The Ritual

Books | Fiction / Horror

3.8

(617)

Adam Nevill

Now a Netflix Original Movie! The Ritual is Adam Nevill's horror novel depicting a group of friends lost in a remote wilderness in Sweden where something supernatural lurks. When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise. With limited experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn't possibly get any worse. But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artifacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. As the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn't come easy among these ancient trees . . .

Horror

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Author

Adam Nevill

Pages

432

Publisher

St. Martin's Publishing Group

Published Date

2012-02-14

ISBN

1429950668 9781429950664

Ratings

Google: 3

Community ReviewsSee all

"It's written a bit clunkily, but the characters and story line make it worth a read "

Darya 🖤

""There was simply no preparation in life for the determined madness of others." The Ritual has a very intriguing premise, and a few decent creepy scenes, but it fell short for me overall. It was way too long for the story being told, and there was a lot of time where I was just hoping something would happen. Evil-in-the-woods stories are ones that will usually freak me out, and this had promise, but I wanted more. It's almost like there are two different books within this book - the second half goes spinning off into a completely different direction than the first. I didn't necessarily mind it, but it just felt strange based on what the book had appeared to be about. It also gets exhausting to read a large section of a book that may or may not be a character dreaming / going crazy. I also wasn't crazy about the ending, and everything ended up being kind of over-the-top in order to wrap everything up. I don't know that I would read this book again, but I would definitely try more from this author."

Emily

"In short, The Ritual is about four friends who go on a hiking trip together in an attempt to reconnect with each other. Two of the group are out of shape, and one of them injures his knee. Due to this, the group decides to take a shortcut to the next closest town by going through an uncharted forest on the map. This, as it turns out, was a huge mistake, as they come across some some spooky stuff and are stalked by an unknown creature. The first half of the book was very good, just might be a bit slow for some readers. It's slow burn for sure. But without going into spoilers here, the latter half of the book....sucked, to me at least. It feels like a different book entirely, only using the same names. The tone and pacing are different, dread is gone, and just did not resonate with me at all. There is a movie adaptation of this book on Netflix, and crazy as it sounds, this is a case where the movie is better than the book."

Jeff V

"Probably one of the scariest books I've read. It wasn't fully what I expected, but it definitely had my anxiety going. I really enjoyed it. "

Shelbie Atwood

"Very strong start, promising storyline. The ending not only dragged on, but the added misogyny of the only female character left an overwhelmingly awful impression. I'll stick with the movie version."

Cali Sauter

"I love this book so much. First I watched the movie on Netflix and absolutely loved it and then I saw the book in store and i immediately bought it. This is my all time favorite horror book to date. Will be rereading this book numerous times:)"

Kayley VanDyke

"I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I loved the movie, but the book is more complete and I really preferred the storyline of the novel. The story itself is definitely creepy. No crazy twists, just raw horror to the core! It made me feel claustrophobic from the first few pages, right along with the characters. However, some parts do drag on uselessly for the sake of the atmosphere. There’s a lot of prose and flowery descriptions, which I do enjoy, but there’s just too much of it. What I absolutely hated though was the way female characters are portrayed and the terms used to describe them. It’s unnecessarily misogynistic and honestly plain gross… If you can look past that, it’s a good horror novel that will leave you full of dread, and definitely will make you look over your shoulder the next time you’re in the woods. Off to read something more uplifting now!"

Valerie

"One of the rare occassions when the film adaptation is better than the book. There are, of course, differences between the two and I like the changes made to the film. Especially removing the three characters introduced toward the end, or at least reducing their importance. Because, dude, they tanked this whole book. Insufferable. The sense of dread wore off pretty quick and just became tedious, repetitive. Overall anticlimactic. "