Synopsis
The red night of bells heralds global catastrophe. Annihilation on a biblical scale. Seeing the morning is no blessing. The handful of scattered survivors are confronted by blood-red skies and an infestation of predatory horrors that never originated on earth. An occupying force intent on erasing the remnants of animal life from the planet. Across the deserted landscapes of England, bereft of infrastructure and society, the overlooked can either hide or try to outrun the infernal hunting terrors. Until a rumour emerges claiming that the sea may offer an escape.
Ordinary, unexceptional, directionless Karl, is one of the few who made it through the first night. In the company of two orphans, he flees south. But only into horrifying revelations and greater peril, where a transformed world and expanding race of ravening creatures await. Driven to the end of the country and himself, he must overcome alien and human malevolence and act in ways that were unthinkable mere days before.
Review
There’s something about end of the world fiction that really butters my croissant. Considering it’s a pretty depressing subject – the end of all life on Earth as we know it, usually by means both terrifying and painful – but the idea of it has always fascinated me. Obviously, I hope that I never live through an apocalypse event (hopefully I live to be 100 years of age, with all my books, loved ones, and a life well lived behind me), but I find reading about them to be very exciting.
Now enter All The Fiends of Hell, the latest offering from British horror master Adam L. G. Nevill, author of The Ritual and No One Gets Out Alive (both also with major motion picture adaptions), plus many other creepy novels. In this, his ode to H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, we follow Karl, an ordinary, unremarkable man as he navigates a world bereft of its inhabitants, now set adrift on a lonely planet with only the sick, infirm, or overlooked left behind.
We begin on the night of the Red Bells, in which Karl, in the throes of feverish delirium, witnesses the mass extinction of life on Earth in what can only be described as a truly haunting depiction of Rapture itself. This first scene does so much to set the tone, with Nevill’s descriptions of a night-time country landscape bathed in crimson, as people and animals alike begin to ascend into the sky towards black alien obelisks. The thought of one minute being tucked up in bed snoring away to suddenly watching your neighbours and a few cows floating up to the heavens is really terrifying (an idea that I bounced around for a story of mine that I have yet to write; its the thought that counts!), and Nevill’s depictions and imagery is top notch. Throughout the book, we get a look at the creatures that stalk the remaining people left on Earth, all of who are detailed and vivid, yet have that Lovecraftian kind of unimaginability to them. The red sky that starts in the north before slowly yet unstoppable encroaching south creates an atmosphere of pure unescapable dread, and ghastly totems left behind by the invading aliens are properly gruesome. We never dwell on the “how’s” and “why’s” of the grander scale of the problem (why has this happened? what’s causing the red sky? are they aliens, angels, or something else entirely?) which lends to the cosmic horror that permeates throughout, but I am glad of this because it’s the personal journey of Karl that makes this story so good.
Our protagonist, Karl, is very much an “every man”, in the sense that in life – at least, prior to the apocalypse and to his own thinking – he was man of no real worth. Failed marriage, no kids, no career. Nothing truly of note. His transformation throughout the 340-ish pages is great, as he is constantly put into situations that test him and keep his journey of survival really engaging, alongside his protection and growth with the two child characters who he comes across and bonds with early on. I think some authors have a hard time writing child characters without making them just seem like obstacles for our main characters to overcome (or these kids are just annoying and constantly in the way), but the siblings Jake & Hayley are believable, well realised young people that have found themselves stuck in this new hell.
There is also Bob. Bob, for me, reaches the same echelons of characters I really, really hate, but in the best possible way. Umbridge, Bev Keane, Mrs. Carmody; these are characters I have hated because I find them irredeemably despicable for multiple reasons, and Bob easily joins them and many others in this exclusive club.
Whilst I don’t often think on themes or allegories too much (especially when I could be talking utter shite), in my eyes this was very much an allegory for the COVID pandemic, especially how it felt in the UK. The desolate, quiet streets once packed with life; only the well being moved onto a new normal, whilst the elderly, the sick and the forgotten are left behind; the constant lingering threat of something then unknown stalking you. The fact that a mystery fever also causes those who would have normally been in perfect health to be left on Earth also makes me feel like this is Nevill’s way of working through that truly shitty period.
To add, you’ll also find an essay at the end of the novel, which is Nevill talking about his thoughts, inspirations and ideas for this book. It’s a really cool essay, definitely make sure you read it after finishing this story.
This was my first Adam Nevill book (I have watched The Ritual before and have since read The Vessel and Wyrd), and it was a gripping, chilling experience, everything I want from an end of the world story. I look for good characters, a gripping narrative, a unique and exciting apocalypse that I can have nightmares about; All The Fiends of Hell has all of that and more in spades!
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