Genre: Horror
Publisher: William Morrow
Hardcover: 288 pages
Audiobook: 9 hours and 25 minutes
4.5/5 Stars
First off, I want to thank the publisher for an ALC of The Cabin at the End of the World in exchange for an honest review. I also want to thank the author for yet another wonderful novel. Receiving this ALC in no way influences my opinions of the novel.
This is, simply put, Tremblay’s best work to date. Disturbing, devoid of hope, and fraught with tension, The Cabin at the End of the World is a must-read for horror fans. The author does a phenomenal job of hooking you in the first chapter and keeping you tied up until the bitter end. If I had to compare it to anything, I would say it is The Strangers meets The Cabin in the Woods, with a bit of The Day After Tomorrow. Yeah, I know, crazy concept. But it works in the most magnificent of ways.
As the story begins, we are introduced to Wen, a seven-year-old girl who is vacationing at an isolated cabin in New Hampshire with her parents, Andrew and Eric. As she is enjoying catching grasshoppers in the afternoon sun, her parents lounging on the back porch, a man named Leonard appears from out of nowhere and asks if he could join her. Knowing that she should never talk to strangers, Wen is very cautious to accept his proposal but is instantaneously pulled in by his charm. That is until three (3) more people come out of the woods, each wielding frightening tools that Wen can only believe to be weapons of some kind. As she begins to back toward the cabin, Leonard tells her that none of what is about to happen is her fault, that neither she nor her parents will be harmed if they simply listen.
“Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.”
I have been a fan of Tremblay since his Bram Stoker Award-winning book ‘A Head Full of Ghosts’ was delivered to my doorstep after winning a Goodreads giveaway a couple of years ago and this new venture further cements him as one of my favorite horror authors. He just has a way of sinking his hooks in at the very beginning of every novel, forcing readers into sleepless nights to find out what happens at the end. He also does a fantastic job with character development, bringing you emotionally into the pages and leaving you feeling every heartache.
Amy Landon does a good job with the audio, but I can’t say her inflections always fit the atmosphere of the novel. I feel that the male antagonists needed a grittier voice to fully immerse me into the dialogue, but her Wen was spot on.
Overall, if you are a fan of the author’s past works, you are highly likely to pick this up. If you are a Stephen King fan and you pick up anything he recommends, you probably already have this pre-ordered. To everyone else, if you need some horror and suspense in your life, pick up a copy of this book.
Pre-order your copy today. On sale 06/26/2018
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I was a fan of the author’s Head Full of Ghosts, not so much his last book Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, so I wonder how this will go!
I was in the same boat you are when I started this one. Absolutely glad I did!