusing on the group constantly getting high, debating politics, and bickering, all leading to a supernatural climax that didn’t quite land for me.

Still, I enjoyed it for what it was, which is why I’ve given it 3 stars. The book had real potential and I wish the ending hadn’t felt so abrupt.


Plot summary:
A group of friends, disillusioned and restless during lockdown, escape to an abandoned country estate once owned by one of their relatives. Hoping for a carefree getaway filled with drugs and sunshine, they instead find old tensions resurfacing, strained friendships, hidden betrayals, and unresolved conflicts.

As they try to recapture their youth, the eerie presence of Holt House begins to assert itself. The boundary between reality and hallucination blurs, leaving them unsure whether their unraveling is due to substances, personal turmoil, or something far more sinister. Haunted by both the past and the present, their time at Holt House proves transformative
and possibly deadly.

Thank you for the opportunity to read the book as an arc.

I’m going to rate this a 3/5 read. Overall it was not bad just very slow and the end was rushed I had to read it twice.
I felt the characters were all morally grey which is good however they were shallow, we barely have any of their backstory or even a glimpse of their personality.
It had so much potential but the supernatural part was just so strange.
Some political stuff was stated but just forgotten deeper into the book
Most of them were annoying like why is everyone treating the MC as if she’s a servant but they offer her substances and then ask her to be part of them.

I honestly did not see the point to add all the somewhat relationships between characters since they weren’t that deep and felt rushed.

The Decadence by Leon Craig is set to be published by Spectre/Hodder and Stoughton on 25th September 2025.

DNF review

The book follows Jan and her friend Theo, who decide to go to Holt House (the manor Theo inherited from a great-uncle) with their friends for a bender mid-lockdown, under the guise of renovating the old house.

For a story about a group of people older than me (I'm 24, they are in their late twenties/early thirties), the protagonists are incredibly immature and behave more like teenagers, and started to grate on me almost immediately. I understand that this is a trope in horror fiction (Until Dawn springs to mind) but there are ways to write annoying characters who are interesting and I personally didn't find this group interesting enough to make up for the annoyance. By turns unrealistic, pompous and in denial, there's just not enough there to like them in my opinion, especially Jan’s attitude towards the genocide of Palestinians. Ursie is the most bearable of the group and Jan treats her awfully in favour of her strange sexual hangups involving Nadya and this and the group's drug taking become tiresome very soon into the novel.

The horror aspects of the novel take quite a while to even hint at an appearance and where I had reached, 50% of the way through, there was just a very subtle mention at this, certainly not enough to pique my interest.

Having read Linea Maja Ernst’s Waist Deep after I had decided to take a break from The Decadence, it made me feel even more validated in doing so as the premises are somewhat similar, minus the horror elements. Waist Deep was more successful, for me, even just due to the more likeable and realistic characters.

I did not finish The Decadence and for that reason cannot recommend it but I can see why readers would enjoy it, the prose is beautiful and the exploration of the effects of COVID-19 and lockdowns is successful, I just could not get past the characters.

Unfortunately not for me, thank you for arc but all in all confusing and could have been so much better without the indulgence of overindulgence of characters saying that that's mainly what decadence is about.

A blend of literary fiction about drug-fuelled excess and inadvisable sexcapades, with a gothic horror reflecting on race and belonging in modern Britain. However, I found that in trying to hit both marks, the novel falls between them and misses suceeding fully to be either.

2.5 stars
Ah, this started out so strong and fell apart as it went along. I really did not like any of the characters, they were all insufferable but not developed enough to be interesting. Luke and Kara especially were two dimensional and frustrating to read about. Theo could have been interesting if he was explored further, but served no real additional purpose to the story.

While I enjoyed the writing at the start, it eventually felt overly complex. The addition of covid, lockdown, politics and relationships didn’t add anything of interest or value to the plot. I really wish there was more attention on the house and its mystery, I thought I’d be reading a ghost story or something spooky, but really the only scary thing was these characters and their lack of awareness.

This book, for me, unfortunately did not live up to its promises of queer gothic horror.
Other than being set in a big old house and having some generally mid range creepy ghost-like things happen, up until 51% (where I DNF'd) at least, there is no real horror or anything else I would consider gothic.

I found this to actually be a really modern lit fic, focused around a group of (frankly, terrible) people who are drawn together by the opportunity to do all kinds of drugs in aforementioned big old house, set during an early covid lockdown.
However, if you like those gritty, miserable, modern, and lit-fic-y reads then this book will probably really be up your alley.

The characters themselves were not ones I managed to grow attached to, I did have a soft spot for Ursie and a small one for Kara (who I would say are the most balanced in an overall unbalanced bunch, the rest just being very one note). The queer relationships in here were so inherently negative (not that they have to be a positive shining representation) that it was just not believeable or enjoyable to learn about them. I was not rooting for anyone, just holding out hope that they'd all go home, find therapists via zoom and never speak to one another again.

I struggled with the writing, in some parts there is a wordy poetic prose (going to the effort of calling a piece of toast rough-hewn) and other times, the omnipotent third person that follows our MC, Jan, was a little underwhelming (e.g. She thought she saw someone in the orchard but decided it must be a fox. End quote).
Oddly, I found myself thinking I might have enjoyed this more if we got a first person perspective, as the third person still appears to be the unreliable narrator that is Jan, but to me it read a little disjointed-perhaps if it were more Jan's first person perspective, I'd have leaned in to the character more. Jan herself was a particularly potent mix of self righteous and self loathing, and whilst I normally enjoy a morally grey or even morally bankrupt MC, I found Jan unlikeable and really frustrating to read. Again, I oddly think leaning in to that and going first person would've helped me experience that cruel character more.

I will admit I did find the political references in the book to be a bit heavy handed and almost forced, every now and then there's an opinion strongly thrown down by a character about something real world like covid, genocide, political parties, war, etc, you name it, and then basically nothing comes of it-it neither furthers character relationships or the plot, it simply makes the characters even more unlikeable.
I think a lot of it could have been removed and there be no change in the group dynamic-there doesn't seem to be a need for it.

For me the plot was meandering about, which was not for me personally but if you like something really slow paced, then you might enjoy this more.

Ultimately, I don't think this does what it says on the tin.

2.5, rounded up.
I requested the ARC of The Decadence after reading the synopsis - and thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the E-ARC before I get going!
A gothic horror, blurred lines between drugs and the supernatural, ominous forces, and a house with its own sinister history and creeping menace? It all sounded right up my alley.

Set during the COVID lockdowns, the book captures the languid, claustrophobic atmosphere of that first pandemic summer. The unsettling times spent in an unsettling house, anxious about the situation as well as being caught, had me on my seat. Despite the story unfolding over just a few days, it definitely evoked that drawn-out, hazy sense of time standing still. Leon Craig's writing is certainly gorgeous, highly decorative and intentional. The touch on themes such as addiction, privilege, betrayal, self-destruction, manipulation, current issues in the world, identity in terms of queerness and race (and more), were all intriguing - but there were perhaps too many different things going on in the one book, as well as the horror, leaving the focus feeling a little missing?

Unfortunately, I found the horror and supernatural elements underwhelming. It’s a slow burn - promisingly so at first until it simmers on for a while too long - the final inferno into chaos was sudden and underdeveloped, I feel like I blinked and lost track of what was happening to be honest. The shift into horror lacked the build-up needed to make the climax as meaningful as it could have been.

Character relationships seemed more central than the horror, which could have worked, but I struggled to keep track of who was who, and lacked reason to care about any of them. Perhaps I'm just not in the right financial bracket to find them, their issues (or their various states of intoxication) relatable or compelling.

There’s definitely potential here: a haunting premise, a heavy atmosphere, and moments of critical observation. But sadly, it got lost for me in murky pacing, lack of focus and an emotional distance from the characters.

This book took me a while to get into, but once I was in I was hooked. Set during the first lockdown of 2020, a group of friends in their late 20s decide to stay at Holt House, the ancestral home of one of the group. Whilst there, many bizarre things happen and the friendships are tested. It’s a creepy read in parts, and I found the reveal about 80% in quite chilling. It was a great read worth persevering through the slow start.